I Found a Cost-Effective Alternative to Screen Printing

by | Oct 13, 2024

I’ve got a great tip for you guys. As someone who has owned screen printing shops for many years, even I realize that screen printing has gotten more and more expensive. Recently, I tested something new: dtfsheet.com. They use direct transfer sheets, and all you need is a $200 heat press from Amazon. You submit your artwork to them, they print it onto a transfer sheet, and it transfers easily. We’ve seen this technology before, but it’s always been absolute shit until now. The ink formula they’ve developed is phenomenal.

A few weeks ago I wanted to put it to the test. I created some designs, submitted them, and ordered 150 shirts to give away to local people and friends. My goal was to see how easy the pressing process was, how well the prints held up after several washes, and how challenging the overall setup would be. Now it’s not the fastest process, I could set up and press about one shirt per minute. But since I hadn’t made a t-shirt in years,

Our screen printing operation is a very low earner, so if it shut down tomorrow, I wouldn’t care. So this wasn’t competition research; I was just genuinely curious if these guys had gotten it right. And they did they’ve absolutely nailed it.

This is genuinely the best feeling shirt I’ve ever made. It feels like high-end water-based ink screen printing I used to play with back in the day. You can barely feel the print. I did white-on-black, and the plastisol finish was very smooth. It’s by far the best process I’ve seen so far.

I’m happy to share this because I think it’s a fantastic solution for small businesses that do semi-small volume t-shirts for staff or events (I wouldn’t want to do 1000 shirts like this it is a bit of labor). Or even for solopreneurs who want to throw a design on some t-shirts and sell them at a vendor booth or event.

You can get your cost down to about $6 a shirt if you use something like Jiffy T-Shirts and go with a Gildan Softstyle. A 20-foot gang sheet from dtfsheets.com is around $200. If you’ve ever priced out screen printing, you know it’s nearly impossible to get a deal. They’ll advertise a $6 price per shirt, but by the time you get the invoice for 100 shirts instead of seeing a $600 total it somehow has creeped up to $1,300. There’s always screen fees, color change fees, and other hidden costs so that $6 shirt becomes a $13 shirt real fast.

For small runs, this is a very cost-efficient solution, and it’s not hard. You’ll need to grab a Fancierstudio Heat Press off Amazon. I think they run around $190 bucks. You should also get a spare silicone mat, and cut it up into pieces that fit different areas like chest prints or sleeves. The key is to avoid seams or thicknesses interfering with the press. You want the mat to only cover the design area, not the whole shirt. It performs better when you use a smaller mat, focused right behind the design, rather than using the full 18×18 mat.

The smaller silicone mat pieces are a great trick for getting cleaner results. I made a few different shapes to fit chest logos, sleeves, and other small areas. But yeah, you guys should try it out and let me know what you think!

Links
Sheets:
https://dtfsheet.com/
Press: https://www.amazon.com/Fancierstudio-Sublimation-Rhinestone-T-Shirt-FS15x15A/dp/B07XKD371P/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3I8WDMAO00A2Y&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4swPC8zHovzpNkMA3fYV_NWasSyriNdbz8D12WA2JH9CbiGvgLu4KnrQ5CeikQFZ1EEC81OlRnW3-2pIkv-jm2K8LxB5srDOrksZ6c4XdzJLp03QkNhlJyHLCiFc265xtpRBl2qgx8Nq5f0TJ4BrxQdhEvJvGhwrVX0e93y0g0OmX6YdeR63reYopdD6cFVvj6CTxfgKx4Bn5gEwkc-9hhUr3qdj9DmwgtMXHq6wviGF_bzAJkWRDxB7lXnEZArEunR-SliqTvD7kmH2eOlmMFDhZQt9a9o808HTyeS_JnY.NZUP4j7nlie7m_V37HwtvwpUGszv2tFvhF3OKJdjTmI&dib_tag=se&keywords=fancierstudio+heat+press&qid=1728780332&sprefix=fancierstudio+heat+pres%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1