Choosing between screen print, DTG, embroidery and sublimation

There is no best decoration method, only a best fit for your quantity, fabric and design. Here is how we choose.

Screen print

Use it when: quantity is above roughly 300 per design and the artwork has a limited number of flat colours.

Each colour needs its own screen, so setup cost scales with colour count but not with quantity. That makes it the cheapest option per unit at volume and the most expensive at low volume. Hand-feel is excellent with water-based or discharge inks on cotton.

Avoid it when: the design has photographic gradients, or the fabric is a synthetic prone to dye migration on dark colours.

Direct-to-garment (DTG)

Use it when: quantity is low, colours are many, or you are testing a design before committing.

No screens means no setup cost, so unit price is flat regardless of quantity. The tradeoff is a slightly softer edge on fine detail and a higher unit cost that never comes down. Works best on light-coloured 100% cotton.

Embroidery

Use it when: you want the garment to read as premium, and the design is a mark or wordmark rather than an illustration.

Priced by stitch count, not by garment count, so a small logo is cheap and a large filled design is not. It is the most durable option — there is no surface layer to crack. Needs care on stretch fabrics and knits below about 180 GSM.

Sublimation

Use it when: the fabric is polyester and you need all-over graphics, gradients, or per-unit variation like player numbering.

The ink becomes part of the fibre, so there is nothing to peel and no added weight or stiffness. The hard constraint is chemistry: it only works on polyester, and only on light-coloured base fabric.

Quick reference

| | Best quantity | Fabric | Durability | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Screen print | 300+ | Cotton, cotton blends | High | | DTG | 1–150 | Light cotton | Medium | | Embroidery | Any | Woven, mid-weight knits | Very high | | Sublimation | 100+ | Light polyester | Very high |

When in doubt, order a decoration sample on the actual body you plan to use. How a print behaves on 180 GSM jersey tells you very little about how it behaves on 450 GSM loopback.