Printing and colour variation have become too important in the fashion garments (t-shirt, skirt, robe, underwear, jacket, jean, and many more) industries. Different types of print by using different kinds of ink make the variations. Among them, both screen and digital print are too popular for the custom fabric print.
Depending on artwork, popularity, and demand, DTG (direct to garments) experts pick the most suitable printing process.
During the production and manufacturing order placement time, new entrepreneurs become confused about these two things. Cause most common cases, they can’t be related to the differences between those two types of printing. Even so, many myths and confusion have risen here.
Today, I will try to make all the comparisons and contrast very clean about screen print vs digital print. It can be a lengthy discussion, but we expect you to stay with us till the last word.
Introduce this two printing concept
Color, design and fabrics are typical for both printing processes. Still, there are some distinguishes. Before getting familiar with those 2 distinguishes, we should be familiar with the two printing concepts. So let’s jump and know basic notions about them.
Screen print
For screen printing, the essential thing is a screen. It’s a silk screen, which can be in different sizes. Besides that, it needs transparent paper, a sheet of Plexiglas, and emulsion. This is the basic form of the t-shirt, jeans, skirt, or other printing, and this is a pretty manual way. The best part of the printing technique is that you can print one or a hundred pieces for the same price.
Digital print
For the last 6/7 years, digital printing has been getting famous. All the tasks of printing in this technique have been done digitally. This is the reason it is called a digital print. In this format, all the printing has been processed by a computer and converted to colorful art format on the t-shirt fabric. In this process, it does not need too much heat or too much time to complete the printing.
So many clothing vendors in china that are active in serving printed t-shirts. I am familiar with some such types of companies providing those printing services. MGOO Fashion is one of those companies that offer quality printing services from china. In their factory, they use various printing methods. No matter your expectations and quantity, they are always fit to make you happy.
Essentially it is working with a large satisfied client base. They have 15+ years of experience in this sector, where they are providing the best quality and secure delivery. They are working on printing shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts, jackets, and different types of dresses. To know more about them and their service, you are invited to visit their website.
Screen print vs digital print | fair Compare
Proudction methods
All the things in the digital printing case have been done digitally, such as designing, ink processing, printing, and others. Even some cases, the drying process has done digitally. On the other hand, all the things have been done by manual method for the screen printing. Screen clearing, mould processing, color, and other things need the human touch. In this comparison, digital printing got a clear win over screen printing.
Production efficiency
For business purposes, efficient production is too important. If there is any lack of inefficient output, businesses have a chance to face unexpected threads. However, in digital printing, all things are operated digitally. This is the reason here efficiency rate is better. On the other hand, human work production or screen printing has limitations. First of all, it cannot give continuous production. Besides that, it’s a slow process for production. That’s why those businesses who want fast output like to pick the digitalized way.
Production cost
The digital printing and production cost will be similar no matter how many t-shirts you want to print. Even if the design is different, still the price will be similar. But when you want to add more colors, screen printing will cost more. On the other hand, if you pick digital printing, you can save money. The cost of screen print usually depends on the number of colors you want to use and the total number of products.
Production quality
If you want to produce something with printing details, you must pick digital printing. Cause this process and ensure each detail of the design. At the same time, here, you can use custom colors also. But the printing quality will be better in the screen printing. If your business aims to have the quality of the details, then screen printing is the better option for you.
Work accuracy
From the production level to the consumer, all the people want the work’s accuracy and perfection. Since digital printing uses a computerized system, it can ensure accuracy. Every single detail can come accurately. On the other hand, digital printing can not give similar accuracy. Sometimes if the design has more than 3 or 4 colors, it becomes challenging for the screen printing. That’s why digital printing is a better option here. But often we see, hand painting with the screen print can bring a thing to the next level.
Limitations
Before ending, you should concern about the restriction between those two printing. We know that Screen printing is a bit slow with low details and high quality. On the other hand, digital printing is faster with full design details, but it carries an average grade. But Screen printing has color limitations. The artwork should be in 6 colors or less in this process.
On the other hand, digital printing does not have any limitations. Depending on the design, you can use unlimited color. You can print on shirts more than bags and jackets for screen printing. At the same time, digital printing is open for any fabric and anything.
Those are the fundamental differences between the two printing concepts. But here is one thing I must say digital print can keep the high-quality printing details that screen print can’t. But there are some art-related issues with the screen print. At the same time, some quality and efficiency can give some extra advantages to screen printing. However, the perfect printing process is essential for the proper output, besides the design and color. Before choosing any printing procedure, you must think twice about your demand.
Similarities in screen and digital printing
Until this phase of the article, I think you already understand that those two printing processes are different. But After all the things, there are some exciting similarities to those printing concepts.
First of all, we can use any fabric for screen printing. Different grades of material or cloth are used in the industry to make the t-shirt. No matter which type of fabric you are using, you can still pick any printing method for most cases.
The second thing is design. For t-shirt printing, a design is too much important. Even a 50% value of a T-Shirt is dependent on its design. However, no matter which design you pick, this is always suitable for both printing methods.
Back many years, it was not possible. But now we have much-updated technology, and all impossible things are possible today.
And the last but the most important thing is about color. For printing, color is also a sensitive parameter. Many years ago, there was a massive limitation for using color. But now, we can use unlimited colors for custom fabric print and manufacturing purposes. You can still use unlimited color for both cases, no matter which printing process you pick.
Last words
At the end of the discussion, we are not arguing or interested in declaring anything of the screen or digital printing as the best. Cause in the average popularity graph, both printing skim have demand and popularity in the market.
And differently, both of them have some speciality. Here we tried to present what is the difference between them. At the same time we also present some similarities to make the scenario better understandable.
Still, if you ask me which one you should pick, it depends on many parameters.Those are your budget, the quantity you want, the design, and many more things. After checking every parameter, you can decide which printing way will be better. I hope you have already become familiar with the differences between those two printing methods, which will help you make a better decision.