Apparel Printing Compared: Screen, Digital, Sublimation and Discharge

The same artwork can be produced by four or five different print methods, and the one you choose decides more than how the print looks. It sets the minimum order, the cost per piece, how the print feels under the hand, whether the colours survive washing and rubbing, and whether the method will even work on your chosen fabric. A photographic front print on a polyester jersey and a two-colour chest logo on a cotton tee are not the same brief, and specifying "printed" without naming the method leaves the most consequential decision to the factory.

This guide walks through the main garment print methods, the trade-offs a buyer actually weighs between them, and how to specify and approve a print so bulk matches what you signed off.

Screen printing

Screen printing pushes ink through a fine mesh screen, one screen per colour, onto a fixed placement area such as a chest or a back panel. It is the workhorse for solid, opaque colours and remains the most economical method at volume. Because each colour needs its own screen and setup, cost is driven by the number of colours and the order quantity: setup is amortised across the run, so the per-piece price falls sharply as quantities rise, and screen printing carries a real minimum order per colour or per screen.

The ink chemistry matters as much as the method:

• Plastisol is a PVC-based ink that sits on top of the fabric. It is opaque, bright, forgiving on dark grounds and very durable, but it leaves a perceptible film or hand on the surface, and it is the base for raised effects.
• Water-based ink soaks into the fibres for a soft, almost print-free hand. It is excellent on light grounds and for a vintage, worn-in look, but it is less opaque on dark fabric and demands tighter process control.
• Discharge is a water-based variant covered separately below.

Screen printing also carries the specialty finishes buyers ask for by name: high-density (a thick, raised block), puff (ink that expands with heat for a soft 3D relief), foil (a metallic film over a printed adhesive) and flock (a suede-like velvet texture). All are placement effects, all add setup and cost, and all should be sampled before bulk because their hand and durability vary a great deal.

Digital direct-to-garment

Digital direct-to-garment (DTG) prints artwork straight onto the garment with a specialised inkjet, much like a paper printer. Its defining advantage is that there is little or no setup: unlimited colours, gradients and photographic images cost the same as a single colour, which makes it ideal for complex art and small runs. The trade-off is a higher unit cost that does not fall much with volume, so DTG is rarely economical for large orders of a simple design where screen printing wins easily.

DTG performs best on cotton or high-cotton blends, which absorb the water-based inks well; results on polyester and heavy blends are less reliable. Dark garments require a white underbase and pre-treatment, which affects hand and cost. Durability is generally good but sits below a well-cured plastisol print, and it depends heavily on correct curing, so wash testing is not optional.

Dye-sublimation

Sublimation uses heat to turn a dye into gas that bonds into the fibre itself, leaving no surface layer at all. Because the colour becomes part of the fabric, the print is permanent, will not crack or peel, and has zero hand: you cannot feel it. It is the method behind all-over prints, panels printed before cutting, and edge-to-edge graphics that screen and DTG cannot reach.

Sublimation has one hard constraint: it works only on polyester (or high-polyester blends) and only on light grounds, because the dye is translucent and the process needs polyester fibres to bond to. On cotton it simply washes out. This makes it the natural partner for performance and activewear built on polyester, where the no-hand, all-over capability and the polyester base line up perfectly. For a cotton tee it is a non-starter.

Discharge printing

Discharge printing does not add a coloured layer; it removes the garment's own dye. A discharge agent is printed onto a dark, reactive-dyed ground and, when cured, strips the dye back to the natural fibre colour, optionally with a pigment added to recolour that area. The result is a very soft, almost hand-free print on a dark fabric, with the broken, vintage character that a surface ink cannot reproduce.

The catches are worth stating plainly. Discharge works only on dischargeable dyes, so the garment must be dyed with that in mind, and the discharged colour depends on the fabric's base dye, which means results vary between dye lots and are hard to match to a precise target. It is a cotton and natural-fibre technique, not a polyester one. Because outcome is fabric-dependent, a strike-off on the actual bulk fabric is essential.

How the methods compare

The choice is a set of trade-offs, not a ranking. This table summarises the ones a buyer weighs:

Method	Setup / MOQ	Cost per unit	Hand feel	Colour range	Fabric	Durability
Screen (plastisol)	High setup, MOQ per colour	Low at volume	Noticeable film	Solid spot colours	Most fabrics	Very high
Screen (water-based)	High setup, MOQ per colour	Low at volume	Very soft	Spot colours, light grounds	Cotton, light	High
Digital (DTG)	Little or none	High, flat	Soft	Unlimited, photographic	Cotton best	Good
Sublimation	Low	Moderate	None	Unlimited, all-over	Polyester, light only	Permanent
Discharge	Moderate setup	Moderate	Very soft	Limited, base-dependent	Cotton, dark grounds	High

Read it against your own brief: a large two-colour logo run points to screen, a photographic small run to DTG, an all-over polyester graphic to sublimation, and a soft vintage look on dark cotton to discharge.

Specifying, strike-offs and testing

Whichever method you choose, it belongs in writing. Name the method, the ink type, the placement and dimensions, and the colours as Pantone TCX or the factory's matching system in the tech pack, the same way you would specify fabric and construction. "Printed logo" is not a specification; "screen print, plastisol, one colour, Pantone 19-4052 TCX, 90 mm wide, centred 80 mm below neck seam" is.

Before bulk, approve a strike-off: a print of your artwork on the actual bulk fabric, not on paper or a substitute. The strike-off is where you confirm colour, opacity, hand, placement and registration, and it is part of the wider sampling and approval process rather than an afterthought. Sign it, date it, and keep a retained copy as the reference bulk is judged against, because print colour and hand shift between fabrics and dye lots.

Two durability tests protect you from prints that pass on the strike-off and fail in the wash. Colourfastness to washing checks that the print keeps its colour and does not stain the garment or adjacent fabric after laundering. Colourfastness to rubbing (crocking), tested dry and wet, checks that the print does not transfer under abrasion, a common failure on heavy plastisol and poorly cured DTG. Both should appear on the mill or print test report alongside the substrate results, and both should be run before you release the order.

A short decision guide

• If the design is one to four solid colours and the run is large, choose screen printing; use water-based or discharge ink where a soft hand matters.
• If the artwork is photographic or the run is small and varied, choose DTG, and expect a flat per-piece cost on cotton.
• If you need an all-over or edge-to-edge graphic, choose sublimation, and specify a polyester or high-polyester base to suit it.
• If you want a soft, vintage print on a dark natural fabric, choose discharge, and confirm the fabric is dyed with a dischargeable dye first.

The print method is a fabric decision as much as a graphics one, so settle it early alongside your knit or woven base cloth. Name the method in the tech pack, approve a strike-off on the real fabric, and test for wash and rub fastness before bulk. Do that, and the print is the part of the garment least likely to surprise you.