What Is DTG Printing? Why Direct-to-Garment Is Better for the Planet
Ever wondered how your Selas Cosmos tee gets its vibrant, durable print? It's all thanks to a process called direct-to-garment (DTG) printing, and it's one of the reasons we can call ourselves a genuinely sustainable brand.
What is direct-to-garment printing?
DTG printing uses specialised inkjet printers that spray ink directly onto a garment, much like a home office printer, but for t-shirts instead of paper. Our production partner Printful uses this method, applying water-based inks that soak directly into the fabric's fibres rather than sitting on top of it.
That's a big deal for comfort and durability. Because the ink becomes part of the fabric, prints feel soft rather than plasticky, stay flexible and breathable, and resist cracking or peeling wash after wash.
No microplastics, no wastewater
Here's the part we're most proud of. Traditional screen printing relies on plastisol ink, a PVC-based plastic that contains chemicals like phthalates, which can leach into the environment. Heat-transfer methods rely on vinyl and adhesives that aren't biodegradable or easily recyclable either. Both processes leave a plastic layer sitting on top of the fabric, one that can crack and shed microplastics into waterways every time it's washed.
DTG skips that problem entirely. The water-based, Oeko-Tex-certified vegan inks we use soak into the cotton itself, so there's no plastic layer to shed, and the printing process itself produces zero wastewater.
No long print runs, no overproduction
Traditional screen printing usually only makes financial sense in bulk, because setting up the screens for each design is costly and time-consuming. That pushes brands towards printing hundreds of the same design at once, whether or not they sell, and unsold stock often ends up in landfill.
DTG flips that model. Because each print is applied digitally with no setup cost per design, we can print a single t-shirt at a time, made only when a customer orders it. That means no minimum print runs, no guessing how many of a design to make, and no excess stock going to waste.
Why we chose DTG for Selas Cosmos
For a brand built on organic cotton and low-impact production, pairing that fabric with a printing method that adds plastic to the garment never made sense. DTG lets us create bold, multi-colour designs, like our animal-inspired tees, without compromising the sustainability of the fabric underneath, while only ever printing what's actually been ordered.
The bottom line
Every wash of a DTG-printed tee releases fewer synthetic fibres into the water supply than a traditional plastic-based print, because there's no plastic print layer to begin with. Add in the fact that nothing is printed until it's ordered, and it's a production choice with a real environmental payoff on two fronts.
Shop the collection and see (and feel) the difference DTG makes for yourself.
Sources
- Printful, "Direct-to-garment printing: Your designs, brought to life."
- Kornit Digital blog, Julia Suh, "The Environmental Impact of Digital T-Shirt Printing," 27 January 2025.
