How to Create Impactful Merchandise Using Digital Printers

Digital printing has taken off in recent years and is now a mainstream option for creating merchandise with high-quality designs. Due to their versatility, digital printers are growing in popularity, enabling everyone from large-scale manufacturers to hobbyists with desktop printers to effortlessly enhance the look and appeal of their products.

Direct to Film (DTF) printers have been a mainstay of this revolution, offering you perhaps the most flexible option to create a variety of merchandise. Here’s a quick primer on DTF printers and how they prove to be game-changers in helping you create attractive products.

Understanding DTF Printing

Digital printers, and specifically DTF printers, allow you to apply computer-generated designs onto a variety of objects and materials. The process is fairly straightforward:

• Create a design using a graphic design / RIP software
• Print the design onto a PET film (also called DTF Film)
• Cover the design with adhesive powder and shake well.
• Use a DTF Oven in order to cure the ink and bond it to the DTF Film
• Heat-press the PET film on the garment
• Tear off the PET film and finish transferring.

You can use DTF technology to print on a variety of fabrics, including cotton, polyester, and blends, among others. They’re ideal for applying designs to products such as shirts, hoodies, caps, bags, jeans, and more. They also have a significant advantage over Direct to Garment (DTG) printers since the latter have size limitations with the products you can print on and are not as economical as DTF printers.

UV DTF Printers Allow for More Flexibility

While DTF printers are ideal for fabrics and textiles of all kinds, ultraviolet (UV) DTF printers allow you to scale to other materials, such as glass, ceramic, wood, plate, crystal, PVC, acrylic, plastic, stone, and leather among others. UV DTF printers can print on almost any flat or cylindrical surface, including bottles, tiles, metal plaques, wallets, phone cases, and more.

Ultraviolet technology essentially allows you to create high-resolution prints that last a long time and are ideal for these applications. The process is even simpler than with DTF printing:

• Create a computer-generated graphic design
• Print the design on a laminated sticker
• Transfer the design to the object

UV DTF printers are also superior to standard UV printers in the same way that DTF printers are better than DTG printers; UV DTF printers have no height limit and can even be used to apply designs on irregularly-shaped objects.

Tips and Tricks for Impactful DTF Printing

By paying attention to the specifics of DTF printing, you can create bold, vibrant prints that last you a long time. Here are some tips to create effective visuals that are perfect for DTF and UV DTF printing.

• Work With High-Quality Products

The first step is to ensure that you’re using reliable, top-notch products that will give you consistent results across your print runs. For starters, use a high-quality DTF printer that is known to offer excellent performance. If you’re using a UV DTF printer, consider opting for one with a built-in laminator. This will help you eliminate one step during the printing process and basically generate a sticker that is ready to be applied to an object of your choice.

It’s worth noting that DTF or even UV DTF printing is a relatively economical method of generating prints, and initial investments can go a long way. You may also want to consider a provider that offers you print bundles — basically all the necessary accessories and consumables you need to start printing.

• Use High-Res Images

This is perhaps the most crucial step with DTF printing. Using high-resolution images will ensure you don’t end up with blurry, pixelated prints that are unappealing. Use graphic designs that are at least 300 DPI to achieve bold, clearly-defined prints. There are a range of softwares and vector graphics editors that can help you create the necessary designs, the most recognizable of which include Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.

• Use Vector Graphics

Vector graphics are essentially images that can be scaled up or down without loss of quality or clarity. This includes file formats such as .svg and .ai, which are easy to manipulate and achieve high-quality prints.

Raster graphics, such as .jpeg and .png files, on the other hand, are not easy to scale and can often result in pixelated images. JPEG files, in particular, don’t have transparency and will often result in a design with a visible background (typically a white or black one). You could make do with a very high-res PNG file, but there is always the chance that it may not scale well depending on the size or type of surface you’re applying the design to.

• Manage Colors Appropriately

Digital printers typically use CMYK color spaces as opposed to RGB, which is more suited to web and screen designs. CMYK is more appropriate for prints and will give you an accurate indication of how your designs will turn out once they’re printed.

You should also calibrate color intensity, including conducting tests and fine-tuning hues to ensure a seamless transition from screen to material. A color chart or swatch book may also prove useful in avoiding inconsistencies.

• Eliminate the Bleed

The bleed refers to the area around the design that sometimes gets left in with screen and web designs. With prints, however, this can either leave a transparent or semi-transparent border on your fabric around the actual print. By eliminating the bleed, you can ensure your print stretches to the edge of the garment, giving your product a polished look.

Digital printers offer unrivaled convenience when it comes to applying designs to various materials. This is due to the simplicity of the process and the cost-effectiveness of the technology involved. With more innovations coming in, it’s very much the future of merchandise design.