If you print garments — or you're about to start — the three methods you'll weigh up are DTF transfers, heat transfer vinyl (HTV) and sublimation. Each has a place. Here's the honest comparison.
DTF transfers
Best for: full-colour designs, dark garments, mixed fabrics, small runs and one-offs.
DTF prints any design — photos, gradients, fine detail — in full colour with a white underbase, onto virtually any fabric. No weeding, no colour limits, no minimum order. Press at 150–160°C for 10–15 seconds and you're done. The weakness? You need to buy the transfers (though at £0.99–£4.49 each, that's rarely the dealbreaker it sounds).
Heat transfer vinyl (HTV)
Best for: single-colour text, names and numbers — if you already own a cutter.
HTV means cutting each colour separately, weeding by hand, and layering — fine for "SMITH 9" on a football shirt, painful for anything complex. Multi-colour designs take multiple passes and the finished print sits heavier on the garment. Once you factor your time in, DTF usually wins on anything beyond simple text — and our builder even has a text tool for the names-and-numbers jobs.
Sublimation
Best for: all-over prints on white or light polyester.
Sublimation dyes the fabric itself, so the print has literally zero feel and can never crack — genuinely brilliant on polyester sportswear, mugs and hard goods. But that's the whole list: it only works on high-polyester content and only on light colours. Black cotton hoodie? Sublimation can't touch it. DTF can.
The verdict
Most UK garment businesses land on DTF as the workhorse — any fabric, any colour, any design, no equipment beyond a press — with sublimation kept for light polyester sportswear. If that's the direction you're going, build a gang sheet and see your cost per print before you commit to anything.