Printing Methods Explained

There's no single "best" printing method. The right one depends on your design, garment or material, and quantity. Here's a quick guide to everything we do in-house.

Embroidery stitches viscose or polyester thread into the fabric. Viscose is softer and more versatile. Polyester thread is better for commercial use because it withstands harsher washing. Designs are digitised into a stitch file first, a one-off £20 per design. More about embroidery.

DTF prints a full-colour design onto film, which is then heat pressed onto the garment. It works on almost any fabric, light or dark, with no minimum. More about DTF.

Ink is pushed through a mesh screen, one colour at a time. It needs a screen per colour (£20 each), so it's best value on runs of 20 or more. More about screen printing.

The design is printed straight into the fabric and heat cured. It gives the softest feel, but only on 100% cotton. The quality depends on the quality of your image. More about DTG.

The ink turns to gas under heat and bonds with polyester, so the print becomes part of the fabric. It's used for sportswear as well as mugs, mouse mats and other coated items. More about sublimation.

Vinyl is ideal for single colours and special effects such as reflective, velvet, glow-in-the-dark, metallic and glitter. Print and cut adds full colour for low-run jobs. Both need vector artwork. Vinyl · Print and cut.

Our UV flatbed prints directly onto flat media up to 2.4m wide and 5m long, such as foamex, dibond, wood, glass and acrylic. It also prints roll media up to 2.4m wide and 50m long, such as PVC banners, canvas and roller banners. See large format and signage.

Stickers are full-colour prints on self-adhesive vinyl, contour cut to shape and optionally laminated. Decals are cut from solid-colour vinyl and applied with transfer tape, and are often used on vehicles and windows. Both have a minimum of 10 pieces. Stickers and decals.

Digital printing is designed for speed on low runs (up to about 1,000) of leaflets, cards and booklets. Offset printing uses plates and rollers to transfer each CMYK colour onto the paper. It's far cheaper per unit on runs of 1,000 or more. Business printing.

Woven, embroidered and rubber patches and keytags are made by our overseas partners, with a minimum of 100 pieces and a lead time of 4 to 5 weeks. Patches and labels.

Send us your design and tell us what it's going on and how many you need. We'll recommend the best method and price.