DTG (direct-to-garment) sprays ink onto the cloth. Heat transfer prints a film (or a dye paper) and presses it on. Both put a picture on a T-shirt. They do not share a mill, a hand or a break-even quantity.
Decoration routes belong on a one-stop accessory BOM. TrimGem University teaches DTG next to transfers because buyers specify both on one capsule. The Guangzhou catalogue will keep adding print methods; fibre and quantity still pick the process.
Six practical differences
| Heat transfer | DTG | |
|---|---|---|
| How | print film or paper, then press | inkjet on the garment |
| Happiest fibre | polyester (sublimation); glue films on many fibres | cotton and cotton-rich; darks need pretreatment |
| Hand | glue films have a skin; sublimation has none | soft if the ink is right |
| MOQ | films want dozens to hundreds to amortise | one-offs are native |
| Waste | carrier films | pretreatment and ink, little film |
| Photo on dark cotton | white underbase on film (DTF, some glue) | pretreatment + white ink |
Sublimation is the transfer route that belongs on white/light polyester: vivid, wash-tough, no glue. Glue / offset transfers are the route for mixed fibres and dark grounds, with a patch feel.
DTG is the route for cotton when you want the cloth to remain cloth. Dark cotton is extra chemistry (pretreatment). Volume DTG is slower per piece than a stacked transfer press once films are printed.
When to pick which
- 1–10 garments, cotton, custom — DTG.
- Team poly jerseys, bright colour — sublimation transfer.
- Fifty-plus work tees, mixed colours, one logo — glue transfers or screen; run the numbers.
- Need STANDARD 100 / low-VOC story — water-based DTG inks are the easier narrative; transfers still need their own RSL on adhesive and ink.
DTF in the middle
DTF (direct-to-film, white-ink transfers) prints onto film with a powder adhesive and presses onto almost anything: cotton, poly, leather, denim, darks. It is the “universal” cousin of heat transfer. The trade-off is a slight glue hand versus good DTG on premium cotton.
There is no universal winner. Fibre, quantity, hand and colourway decide.
A mixed carton — cotton tees plus poly tops plus one dark hoodie — is how factories quietly split processes and then wonder why the hands do not match. Write the process per SKU. If the brand wants one decoration language across fibres, DTF is the honest compromise, with the glue-hand disclaimer in the tech pack.
Ink and pretreatment chemistry still sit in the RSL. DTG’s “water-based” story is not a pass on STANDARD 100 until the printed garment is tested. Transfer adhesives can carry phthalates that the face ink does not. Test the stack.
TrimGem samples the process per SKU. A cotton DTG brief and a rubbery transfer are two products, not an upgrade path.