In the apparel printing and personalized customization market, sublimation printers, DTF printers and DTG printers are three common printing technologies. Each of them has its own unique working principle, advantages and disadvantages, and application scenarios. This article will explore the similarities and differences of these three printers in detail to help readers better understand and choose the right printing equipment for their own.
Sublimation printer
（1）How it works
The Dye Sublimation Printer works by setting solid pigments (called color rolls) in four colors (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, or CMYK) on a rotating drum. Tens of thousands of semiconductor heating elements are installed on the drum, and when the temperature of these heating elements is raised to a certain degree, the solid pigment will be directly converted into a gas (the process of solid into a gas without liquefaction is called sublimation), and then the gas is sprayed onto the printing medium. Adjusting the ratio and intensity of colors can be adjusted to achieve a true-color photo effect with continuous tones.
（2）Pros and cons
Advantages:
High quality output: Sublimation printing technology uses heat energy to transfer the pigment to the printing medium, the three primary colors can be fused to form continuous color levels, the printing effect is delicate, and the color transition is smooth and natural.
Long-term preservation: The printed image is not easy to fade, suitable for printing portraits and other photos that need to be stored for a long time.
Fast printing: Now the sublimation printer has a wide width of tens of meters of large printers, and equipped with 10,000 meters of sublimation paper scrolls. Hundreds of meters can be printed in an hour.
A wide range of applications: sublimation printing can be applied to textile fabrics (but there are restrictions on fabrics, can not be pure cotton fabrics), ceramics, glass, metal and other materials for high-definition output.
Cons:
High medium requirements: sublimation printers have high requirements for printing media, and usually can only use dedicated sublimation paper, resulting in high printing costs. However, there are many sublimation paper suppliers on the market at present, and the product quality is guaranteed, and the price is also more competitive. So customers can still buy quality and cheap products.
Color restrictions: Cannot print white, raw material color is limited, usually only used for light-colored substrates.
Limited range of applications: mainly suitable for printing photos and some decorative items, clothing, not suitable for printing text, forms, etc.
DTF printer
（1）How it works
DTF (Direct to Film) printer is a new type of digital clothing printing machine, its working principle is to print the design pattern directly on the PET film, and then spread the hot melt powder evenly on the pattern, after high temperature melting and drying, and finally cut the PET film, and the pattern is attached to all kinds of clothing by hot pressing machine. DTF printing process integrates printing, dusting and drying, without pre-processing, printing directly through the computer instruction.
（2）Pros and cons
Advantages:
Wide applicability: DTF printing can be printed on almost any fabric, such as knitting, textiles, nylon, non-woven fabrics, Oxford cloth, etc., especially suitable for dark and light substrates.
High quality output: printing color bright, high color retention, high precision pattern, vivid, exquisite.
Efficient and convenient: High printing speed and stable quality, suitable for small batch orders, can easily and quickly order special occasions clothing or gifts.
Environmental protection and energy saving: no drying time, no water use, high energy efficiency.
Full of personalized characteristics: DTF printing has many characteristic consumables, for example, hot melt powder with different characteristics can be targeted at different materials of fabric. Different PET film, the printing effect is not the same. There are DTF rainbow reflective film, DTF metallic gold/ silver film, which has a high luxury gold/ silver texture, and other characteristic films, which bring a new personalized experience to customers.
Cons:
Slightly poor air permeability: the feel of the printing area is not as comfortable as the natural comfort of sublimation printing, there is a certain colloid feeling, and the air permeability is also slightly poor.
High cost: The cost of high-quality DTF printers and consumables is relatively high.
（3）Technical features
Convenient printing method: DTF printing does not need to spray pretreatment liquid, less pretreatment links, compared with screen printing does not need plate making, film production and many other complex steps.
Washable and scratch-resistant: DTF printing can be washable, scratch-resistant, and the color fastness to washing reaches 4-5 levels.
Multi-material application: DTF printing method can not only be applied to common fabrics such as pure cotton and polyester fiber, but also can be applied to wool, nylon, lycra, cotton and linen, denim, silk and other fabrics, is the “universal printing machine” in the clothing industry.
DTG printer
（1）How it works
DTG (Direct to Garment) printing technology is a new printing method that works like an inkjet printer in an office, but using fabric instead of paper. In DTG printing, ink is sprayed directly onto the fabric to create the desired pattern or design. Pre-processing steps are usually required before DTG printing, such as hot pressing with a hot press, and then placing the T-shirt on the DTG printing platform and printing through computer instructions.
（2）Pros and cons
Advantages:
Low setup costs: With a DTG printer, you only need to upload the design and then you can start printing without making templates or other tools.
High-quality output: DTG printers can print high-quality patterns and designs because the ink can be sprayed directly onto the fabric rather than through traditional printing methods.
Multi-color printing: DTG printers can print multiple colors, so more complex patterns and designs can be printed.
Environmental protection: Compared with dye sublimation and screen printing methods, DTG printing process is more environmentally friendly.
Cons:
Dark fabric limitations: Dark clothing requires pre-treatment before printing, and the colors on dark fabrics are usually not as bright as those on light fabrics.
Fabric restrictions: DTG printers are not suitable for some fabrics, such as silk and nylon, generally pure cotton materials or clothing with a very high cotton content.
Not suitable for large orders: While digital direct injection is great for small orders, it is not the best choice for large orders because printing large volumes with a DTG printer is very time consuming and can require a lot of manpower.
（3）Technical features
High-speed printing: DTG printing technology can achieve high-speed printing, and the new ink has high fine print quality, wide color gamut, high resolution, and long-lasting brightness.
Large print range: The DTG printer has a large print range and can handle larger design patterns.
Personalized customization: DTG printing is ideal for personalized customization and small-scale production, and can print small batch orders.
Similarities and differences among the three
（1）Apply materials
Sublimation printer: mainly suitable for light-colored polyester fabric, the more polyester content in the fabric, the brighter the color.
DTF printer: Can print on almost any fabric, such as knitting, textiles, nylon, non-woven fabrics, Oxford cloth, etc., especially suitable for dark and light substrates.
DTG printer: Only suitable for pure cotton or fabrics with high cotton content, not suitable for most fabrics, such as silk and nylon, and dark fabrics need pretreatment.
（2）Printing process
Sublimation printer: Using thermal sublimation technology, the solid pigment is converted into a gas and then sprayed onto the printing medium.
DTF printer: The pattern is printed directly on the PET film, and then through the hot melt powder powder, drying, using a hot press to press transfer and other steps.
DTG printer: Direct injection process, the ink is printed directly on the fabric, no intermediate medium is required.
（3）Print quality
Sublimation printer: The printing effect is delicate, the color transition is smooth and natural, but the color is not as bright as DTF and DTG.
DTF printer: printing bright color, high color retention, high precision pattern, vivid, exquisite.
DTG printer: High print quality, can print complex patterns and designs, and impressive accuracy.
（4）Touch
Sublimation printer: The printed image is integrated with the clothing, zero touch layer, feel soft.
DTF printer: The feel of the printing area is slightly worse than that of sublimation printing, and the air permeability is also slightly worse.
DTG printer: The printed fabric feels soft to the touch, the design pattern and the fabric are tightly integrated, but the color on the dark fabric may not be as bright as the light fabric.
（5）Market application
Sublimation printers: Commonly used to decorate clothing, labels, and banners, as well as small items such as pillows, plaques, and coffee mugs that easily sublimate.
DTF printer: widely used in the clothing printing market, especially in the field of T-shirt hot stamping, has become one of the mainstream clothing printing methods.
DTG printers: Suitable for personalized customization and small-scale production, opening up new opportunities for printing companies and cross-border e-commerce companies.
5. Conclusion
Sublimation printer, DTF printer and DTG printer have their own unique working principles, advantages and disadvantages and application scenarios. Sublimation printers are suitable for printing high-quality images on light polyester fabrics; DTF printer occupies an important position in the garment printing market with its wide applicability and high quality output. DTG printers are favored for their high-speed printing and personalized customization. When selecting printing equipment, it is necessary to comprehensively consider factors such as specific needs, printing materials, printing quantity and printing effect.
