Screen Print vs DTG vs Embroidery: Which Decoration Method for Your Order?
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Three ways to get a logo onto apparel, and people pick the wrong one constantly — usually by defaulting to whatever a supplier quotes first. Quick orientation before the detail:
- Screen print — best for simple logos in bulk. Cheapest at volume.
- DTG (direct-to-garment) — best for detailed or full-color art in small runs.
- Embroidery — best for a premium feel on polos, caps, and jackets.
Get this match right and you save money and end up with something that looks the way you pictured. Get it wrong and you either overpay or get a muddy print.
Screen print: the volume workhorse
Ink pushed through a stencil, one screen per color. The setup is the cost — once the screens are burned, each shirt is cheap, which is why screen print wins decisively at volume.
- Sweet spot: 50+ shirts, 1–3 colors, simple logo
- Cost: lowest per-unit at scale; ~$5.20 for a 250-run cotton tee, one color
- Catch: every color is a separate screen and setup fee. A 6-color gradient logo gets expensive fast.
- Looks like: crisp, durable, slightly raised ink. The classic tee print.
If your logo is one or two flat colors and you're ordering more than a hundred shirts, stop reading. This is your answer.
DTG: the detail specialist
A printer sprays ink directly into the fabric, like an inkjet for shirts. No screens, no per-color setup — so complexity is free, but each shirt costs more to run.
- Sweet spot: small runs (24–100), photo-realistic or many-color art
- Cost: +$2–4 over a plain shirt; flat regardless of color count
- Catch: the per-unit price barely drops with volume, so it loses to screen print on big orders. Works best on light-colored 100% cotton.
- Looks like: soft, flat, detailed. The ink sits in the fabric, not on top.
DTG exists for the order screen print can't do well: 40 shirts with a detailed, full-color design. No setup fees to amortize, every color included.
Embroidery: the premium signal
Thread stitched into the fabric. The one-time cost is "digitizing" — turning your logo into a stitch file. After that it's per-piece, priced by stitch count.
- Sweet spot: polos, caps, jackets, fleece — anything where "quality" is the message
- Cost: +$3–5 per piece on a left-chest logo; more for big or dense designs
- Catch: terrible for fine detail and small text (thread has limits) and for gradients (you can't stitch a fade). Adds weight and structure.
- Looks like: raised, textured, durable. Reads as the most expensive option, because it is.
Embroidery is what you want on a $50 corporate jacket or an executive polo. It would be the wrong call on a 500-piece giveaway tee — too slow, too costly, and the casual look doesn't need it.
The decision in one table
| If your order is… | Use |
|---|---|
| Under 100, detailed or full-color art | DTG |
| Polos, caps, jackets, premium feel | Embroidery |
| Photo or gradient on a tee | DTG |
| Maximum durability, simple logo, big run | Screen print |
| Small text or fine detail | Screen print or DTG (not embroidery) |
The mistakes I see most
Embroidering a giveaway tee. Slow, pricey, and the casual cotton tee doesn't need the premium look. Screen print it.
Screen printing a 12-color logo. Each color's a screen. That gradient brand mark might be a $9 setup-per-color nightmare — DTG would've been cheaper and looked better.
DTG on a 1,000-shirt order. DTG's flat per-unit cost means no volume break. At that scale screen print is half the price.
Tiny embroidered text. Thread can't render 6-point type. It blobs. Keep embroidered text big and simple, or switch methods.
A note on mixing
Nothing says you can't combine. A common move: embroidered logo on the chest of a polo for the premium hit, screen-printed event detail on the sleeve. Or DTG a detailed front graphic and embroider a clean logo on the cap that goes with it. Match each method to what it does best.
FAQs
What's the difference between screen printing and DTG?
Screen printing pushes ink through a stencil — one screen per color — so it's cheapest at volume but charges per color. DTG sprays ink directly into the fabric like an inkjet, so color complexity is free but each shirt costs more and the price barely drops with quantity. Screen print wins big orders; DTG wins small, detailed ones.
Is embroidery better than screen printing?
Neither is "better" — they're for different jobs. Embroidery looks and feels premium and lasts, ideal for polos, caps, and jackets, but it's costly and can't handle fine detail or gradients. Screen print is cheaper, crisper for simple logos, and far better for high-volume casual apparel like tees.
Which decoration method is cheapest?
Screen print, once you're past the setup, especially at 100+ units with a 1–3 color logo — around $5.20 for a 250-run cotton tee. For small runs under ~50, DTG can actually come out cheaper because it has no per-color screen setup to amortize.
What's the best method for a detailed, full-color logo?
DTG for small runs and screen print (with the budget for multiple screens) for large ones. Avoid embroidery for detailed or gradient art — thread can't reproduce fine detail or color fades and the result looks blobby.
Can I combine decoration methods on one order?
Yes, and it's common. For example, an embroidered logo on a polo chest for a premium look plus a screen-printed event detail on the sleeve. Match each method to what it does best rather than forcing one method across the whole job.
Not sure which way to go on a specific order? Send us the logo and the garment and we'll tell you the method that gets the best result for the price — even if it's the cheaper one.
Related: Embroidery vs screen print (the deep dive) · Custom apparel complete guide · How much do custom T-shirts cost?
Pricing from openXpromo catalog at stated quantities; method guidance from PPAI Power Report 2026 and our production team.