DTF & Digital Printing
In-house decoration · L'Assomption, QC
DTF & Digital Printing
Full-colour logos printed in our shop and heat-pressed onto almost anything — cotton, polyester, blends, fleece, hi-vis. No screens, no colour limits, no setup fees, and no minimum quantity. One piece or a thousand.
- Minimum order
- None
- Setup / screen fee
- $0
- Colours
- Unlimited
- Turnaround
- 10 business days
What DTF actually is
DTF stands for Direct to Film. Your logo is printed — in full colour, with a layer of white ink behind it — onto a sheet of film. Adhesive powder is applied to the wet ink and cured, which leaves a finished transfer. That transfer is then heat-pressed onto the garment, where the adhesive bonds into the fibres.
In plain terms: it is a full-colour, permanent transfer that behaves like part of the shirt rather than a sticker sitting on top of it. It has a light, slightly matte feel, it stretches with the fabric, and because the white ink is printed first, the colours stay true on black garments just as they do on white.
“Digital printing” is the family; DTF is the method we run. Both terms describe printing artwork straight from a file with no screens, no plates and no per-colour setup — which is why a fifteen-colour photo costs the same to print as a one-colour wordmark. When you see digital print on our site, that is DTF.
DTF vs. the alternatives
Most shops will quote you one of three decorations. Here is where each one genuinely wins.
| DTF (what we run) | Screen printing | Cut vinyl | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colours | Unlimited — photos, gradients, fine detail | Priced per colour; 1–4 is the practical range | One colour per layer |
| Setup cost | None | A screen per colour, per design | None, but slow to weed |
| Where it makes sense | 1 to 500 pieces, mixed garments, mixed sizes | 500+ identical pieces, 1–2 colours | Names and numbers, one-offs |
| Fabrics | Cotton, poly, blends, fleece, nylon, hi-vis | Mostly cotton and blends | Most flat fabrics |
| Feel | Light, flexible, slightly matte | Softest on cotton at high volume | Thick, plasticky on large designs |
| Durability | Holds up to regular washing and everyday wear | Excellent | Edges lift and crack over time |
Under about 500 identical pieces in one or two colours, DTF beats screen printing on total cost every time, because there are no screens to pay for. Above that, screen printing starts to pull ahead — and we will tell you when you have crossed that line instead of quietly overcharging you.
Print sizes
The sizes most crew logos actually run at. Anything larger, tell us the garment and the artwork and we will size it with you.
| Placement | Usual size |
|---|---|
| Left chest | 3.5–4 in wide |
| Full front | 11–12 in wide |
| Full back | 11–12 in wide |
| Sleeve | 3 × 3 in |
Sizing is limited more by the garment than by us — a youth small will not carry an adult full-front print. Send us the style number and the artwork and we will size the print to the piece.
Artwork
Vector is ideal (AI, EPS, PDF, SVG) and gives the sharpest edges. A high-resolution PNG with a transparent background works too — 300 dpi at the size it will be printed. We will clean up, resize and colour-check your file at no charge, and we will tell you before we print if the file is too small to hold up.
Fabrics: what works and what does not
Prints well
- 100% cotton, 100% polyester, and every blend — including the tri-blends that screen printing struggles with
- Performance and moisture-wicking knits
- Fleece and hoodies, including heavier crewnecks
- Hi-vis polyester and CSA garments (on the fabric panels, never over the reflective tape)
- Canvas bags, aprons, uncoated nylon
- Light knits and mesh, where embroidery would pucker the fabric
Does not print
- Waterproof or DWR-coated shells. The coating is designed to repel exactly what the adhesive needs to grab.
- Silicone or Teflon-treated fabrics, for the same reason.
- Heat-sensitive garments that cannot take roughly 150 °C for 15 seconds — some technical shells and certain trims will scorch or shine.
- Deep-pile fleece, sherpa and terry loops. There is no flat surface for the transfer to bond to.
- Directly over reflective tape on safety wear — it compromises the certified retroreflective surface.
Send us the style number of the garment you have in mind and we will confirm before you commit. Where DTF will not hold, embroidery usually will — and the other way around. See custom embroidery →
How it wears
A properly pressed DTF transfer bonds into the fibres and stands up to regular washing and everyday wear without cracking or peeling.
We do not publish a wash-count number, because it would not mean much. A polo worn to an office and a hoodie worn on a job site every day are not the same garment after six months. Abrasion against tools, harnesses and vehicle seats, industrial laundering, solvents and high heat all wear a print faster than home laundry does — and a lot of our customers work exactly that way. We would rather tell you that than quote you a figure that does not survive contact with your trade.
Care that gets you the most out of it
- Wash inside out, cold or warm — up to 40 °C
- Tumble dry low, or hang to dry (high heat is the number-one killer)
- No fabric softener and no bleach — softener coats the print and dulls it
- Do not iron directly on the print; press from the inside if you must
- No dry cleaning
Our position on this: a print that cracks or lifts early on a garment that has been washed as directed is a pressing fault on our end, and we will make it right. A print worn down over a season of hard site work is not the same thing — and we will be straight with you about which one we are looking at.
Minimum order
There is none. No screens means no setup to amortize, so a single hoodie is a real order and gets the same press and the same file handling as a 300-piece run. Price drops per piece as quantity climbs — that is the volume discount doing the work, not a minimum shutting you out.
Send your artwork, get a price
File check, size recommendation and a price per piece — usually same day.