You’ve done your research on DTF printing for apparel and you’re finally ready to buy a DTF printer!
While you know a lot about what to expect, some questions still linger. Finding solid, nuanced answers can be challenging.
Fortunately, you’ve come to the right place on the internet. Here, we’ll give it our all to answer any remaining questions. By the time we’re done, you should have all the information you need.
As a teaser, here are some questions we’ll cover today:
If this sounds like what you need, keep on reading.
In no particular order, the first question most people are likely to ask is: how long does a DTF print last on a shirt?
And the answer to this is under which conditions you (or your customers) will use these DTF prints?
To explain better, how you handle the garment will directly affect how long your prints last. How many wash cycles will you put them through, and what weather conditions will they be exposed to?
But, to give you some rough numbers, under ideal (and favorable) conditions, a DTF print on a shirt can last for 50-100 washes without significant fading or cracking.
That would give you one to two (or more) years of regular weekly use and washing.
That brings us to the next question: how much does it cost to produce transfers, and for how much can I sell them for?
The answer to this question is a simple one.
As you come to learn, DTF (direct-to-film) prints can last for 100 (or over) wash cycles and endure everyday wear without cracking, fading, or peeling. Plus these prints maintain their color (and appearance) well over time.
The combination of all of this makes DTF prints extremely durable, provided you follow proper application and care instructions, as well as use quality materials.
This ties in with another point we wanted to talk about, and that is, on what type of fabrics can you apply DTF transfers.
The next technical question is whether DTF can be used on any fabric.
It’s a good question, and you’ll be pleased to hear that DTF can be applied to a wide range of materials.
To give you a brief overview, it’s compatible with cotton, nylon, denim, treated leather, linen, rayon, polyester, 50/50 blends, and more, including both light and dark fabrics.
Expanding on that, let’s put our thumb on the market to have a feel for the scale of it.
The big question is how large the DTF market is and who the likely buyers could be for your custom creations.
To put it in perspective for you, DTF printing is a global market. Which means, the whole world is at your feet! You can sell locally or internationally, right from wherever you are. The buyers? Anyone who wants one of your custom clothing pieces.
PO-TRY Product Page
It’s also worth mentioning that the DTF printing market is on track for continuous growth. With each passing year, this method of printing gets bigger and more diversified, and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.
That brings to mind the money-making potential of DTF sales.
We touched upon this point earlier in the article, using a shirt as an example to calculate production costs and potential profits. In the end, we made a nice profit on our original investment.
So, the answer is yes, DTF printing is profitable. And that was just one example. Think about all of the other things you could be making with a DTF printer: hoodies, jackets, sweaters, bags, hats, just to get your mind going.
With DTF, the possibilities are endless. You can bring your wildest ideas to life in a matter of minutes and sell them online to buyers who seem interested.
And the profit margins can be much higher if you focus on who your target customer (niche) is, what they want and need, and what they are willing to pay big bucks for.
Adding to that, the type of design you press onto a blank is arguably more important than anything else. So, let’s talk about that next.
A good design is one that customers can relate to and are attracted to visually. And it’s your job to either find one of those designs online from marketplace sellers… or… make one yourself using graphic softwares from the likes of Photoshop, Illustrator, CorelDRAW, or alike.
If you decide to DIY it, the most important rule to follow (and keep in mind) is to work with vectors whenever possible. While you can still print DTF transfers using bitmap images as a source, they’re not as flexible as vectors are. Vectors can be scaled up and down at any time without loss in quality, which is why it has come to be regarded as the go-to output file format for design work.
There are three basic tests that you can perform to confirm the material is indeed leather.
Smell Test: First, most leather has a characteristic odor of fat-liquor (oils used to lubricate the leather). If the material doesn’t have this “regular smell of leather”, chances are it is not genuine leather. Please note that many of the newer “washable” or water-resistant leather do not have the same fat-liquors and often do not have much of a characteristic leather odor.
Look Test: Looking at the back side of the leather will also reveal its genuine character. The back of the leather should look like suede. If you see threads, that is a bad sign. If you see the ends of the collagen fibers, like you would on a suede pair of shoes, that is good.
If possible, you can also inspect the cut edge – the leather has a very distinctive layered appearance from the edge. The grain and finish are very tight and compact. Often you can see the hair follicles in this layer if you cut just right. Then the inner layer is coarser and a random tangle of heavier fibers. If you can see any crisscross pattern or symmetry, that is a sure sign of synthetic materials.
Fire Test: When exposed to mild temperatures (say match flame), the genuine leather will not catch fire, while other synthetic materials are inflammable and will burn quickly. Leather sort of melts into a lump that will harden like glass when cool. Will also shatter like glass if crushed after it has been burned.
The cost savings associated with strategic outsourcing not only give a business an edge over its competition but has become crucial for the survival of many businesses. From the more obvious benefits of cost reduction and quality improvement, outsourcing delivers a client a number of advantages all the way up to value generation and innovation capability in core competencies.
The five key considerations are:
Cost: The cost benefits of outsourcing are obvious in terms of cheaper labor and material costs. In case of variable sourcing contracts, the costs can be reduced further in the form of higher productivity of employees.
Quality: Most outsourcing vendors have a better process maturity in their core areas as compared to the client. As a result, such vendors can deliver high quality products.
Time to Market: One of the major benefits of outsourcing is to reduce the time to market for any products or services of the client.
Focus on Core Competencies: The whole objective of outsourcing is to enable the client company to enable the client company to concentrate on its core competence. By outsourcing your products to a company that specializes in that area, the client company significantly reduces its management involvement in production issues, thereby freeing such resources for core business activities.
Value Generation: In order to extract more value from its products, the company can measure the return on its investment. By doing so, it becomes clear to both the vendor and the client as to what are the key value parameters for the project and for the outsourcing relationship. This in turn helps both parties to monitor and plan for maximum value in the engagement.
While MOQs serve a very critical role in ensuring production quality consistency, we do understand that it is not always possible for our customers to meet those production MOQs. This is especially true if you’re a new brand and don’t know exactly how the market is going to receive your product(s). We, therefore, try our best to be as accommodating as possible on our minimum order quantities. Apart from production MOQ limitations, another consideration is freight. The larger your order quantity and volume, the cheaper it is per unit to ship internationally and therefore it might be in your best interest to order the largest possible quantity to make it cheaper on landed cost basis. Please let us know about the order quantity you will be comfortable with and we will collaborate with you to make it work for both of us.
The company is the world’s best leather printing machine supplier. We are your one-stop shop for all needs. Our staff are highly-specialized and will help you find the product you need.