About DTF Printing
DTF Printing Africa is an organisation established in 2021.
We are situated in the picturesque City of Cape Town, South Africa.
Our main goal is to provide high-quality DTF (Direct-to-Film) transfers that are ready for you to heat press, while maintaining affordability. We are here to support screen-printers, embroiderers, brand owners, branding and heat transfer vinyl companies as well textile and label manufacturers.
It has been our constant endeavour to focus on our customers’ needs and help them throughout the ordering process, as well as having in-depth knowledge of all our equipment, including the RIP software, that we use in-house, which has allowed us to develop a keen eye on quality.
We have perfected our DTF prints and can complete large or small orders with ease, within a 24-hour to 48-hour processing time to ensure that our clients are able to keep their production lines flowing.
We provide full-colour digital transfers that are durable, vibrant, and stretchable. Our prints are ready to press, no cutting or weeding necessary. Contact us now and give us a try.
What is DTF Printing?
DTF stands for Direct-to-Film. Direct to film printing is a unique printing technology using a DTF Digital Printer that involves printing designs onto coated PET films which can then be applied by a heat transfer process that can be applied on to cotton, silk, polyester, denim, synthetic fibres like rayon and/or lycra and many other types of fabric.
Direct to Film Printing with us
We use a specialised PET film as well as RIP SOFTWARE to feed your images through to our printers.
This step is the application of hot-melt powder on the film that has the printed image on it. The powder is applied uniformly when the ink is wet and the excess powder is removed. We ensure that the powder is evenly spread all over the printed surface on the film.
We use inline automated shakers with our printers.
The film with the printed image and the applied powder now feeds through a Curing Oven and depending upon the powder, our curing is generally done for 2 to 3 minutes with the temperature around +/- 130 degrees Celsius.
This is the heart of the DTF printing process. The PET film with the image and the melted powder is placed on the fabric in the heat press for a strong adhesion between the film and the fabric. This process is also called ‘curing’. The curing is done at a temperature range of 150 to 160 degrees Celsius for 10 seconds. The film/image is now firmly adhered to the fabric.
Highly recommended for best results and high-performance parameters like wash and rub fastness. In this step, the fabric with the transferred design is pressed in the heat press for around 5 to 8 seconds.
WE PRINT * YOU HEAT PRESS
Direct to Film Printing with us
Not only are you tapping into our expertise in printing, DTF Printing will also allow you durability of the garments, an extremely fine high-quality print which will last. The colours will be vibrant, there will be no cracking and there is a minimum order of 1.00mtr x 55cm with no setup costs.
How to Prepare Print Files
ART WORK REQUIREMENTS
Please read and follow all instructions below before ordering.
- DO NOT FLIP OR MIRROR IMAGE YOUR ARTWORK
- Acceptable file types: pdf, png, tif, jpg
- Send your artwork at 300 – 900 dpi
- Send your artwork at the exact size you want it printed. Please indicate the final image dimensions in writing. *We cannot resize your image
- Save your artwork as a RBG file. If you send an CMYK file it will be converted to RGB.
- Spot colour artwork will be converted to RGB.
- Remove the background. If you do not want the background around your image to be printed, remove it, otherwise it will be printed.
Maximum width is 55cm should you setup your own sheet. Please use WE TRANSFER (www.wetransfer.com) to send your files through to us if over 10MB. Email address: info@dtfprinting.co.za.
We are unable to offer returns or exchanges as all items are printed as orders come in with your special artwork.
We are not responsible for colours. You must check your colours — we do not check colours for you. Most monitors show images in RGB, be sure your file is saved as RBG. Please check your pantone colours as what you see on the screen is not necessarily what will print, as colours will be converted to RGB.
Words less than 1mm will not come out well and will most likely not transfer onto the garment. Fine, tiny details will not adhere to the transfer. Be sure to add a stroke and make any fine details thicker for best results. We are not responsible for artwork that falls below the minimum requirements.
Transparency, see through effects and drop shadows do not work for DTF. Please take off any shadow or gradient effects as it will not print as you see on the screen.
Artwork needs to be created in 300 DPI for best print quality. Images with lower quality will not print well and may appear pixelated.
The printing process needs a high-quality image to have a clean and neat image. Check your edge quality and watch out for pixeled edges in your images and designs.
We cannot print copyrighted or trademarked designs. Please only send designs you own the copyright to!
WASH CARE INSTRUCTIONS
Turn garments inside out when washing.
Cold water wash and wash on a gentle setting.
Do not tumble dry.
Do not add bleach.
Do not tumble dry. We recommend air dryer and do not dry in direct sunlight to prevent fading.
When ironing your garment make sure it is turned inside out.
UV DTF PRINTING SERVICE
We Print * You Brand
Just Peel – Stick- Rub & Peel
Apply to almost any hard surface – No Weeding!
No Minimum!
- Preferred file formats such as AI (Adobe Illustrator), PNG (Portable Network Graphics), PDF (Portable Document Format) and Tiff files. These file types are widely supported and offer excellent compatibility with our printing systems. Files should be in RGB format. Do not send artwork mirrored. Ensure all backgrounds are removed. If there is a back-ground, it will be printed.
- Resolution Below 300 dpi:
- Images below 300 dpi may result in pixelation.
- Quality depends on a minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
- Low resolution may cause white base issues at the image edges during printing. Higher resolutions are advised for top-quality DTF transfers.
- Thin Lines and Small Fonts:
- Lines under 6 pixels/ 1.50mm and small fonts may not adhere effectively.
- Adjust line thickness or font size for best results.
- Use a squeegee or scraper and firmly scrape the front and back of the UV DTF print to make sure the print has adhered to the transfer film
- Clean your blank substrate with isopropyl alcohol
- Peel off white backing from the sticker UV DTF and place in position on your substrate.
- Position the wrap on your substrate – please ensure you position it properly as the wrap cannot be moved / removed once applied.
- Scrape the entire printed area and once you are confident that all the air bubbles have been removed, gently peel off the transparent transfer film.
- Hand wash only, do not soak or put in the dishwasher.
- Let the UV DTF cure for a minimum of 48 hours before using.
Tag-less / Neck T-shirt labels are definitely the most effective and professional way to boost your marketing strategy! It helps your brand stand out. By customizing Tag-less shirt labels on products, you’re defining your brand which helps it rise above the competition! Make your clothing brand 100% recognizable to customers with DTF Neck Labels. Call us for further details.
Custom Printed DTF Transfers are now available for delivery right to your door! Printed with YOUR or your clients logo or image – ready to press! We Print * You Heat Press.
Our DTF Transfers work on both light coloured garments (white etc) or dark coloured garments (black etc). No setup costs or other costs involved. Buy more, save more with volume discounts.
Logo’s NOW easy to print and supply
Brilliant colours, low minimums, and no setup costs
Prints on most fabrics. Fast turnarounds.
Great for high detail, photographic, or digital imagery, on t-shirts, sweat shirts, cotton/poly blends, and more.
Our DTF Transfer have the highest quality colours and fine details. We only use premium products to achieve first class transfer.
We Print * You Heat Press
DTF enables the user to decorate a wider range of fabrics and fabric
colors. DTF is also more efficient than other transfer technologies like
heat-transfer vinyl because there is no cutting and weeding with DTF,
which saves time.
Do you need a business, sports team, church, political parties and / or school logo printed at a super-fast turnaround and bulk discounts?
With the fashion industry’s increasing interest in sustainability, another advantage of DTF printing over traditional printing is its highly sustainable technology.
DTF printing helps prevent overproduction, a common problem in the textile industry. DTF printing can realize one-off designs and eliminate the waste of unsold inventory.
Frequently asked questions
A: There are many compatible fabrics including cotton, nylon, leather, polyester, denim, and light and dark fabrics which makes DTF Transfers the most versatile digital print medium on the market.
Polyester
The polyester print is bright and vivid. This synthetic fabric has a wide range of uses including sportswear, casual wear, swimwear, outerwear, including linings. Polyester fabric has the characteristics of high elastic recovery ability. Therefore, it is highly durable and wrinkle-resistant and has no limitations with DTF Transfers.
Cotton
Cotton fabrics are more comfortable than polyester fabrics and this would be a popular choice for clothing and home furnishings such as decorative linings and bedding. Cottons are a firm favourite for DTF Transfers.
Silk
Silk is a typical protein fibre that develops from the shell of mysterious crawling larvae. Silk is a naturally strong fibre because it has excellent tensile strength and can withstand a lot of pressure. DTF Transfers are exciting on silk!
Leather
DTF printing also works on leather and PU leather! The effect is very good, many people are amazed. It’s durable and comes in gorgeous colours. Leather is used for a variety of purposes, including making bags, belts, clothing and shoes.
Nylon
Nylon fabric cannot be dyed or printed in high temperature environments, so direct jet printing is often used for printing, and acid dyes are also used. The difficulty with acid dyes is that the colour is unstable and the colour fastness is poor after printing. These problems have been around for a long time. DTF Transfers is suitable for nylon but make sure that you have a good quality nylon and our advice would be to do a test to make sure you have no dye migration.
Denim
Denim is a thicker twill cotton fabric with a yarn-dyed surface. Originally, denim was only available in blue and was used as a canvas. But with the development of technology, denim is now available in different colours and some are soft and some are hard. Some are rough, some are delicate. DTF Transfers work exceptionally well on denim.
A: We don’t sell by the print but rather by the metre. We have a minimum print area of 55cm x 1mtr. We use gangsheets to set up our orders, meaning you can put multiple different designs, multicolour and/ or black and white, onto one sheet.
A: We are based in Cape Town. Our address is 3 Puma Street Paarden Eiland, 7405, Cape Town, Western Cape.
A: We courier nationwide and offer an overnight delivery service.
A: It depends whether we have printed the order already or not. Please contact us ASAP if changes need to be made.
A: We aim for a 24-hour turnaround.
A: You can track your order via the waybill number we will provide. Alternatively, you can email us on info@dtfprinting.co.za
A: We have a no return policy. However, if the fault is ours, we will contact you to try and fix the issue.
A: You can email us on info@dtfprinting.co.za or call us on 021 511 6757
A: Please call us and specify the delivery address and we can tell you how much the courier service will cost.
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We Print
You Heat Press
3 Puma Street, Paarden Eiland, 7405, Cape Town, Western Cape, R.S.A.
-33.91485727010693, 18.47495786884058