Three Ways to Put a Design on a Shirt
Most custom apparel is decorated one of three ways: screen printing, direct-to-film (DTF) transfer, or embroidery. Each has a different look, feel, and best use case, and picking the right one up front saves time and money.
Screen printing pushes ink through a stencil (the "screen") directly onto the fabric. It's the standard for team shirts, event apparel, and anything printed in bulk — the ink is durable and the per-shirt cost drops fast as quantity goes up.
DTF transfer prints the design onto a film, then heat-presses it onto the garment. It handles full-color, photo-realistic designs and small gradients that screen printing struggles with, and it works on a wider range of fabrics — including blends that don't take ink well.
Embroidery stitches the design directly into the fabric with thread. It's the go-to for logos on polos, hats, jackets, and anything that needs a more polished, premium look. It doesn't work well for fine detail or large coverage areas, but it's extremely durable and holds up to years of washing.
Choosing the Right Fabric
The decoration method and the fabric work together. Ring-spun cotton takes screen printing and DTF cleanly and feels soft against the skin. Poly and poly-blend fabrics (common in athletic wear and jerseys) are more breathable and durable for active use, and they pair especially well with DTF transfers. Heavier fabrics like fleece and canvas hold embroidery best.
Design Tips for Better Prints
- Keep text legible at the size it will actually print — fine print that looks fine on screen can blur on fabric.
- Fewer colors generally means a cleaner screen-print result and a lower cost at volume.
- For embroidery, simplify small text and avoid thin outlines — thread has a minimum stitch width.
- Vector files (AI, EPS, SVG) print cleaner than low-resolution raster images.
Getting Started
TechSpec handles the design work and apparel decoration in-house, so you're working directly with the people doing the printing, not a call center. Browse the apparel catalog to see what's available, or get a quote directly for a custom run.