Time saving tips and multiple DTG finishes

Resolute DTG’s managing director, Colin Marsh, shares his top tips for saving time and for creating various different finishes for your direct to garment prints.

Trends change, some companies follow them while others create them. On August 6, 1991 the World Wide Web went live and changed the way businesses communicate with each other. It wasn’t long before e-commerce appeared offering greater choice and a much wider range of products at competitive prices. DTG, DTS and other garment decoration processes have certainly benefited from this quick and easy way of purchasing day to day products. T shirts, ink and vinyl arrive like magic the next day, if you have already gone e-commerce yourself your own website will be working away completing the loop. But there is one thing the internet cannot give us more of and that is time.

So what do we do when time runs out and we have to leave the office? Don’t panic, whip out your smart phone and hey presto your back in the office. As a passenger in a car, sat on a bus or a train and nowadays even some planes you can continue to work with your smart phone and order those essential items. But no matter what phone you have the screen will be small and often text is to difficult to read. And there you have it, the next trend. Hail the e-commerce smartphone website, a quick and easy way to extend your working day should you need to. Now mobile websites are not strictly speaking anything new, but the e-commerce side and its association with the garment industry is. If your preferred supplier is a smart one they will probably have this covered without you even knowing. Taking figures from Google we can see there are now more searches on smart phones than any other device. You can now order anything from DTG ink to a custom printed T shirt without the need to be at your desk. So don’t waste your precious time, checkout your supplier and make sure you are getting the most from the new mobile e-commerce trend.

Curing DTG prints – how to get the finish you want

When curing DTG prints it is possible to achieve a range of different finishes. Depending on the design you may want to achieve a flat distressed matt image or high gloss high definition photographic look. Different finishes are achieved by tweaking the curing process. Let’s take a look at the options and how they affect the printed image.

Gloss finish

The glossy high resolution look is popular on dark retail fashion wear, printing black on black with a gloss finish gives that classy designer look. In order to achieve the best possible gloss image you will need a good quality Teflon sheet, most are a golden brown colour and have a slippery non-porous surface. When curing with Teflon it is important you start with the DTG print still wet. This can be a fine line between to wet where bleed will be apparent or to dry which will produce a dull flat look. Place the printed shirt on the heat press and position the Teflon sheet over the printed area. Be careful not to slide the Teflon sheet across the image as this will cause a smudge. Close the heat press under medium pressure for your normal curing time and once removed you should see a nice glossy print.

Matt finish

This can be achieved by using a good quality silicone curing paper. The process is similar as for gloss but you do not need the print to be naturally wet before curing. Place the silicone paper over the printed area and close the heat press. Be careful not to drag the paper over the image or you could smudge it. Close the heat press but this time use only light pressure for your normal curing time. Once done remove the silicone paper and you should see a nice flat matt print. When curing in this way a distressed image in most cases will look better in matt rather than gloss.