Direct to Film Printing

With direct-to-film printing, your design is first printed on a transfer film before being heat pressed onto your desired product. This not only makes the print more durable, but you also get stronger, richer colours, even with multi-colour-detailed designs.

“Direct to Film” (also “Direct to Foil” or “DTF”) is a modern printing technique that can be used to print on almost every material. To do so, the motif is not printed directly on the product (as with Digital Direct Printing) but first mirror-inverted onto a film or transfer film. A powder is then applied to the still-wet product, which seals the colours and functions as a protective layer. Once the motif has dried, it is transferred to the product using a heat press, and the transfer foil is removed.

After printing, an adhesive is applied to the film, which is then pressed onto the product under heat. This ensures that both light and dark products can be printed and remain durable and stretchable even after multiple washings.

DTF is suitable for plenty of materials and textiles – bright or dark textiles, t-shirts made of 100% cotton or breathable jerseys made of polyester. It is used especially for coarse materials such as caps, hats, bags, or bag packs. However, it is well suited for sensitive textiles such as sports and functional shirts, as it protects the fine fibers.

Printing direct to film is a great option when you need multicolour designs, logos with fine lines, or high-resolution photos. It produces bold, true-colour prints that retain shape and colour for a long time, even on stressed textiles.

To be honest, nothing, because almost all design ideas and formats can be achieved using DTF. If you want to be on the safe side, you can pay attention to the following:

Still don't know if DTF is the right choice? No worries: Before your order goes to print, we will check your design and determine the best printing method.