TL;DR
- DTG cost is dominated by pretreatment and white ink; DTF by film, powder and press time.
- Industrial DTG only beats DTF economics above roughly 400–600 dark garments per day.
- In DTF the heat press, not the printer, is normally the bottleneck.
Machine classes are compared by print speed, but the constraint is somewhere else in both processes. Comparing printers alone leads to a line that cannot deliver its quoted output.
| Entry DTG | Industrial DTG | Entry DTF | Industrial DTF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Typical investment | €16k–30k | €120k–350k | €6k–18k | €45k–140k |
| Dark garments / h | 18–35 | 120–260 | n/a (roll output) | n/a (roll output) |
| Real line output / h | 18–35 | 120–240 | 45–90 (press-limited) | 180–400 (multi-press) |
| Pretreatment | Required | Inline | Not required | Not required |
| Main consumable driver | White ink + fluid | White ink + fluid | Film + powder | Film + powder |
| Labour per garment | High | Low | Medium | Medium |
| Best for | One-offs, samples | Volume darks, no stock | Mixed short runs | Transfer production |
Bottleneck logic
Output/h = min(Printer_rate, Pretreat_rate, Press_or_Dryer_rate, Handling_rate)
Interactive example
DTF consumable cost per transfer
- Film
- € 0,195
- Ink + powder
- € 0,374
- Total per transfer
- € 0,569
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Typical consumption benchmarks: pretreatment, ink, film and powder
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Choosing between a DTG and a DTF line
A 9,000 pieces/month shop tested both and found the answer in its garment mix.
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