Go with screen printing when one or two colors of the same design need to land on hundreds of shirts. Go with DTF when the art is full color, detailed, or different for each guest. A lot of Memphis events end up using both.
DTF at the heat press
- Good at: photographic art, gradients, small type, and a name or a date added for each guest.
- How it runs: transfers are printed at the shop ahead of time and pressed onto the shirt while the guest watches. Changing designs costs nothing because there are no screens.
- Trade-off: the print sits thinner than screen ink, and there's less of a show at the table.
Screen printing on the floor
- Good at: a bold logo, one to three colors, and long runs of the same art.
- How it runs: one screen per color, ink pulled by hand and flash-cured at the table. People stop and film it.
- Trade-off: new art needs a new screen, so the design is fixed once the freight leaves Fullerton.
How Memphis events tend to split
One sponsor mark on a few hundred tees across a show day at Renasant Convention Center is a screen job. Blues-poster lettering with each guest's name under it at a Beale Street party is DTF. A label release with full-color cover art goes DTF too, while a festival crowd by the river that wants one bold design goes screen. When an event needs both, we run them side by side in one footprint. Caps belong at the hat bar or with embroidery. Compare the live DTF and live screen printing stations, or send your art and we'll tell you which fits.