Five methods put a design on a garment, and most people asking "which one do I need" have never heard more than two of the names. Here is the plain version: embroidery for logos on things people will wear for years, DTF for full-colour artwork and small runs, screen printing for large identical runs of a simple design, sublimation for all-over prints on polyester, and UV DTF for hard surfaces like mugs, caps and signage rather than fabric.
This is the guide every other post on this blog links back to, because almost every decision starts here. Pick the method first, then the garment, then worry about artwork.
Screen printing
Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh stencil, one screen per colour, directly onto the garment. It is the oldest method here and still the right call in one specific situation: a simple design, in a small number of colours, printed in large quantities.
Each colour needs its own screen, and burning screens is a fixed setup cost that does not change whether you print 1 shirt or 500. That is the whole story of when screen printing wins and loses. Spread over 500 identical event tees, the setup cost per unit is tiny. Spread over 5, it is the most expensive shirt you will ever buy.
Ink sits on the surface and, done properly, lasts for years. It handles cotton well and struggles more on stretch fabrics, where the ink can crack as the garment moves.
DTF printing (direct-to-film)
DTF stands for direct-to-film. Artwork is printed onto a film, coated with an adhesive powder, cured, then heat-pressed onto the garment. There is no per-colour setup and no screen to burn — you send artwork, we print it, which is why DTF has largely replaced screen printing for anything under a few hundred units.
Because it is printed rather than stencilled, there is no colour limit. Full-colour artwork, photographs and gradients all reproduce accurately, on cotton, polyester or blends, and on dark garments without any extra process. It is the method behind most of the one-off and small-batch printing we do — see our branding page for how that works, and our t-shirt range for blanks that print well.
The trade-off against screen printing is the mirror image of the setup cost: DTF is cost-effective from a single unit, but at real volume — hundreds of identical shirts — screen printing's per-unit cost eventually undercuts it.
Embroidery
Embroidery stitches the design into the fabric with thread. There is no ink and nothing sitting on the surface — the design becomes part of the garment, which is why a stitched logo reads as more premium than a printed one and why it is the default for staff uniforms, golf shirts and caps.
Before anything is stitched, artwork has to be converted into a stitch file — a process called digitising, and it is not automatic. That is a one-off cost per logo; once the file exists, it runs forever and the tenth order costs no more to set up than the second.
We cover this one in more depth, including exactly when to choose it over DTF, in Embroidery vs DTF printing: which should you choose for company clothing?
Sublimation
Sublimation turns dye into a gas under heat and pressure, which bonds it directly into polyester fibres rather than sitting on top of them. Because the dye becomes part of the fibre, there is no texture, no cracking and no wearing off — the print simply is the fabric.
Two hard requirements come with that: the garment has to be polyester (or a high-poly blend), and it has to start out white or very light, because sublimation dye is transparent and needs a pale base to show true colour. That makes it the method behind all-over prints — dri-fit sports shirts, full-colour jerseys — rather than a logo on an existing garment.
UV DTF
UV DTF prints onto a film using UV-cured ink, then transfers as a sticker-like decal that can be applied to almost any hard, flat or gently curved surface. This is the odd one out on this list because it is not really a garment method — it is how you decorate mugs, tumblers, laptop lids, signage and hard-surface promotional items.
If someone is asking about UV DTF for a t-shirt, the honest answer is that DTF or embroidery is almost always the better fit. UV DTF earns its place when the job is not fabric.
Head to head
| Screen printing | DTF | Embroidery | Sublimation | UV DTF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Large identical runs | Full colour, any run size | Logos on staff wear | All-over polyester prints | Hard surfaces, not fabric |
| Colours | Limited, priced per colour | Unlimited | Limited by thread count | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Setup | Screen per colour | None | One-off digitising per logo | None | None |
| Garment | Mostly cotton | Cotton, poly, blends | Heavier stable fabrics | White/light polyester only | Not fabric |
| Small runs | Expensive per unit | Cost-effective from 1 | Setup spread over few units | Cost-effective from 1 | Cost-effective from 1 |
| Feel | Ink on surface | Smooth layer on surface | Raised, part of the fabric | Dyed into the fibre — no texture | Decal on hard surface |
How to actually choose
Staff uniforms, golf shirts, caps and jackets people will wear for years? Embroidery.
Full-colour artwork, photographs, or a run under a couple of hundred units? DTF.
A simple one- or two-colour design in a genuinely large quantity, hundreds of identical event tees? Screen printing is the classic answer, though we do not run it. At the quantities most orders actually land on, DTF is still the better call.
An all-over sports jersey or dri-fit design on white or light polyester? That is a sublimation job, which we do not offer.
A mug, tumbler, laptop or hard-surface item? UV DTF.
Most real jobs use more than one method on the same garment — an embroidered logo on the left chest with a DTF graphic on the back is a common, sensible combination. Each method does the job it is good at; you are not locked into picking just one.
Does the garment change the answer?
Yes. Heavier, stable fabrics — a 320gsm hoodie or a pique golf shirt — take embroidery well and print cleanly under DTF. Very thin or stretchy fabric distorts under a stitched design and can crack under screen-printed ink over time. If you are choosing a garment and a decoration method at the same time, pick the method first — it is far easier to choose a garment that suits your logo than to force a logo onto the wrong garment.
Still not sure which one you need?
Tell us the artwork, the garment, and roughly how many you need. We do DTF printing, embroidery and UV in-house at our premises in Durban and supply nationwide. Screen printing and sublimation are covered above because they are worth understanding, but we do not offer them, so if one of those is genuinely the right method for your job we will tell you rather than talk you into something else.
Get a branding quote or browse the range: t-shirts, hoodies, golf shirts, jackets.