DTF Transfers in Oklahoma City
A DTF transfer is a design printed onto a film, then heat-pressed into the garment. DTF is short for direct-to-film. There are no screens to burn, so full color costs the same as one color — and we print and press the transfers here in the Oklahoma City metro rather than ordering them in.
Not sure it is the right method for your idea? Compare all three methods and we will tell you which one your job wants.
Updated
It is the right call when
- The artwork is full color, or photographic. A photograph cannot be stitched. Printed, it is just a file.
- Tees, hoodies and blends. Thin fabric does not take a stitch well — thread stiffens the panel and can pull it out of shape.
- A small run, or just the one. No screen to justify across a batch, so one is a normal thing to ask for.
- The design is big and detailed. Full-front artwork with a lot going on is what thread fights.
- A matching set for a group. Full color costs no more than one color, so a set stays sensible at six people or sixty.
Working the other way round? A structured cap or a left-chest logo wants embroidery, and a saying or a symbol that is yours alone may want a patch.
Worth knowing
A DTF transfer is printed rather than screened, and that one difference is where the arithmetic comes from. Screen printing charges by the color because every color in a design is a separate screen: each one gets burned, lined up, run and cleaned, and that work is paid for whether the order is six shirts or six hundred. So short runs get expensive and many colors get expensive, and a photograph is not really printable that way at all. A transfer has no screens in it. The whole design goes down in one pass on the film, however many colors are in it, which is why a run of six costs the same per color as a run of sixty and why full color costs no more than one. The transfers are printed here in the Oklahoma City metro and pressed onto the piece in the same room, rather than ordered in and passed along.
Worth knowing about the wash
A transfer sits as a thin flexible layer on the surface of the fabric rather than sinking into the weave the way a stitch does. That is what lets it hold full color and fine detail, and it is the honest limit of the method: the print is on the shirt, not in it.
So will it crack? A print washed hot and tumbled dry will give up eventually, and that is how most cracked prints got that way. Washed properly it stays sharp: inside out, cool, out of the tumble dryer.
What to send us
A print reproduces exactly what you send, so the file type matters less here than for embroidery and the size matters more.
A vector file
.pdf or .svg. Lines stay sharp at any size, so one file covers a pocket print and a full front. Working in .ai or .eps? Zip it and the form takes it.
A large PNG, with the background out
What matters is how it holds up at print size. And a transparent background prints as the shape of your artwork; a white box prints as a white box.
A photo of the old shirt
Plenty of print jobs start as a picture of something you already own. Send it and we will work from there.
Say what you want
A line, a joke, a name and a number. Describe it — we would rather talk it through than have you give up on the form.
How a DTF job runs
- You send the piece and the artwork. A garment you own, or the blank you want us to bring, plus whatever file you have.
- We quote it. A real number for your piece, from the person about to make it — priced to your artwork, your garment and your quantity.
- The artwork gets set up for print. Sized to the placement, and this is where we say so if it will not hold at the size you asked for.
- You approve the mock. The number is confirmed once you approve the mock, and nothing goes on film before you have seen it.
- It gets printed and pressed, here. To film in the Oklahoma City metro, then onto the piece by hand, by Stephanie.
- The file is kept. Your print file stays on record, so the next run is a message rather than starting over.
How long it takes depends on what it is, how many there are, and whether the artwork needs work — so we tell you with the quote rather than publishing a number that would be wrong for half the jobs reading it.
What it looks like finished
Two shirts, one design
Tee, script in a circle
Cap, printed crest
Photographs of DTF transfer jobs we have finished — shirts, totes, caps and koozies, shot on a phone.
Questions people ask first
What is a DTF transfer?
Direct-to-film. Your design is printed onto a sheet of film and heat-pressed into the garment, so what ends up on the shirt is a thin flexible layer carrying the artwork exactly as you drew it, full color and all. Reach for it when artwork is too detailed or too colorful to be sewn.
Will it crack in the wash?
Not if it is washed the way a print wants to be washed. A DTF print sits on the surface of the fabric rather than in the weave, so heat and tumbling are what wear it out. Inside out, cool water, out of the tumble dryer, no iron across the print. Treated that way it stays sharp.
DTF or screen printing for a small run?
DTF, almost always. Screen printing burns a separate screen for every color, and that work is paid for whether you are making six or six hundred — so a short run in several colors is the worst case for a screen and an ordinary job for a transfer.
Can you do just one?
Yes. One is a normal order here — no screen to justify across a batch. One thing to know first: Digitizing is free on designs we will run again. One-off personalized pieces carry a small setup fee, quoted before anything runs.
Got something in mind? Let's make it yours.
Send a patch, a photo, or just tell us the vibe. If it's a rough idea, even better. We'll figure it out together.