TL;DR
- There is no globally cheaper method — there is a break-even run size where the ranking flips.
- Screen printing wins on long runs and few colours; DTG and DTF win on short runs and full colour.
- Setup time, registration time and reject rate move the break-even more than ink price does.
Most shops decide the method by habit or by the machine they already own. That is fine until a job sits close to the break-even point, where the wrong choice quietly removes the entire margin. The decision is arithmetic: fixed cost per job versus variable cost per garment.
Who is this for?
Shops that quote mixed run sizes — from 12 pieces to 5,000 — and need a defensible rule for which method to route a job to.
The underlying structure
Every method has a fixed block (screens, film, setup, registration, pretreatment warm-up) and a variable block (ink, powder, film, garment handling, curing energy, direct labour per piece). Screen printing loads the fixed block; digital methods load the variable block.
Q* = (Fixed_A − Fixed_B) / (Variable_B − Variable_A)
- Fixed = setup, screens, films, registration, warm-up, cleaning
- Variable = per-garment ink, powder, film, energy, direct labour, rejects
- Q* is the quantity where both methods cost the same
Advantages and disadvantages
| Screen printing | DTG | DTF | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best run size | 150+ pieces | 1–50 pieces | 10–300 pieces |
| Colour count | Cost rises per colour | Free | Free |
| Setup per job | High (screens, registration) | Very low | Low |
| Substrate range | Broad | Cotton-dominant | Very broad |
| Consumable driver | Ink, emulsion, reclaim | Ink + pretreatment | Film + powder |
| Labour profile | Skilled setup, low run labour | Low skill, high per-piece | Print + press, splittable |
Typical mistakes
- Comparing ink cost per garment and ignoring setup labour, the single largest cost on short runs.
- Treating DTG pretreatment as a rounding error — it is often 20–35% of digital consumable cost.
- Using list-price machine hours instead of measured cycle times.
- Ignoring rejects: a 4% reject rate on a garment-heavy job outweighs most ink differences.
- Comparing methods at one run size and generalising the result to the whole order book.
Realistic 144-piece, 3-colour job
- Screen printing fixed cost
- €78 (3 screens, setup, registration)
- Screen printing variable cost
- €0.41 / garment
- DTF fixed cost
- €9
- DTF variable cost
- €0.94 / garment
- Break-even run size
- (78 − 9) / (0.94 − 0.41) ≈ 130 pieces
At 144 pieces screen printing is marginally cheaper — but only if the setup really takes the assumed time. Add 15 minutes of registration trouble and DTF wins.
Interactive example
Investment, monthly benefit — payback, ROI and NPV
- Payback
- 11.8 months
- ROI over 36 months
- 206 %
- NPV
- € 171.250
Same calculation kernel as the full calculators. For a decision-grade result, open the matching calculator.
Run the numbers in a calculator
Turn your own numbers into a bank-ready PDF report.
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