Pick DTF when the art is full color, has fine detail, or changes from guest to guest. Pick screen printing when one design in a color or two goes on shirt after shirt. Plenty of Louisville events want both, and one station can run them side by side.
DTF, pressed while guests wait
- Good at: photos, gradients, small type, and per-guest edits like a name, a table number or the year of a Derby party.
- How it runs: transfers are printed on film in Fullerton before the freight leaves, then each one is heat-pressed in front of the guest. There are no screens, so switching designs mid-shift costs nothing.
- Trade-off: film and humidity don't get along, so on a sticky May afternoon we keep transfers sealed until the moment they're pressed.
Screen printing, pulled by hand
- Good at: a bold one- to three-color mark on a long run, like the booth giveaway every KICC attendee walks off with.
- How it runs: one screen per color, ink pulled and flash-cured at the table, and a crowd that stops to watch the squeegee.
- Trade-off: screens get burned in Fullerton before the kit ships, so art that shows up on the morning of the event can't go on a press.
Quick test: if you picture three hundred people in the same shirt, that's screen printing. If every guest should leave with something a bit different, that's DTF. Send the art with your quote request and we'll tell you which one it is.
How it splits in Louisville
A sponsor booth at the Kentucky International Convention Center with one logo on every tee is a press job. A NuLu gallery night where each guest wants a name on the sleeve is DTF. Derby parties often skip both for the hat bar, because nobody in seersucker is pulling a tee over the outfit. When an event needs two methods, we put them in one footprint and staff both.