Screen print, DTF or embroidery for team shirts

One design, three ways onto a shirt

The same logo can be pushed through a screen, transferred from a film or stitched in thread. Each method has its own look, feel, lifespan and price curve, and the right one follows from three questions: how many shirts, how many colours, and which fabric.

The three methods at a glance

Screen print: the price drops as the run grows

Each colour in the design gets its own screen, and each screen takes setup time before the first shirt is printed. Spread across five hundred shirts, that setup adds little to each one; across ten, it sets the price. Screen printing gives vivid, hard-wearing colour on cotton and suits designs built from a few flat colours: a logo, a slogan, a team crest.

Artwork for screen print is separated into spot colours, one layer per screen, with fine lines thickened so the mesh holds them. On dark shirts a white base layer goes down first, so the colours on top stay bright.

DTF: full colour at any quantity

Direct-to-film printing puts the design onto a clear film in colour plus a layer of white, coats it with a powdered adhesive, cures it, then presses it onto the garment with heat. With zero screens to set up, the first shirt costs about the same to print as the hundredth, and the design can carry photos, gradients and fine detail. It takes to cotton, polyester and blends, light or dark, which makes it the natural choice for mixed orders and for names and numbers on team kits.

The print sits as a thin, flexible layer on top of the fabric. Large solid areas feel firmer than the shirt around them, so designs with open shapes and gaps wear more comfortably.

Embroidery: a finish that lasts as long as the garment

Embroidery stitches the logo in thread. The artwork is first digitised: turned into a stitch file that sets the order, direction and density of every stitch. It suits logos on polos, caps, jackets and uniforms, gives a premium raised finish, and keeps its look through years of washing.

Thread has a minimum width, so small lettering and thin lines are enlarged or simplified, and gradients become solid bands of colour. Price follows the number of stitches: a chest logo costs less than a full back design.

Choosing for a team order

Making prints last

• Wash printed garments inside out at 30 °C, with similar colours.
• Line dry, or tumble dry on a low setting.
• Iron on the reverse side, away from the print.
• Press embroidery from the back, with a cloth between the iron and the stitching.

Send the quantity, the colours in the design and the deadline, and we match the method to all three through Apparel & workwear. The artwork itself is prepared for any of the three through Merch & T-shirt artwork.