TL;DR
- DTG wins on single dark garments and on soft hand; DTF wins on mixed substrates and batching.
- DTG cost is pretreatment plus white ink; DTF cost is film, powder and press time.
- The comparison must be made on the whole line, because the bottleneck differs by process.
DTG and DTF are compared per print, but they fail at different points. DTG stalls at pretreatment and curing; DTF stalls at the heat press. A per-print comparison therefore predicts the wrong cost at volume.
| DTG | DTF | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost driver | Pretreatment + white ink | Film + powder + press labour |
| Substrate range | Cotton-dominant | Cotton, poly, blends, nylon |
| Hand feel | Softer on cotton | Film layer noticeable |
| Batching | Poor — one garment at a time | Strong — print now, press later |
| Bottleneck | Pretreat + print | Heat press |
| Minimum viable run | 1 | 1, but efficient from 10 |
| Rework flexibility | None | Transfers can be stored |
DTG = Pretreat + Ink_white + Ink_colour + Cure + Labour + Rejects | DTF = Ink + Film + Powder + Cure + Press_labour + Rejects
Dark cotton tee, A4 full-colour print
- DTG: pretreatment €0.31, white ink €0.62, colour €0.24, labour €0.68
- €1.85 + curing
- DTF: ink €0.29, film €0.21, powder €0.07, press labour €0.44
- €1.01 + curing
- Light garment, same print
- DTG €0.94 vs DTF €1.01 — DTG wins
The ranking flips with garment colour. Model your actual light/dark mix, not an average garment.
- Choose DTG when: cotton-heavy, one-off personalisation, softest hand required, dark share below ~50%.
- Choose DTF when: mixed substrates, batched production, decentralised pressing, poly and performance wear.
- Run both when: your order book genuinely splits — this is common above 4,000 pieces per month.
Interactive example
DTF consumable cost per transfer
- Film
- € 0,195
- Ink + powder
- € 0,374
- Total per transfer
- € 0,569
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