“Should this be printed or embroidered?” comes up on almost every order. There’s no single right answer, just the right fit for your art, your count and the garment. Here’s the short version.
Screen printing
Ink pushed through a stencil, one screen per color. It’s bold, durable, and the most cost-effective once you’re past a couple dozen of the same design. It shines on tees, hoodies and bags. The trade-off is setup per color, so it’s less ideal for tiny runs or full-color photo art.
Embroidery
Your design stitched in thread. It reads as premium and holds up for years, which is why it’s the go-to for polos, hats, jackets and anything with a company logo. Pricing tracks stitch count rather than colors, so a clean logo is efficient while a huge, dense design costs more. Fine detail and thin text don’t always translate to thread, and we’ll flag that before it’s a problem.
Direct-to-garment (DTG)
A printer lays full-color ink straight onto the fabric, a bit like an inkjet for shirts. It handles detailed, multi-color and photo-style art with no per-color setup, which makes it great for small runs and one-offs. It looks best on cotton and lighter garments.
Quick rule of thumb
Big run of a simple design? Screen print. Logos on polos and hats? Embroidery. A handful of shirts with detailed, colorful art? DTG. Still not sure? That’s our job. Tell us the design and the count in the Design Lab or grab an instant estimate, and we’ll recommend the method that gets you the best result for the money.