Important Tips to Take Care of Your DTG Garments

 

Not all clothing is made to last and your DTG printed clothes are no exception. How you care for your clothes plays a key role in keeping them in great condition and extending their lifetime. If you don’t take care of your clothes properly, they’re bound to wear out sooner than you would expect.

DTG printed clothing has its own rules when it comes to keeping them intact since the material used is different. The design is printed directly to the shirt or clothing using a DTG printer. DTG clothes are different from DTF clothes since DTF paper is used to print the design on the garment before it is heat pressed.

After printing, it is advisable to wash your colored garment before putting it on. Otherwise, there is a high chance of sun staining, which can be impossible to remove.

Now, a major part of keeping your printed clothes in a tip-top condition depends on how you wash them. Here are important tips for caring for your DTG-printed garments. 

1. Wash Them Inside Out

First things first, the most important tip is to wash your clothes inside out. You can also put them inside a mesh laundry bag or a pillowcase, especially when washing delicate materials. 

Just tie the end off with a rubber band and voila! This will help protect the fabric from rubbing against denim, zippers, or other rough materials during washing. 

2. Use Cold Water Temperature

Remember to machine wash in cold water temperature (30°C) in a gentle or delicate cycle. Washing your printed clothing in cold water will help prevent the print and fabric from fading. Don’t overload your machine to avoid excess wrinkling.

3. Use Mild Detergent

Avoid using detergents that contain bleach. Instead, use an ordinary mild detergent to wash your DTG printed clothes. If you are used to hand-washing your clothes, don’t soak them in soapy water for a long time. 

Additionally, it is advisable to wash with similar colors and don’t use rough items like a brush to rub on the fabric as this will damage the print. 

4. Hang-Dry

Letting your clothes air-dry or line dry is best is highly recommended. However, avoid direct exposure to sunlight to prevent fading. Also, if you prefer putting them in a dryer, make sure you use the lowest heat setting. 

Do not dry your clothes on high heat since this will only cause them to shrink. Also, the heat of the dryer will contribute to the deterioration of the print.

5. Avoid Ironing the Print

If ironing is necessary, use the lowest setting and iron it inside out. However, you should never iron the print.

6. Store Properly

The way you store your clothes can also contribute to their shelf life. Don’t just toss them into your closet or drawer. Instead, fold them neatly and place them in a clean place. However, if you prefer to hang them, consider using a soft hanger to avoid those hideous hanger marks.

Conclusion

It’s a common practice to wash your DTG printed clothes after printing or purchasing to get rid of the fixation agent smell and avoid sun staining. Most printed shirts will wear out and fade eventually. However, how you wash and care for them plays an important role in extending their lifespan. 

A good tip is to check the care label for any special instructions on how to care for your clothing. Usually, your DTG cloth should last for about 50 washes or probably even more before it starts fading if you follow these tips. 

How Does Direct to Garment Printing Works?

Direct to Garment (DTG) printing prints a design from a computer onto a garment placed in a printer. Of course, DTG printing requires a specialized printer, specifically a modified ink-jet type printer. Direct to Garment printers use water-based textile DTG ink. 

These inks are best suited for printing on cotton, linen, hemp, or bamboo. However, the most common use of DTG is to high-quality print designs on cotton products like T-shirts.

DTG printers first came out in the late 1990s, but the first commercial DTG printers appeared in 2005. So, how does DTG printing work?

You would first start by designing what you want to print on a computer using any designing software. The software should be able to send output to the printer. For a good DTG print, the image needs a high-resolution design (300 dots per inch or dpi is best). 

Once you finish your design, you can go to the next step, a pre-print treatment of the garment. Usually cotton, hemp, or bamboo fibers stick out from the cloth/garment. These need to be pressed flat. Also, the garment is pre-treated with a special liquid. In the pre-printing process, the garment is sprayed with the liquid and used in a heat press for a few seconds.

After which, the garment is mounted on the print plate that goes into the printer. The computer then sends the design for printing. Once the printing is over the garment needs curing in a heat press for a few seconds, after which it is ready.

Though it is possible to print on light and dark cotton fabrics, DTG printing is best on white cotton. For printing or darker fabrics, the printing process would need two steps. First, a white base gets printed, then the design gets printed on top of it.

DTG printing is good for short-run orders, like one or two prints. For larger print runs, it may be cheaper to use screen printing or other printing processes. 

A DTG printing setup requires a computer, a heat press, and the DTG printer and can be set up in a small place. However, specialized printers and inks do cost a lot. So small entrepreneurs may need to think twice before investing in such a system. 

To summarize, DTG printing is good for short-run orders. It does not need a big set-up to get high-quality prints. However, the prohibitive cost of Direct to Garment printers and DTG Ink could deter small businesses.