If you're ordering custom race shirts, you've probably heard two terms thrown around: screen printing and DTF (direct-to-film). Both produce quality apparel. Both work great for racing merch. But they're built for different situations, and choosing the wrong one can cost you money or quality.
We run both methods daily at our production facility — three automatic screen printing presses and a DTF machine under the same roof. Here's an honest breakdown of when to use each, based on thousands of race shirt orders.
Screen Printing: The Industry Standard
Screen printing pushes ink directly through a mesh screen onto the garment. Each color in the design gets its own screen. The ink bonds with the fabric fibers, which is why a well-printed screen print shirt lasts for years without cracking, peeling, or fading.
Where screen printing wins: durability, hand feel, and cost at volume. A screen printed shirt feels like part of the fabric, not something stuck on top of it. At quantities above 24 pieces, screen print is almost always the more cost-effective option. The ink sits flatter, breathes better, and holds up through hundreds of washes.
Where screen printing has limitations: setup. Each color requires a separate screen, which means there's a fixed setup cost regardless of quantity. A 6-color design costs more to set up than a 2-color design. For very small runs (under 12 pieces) or designs with photographic detail and dozens of colors, screen print can get expensive.
DTF: The Versatile Option
DTF (direct-to-film) prints the full design onto a special film, which then gets heat-pressed onto the garment. There are no screens to set up — you can print one shirt or a hundred with the same per-piece cost structure.
Where DTF wins: small quantities and complex designs. If you need 6 shirts with a full-color photographic design, DTF is the clear choice. No setup fees, unlimited colors, and great detail reproduction. It's also ideal for one-off samples or test prints before committing to a larger screen print run.
Where DTF has limitations: the print sits on top of the fabric rather than bonding into it. You can feel the print layer on the shirt. It's not bad — modern DTF has gotten very good — but it's a different feel than screen print. Durability is solid but doesn't match a quality screen print over dozens of wash cycles. And at higher quantities, the per-piece cost stays flat while screen print gets cheaper.
Head-to-Head Comparison
| Factor | Screen Print | DTF |
|---|---|---|
| Hand feel | Ink bonds into fabric — soft, breathable | Print sits on top — slightly raised |
| Durability | Excellent — lasts 100+ washes | Good — solid but degrades faster over time |
| Color range | Limited by number of screens (typically 1–8 colors) | Unlimited — full CMYK color |
| Best for quantities | 24+ pieces | 1–24 pieces |
| Setup cost | Higher (screens per color) | None |
| Cost at 100+ pieces | Significantly cheaper per piece | Flat per-piece — no volume discount |
| Detail reproduction | Great for bold graphics (what race shirts usually are) | Better for photographic/gradient detail |
| Production speed | Faster at volume on automatic presses | Slower — each piece pressed individually |
What We Recommend for Racing Teams
For the vast majority of racing apparel orders, screen printing is the right call. Here's why: race shirt designs are typically bold, graphic-heavy illustrations with strong colors and clean lines. That's exactly what screen printing does best. The designs look incredible, they last forever, and the cost drops significantly as quantity goes up.
Most of our online store orders are screen printed on automatic presses. When a driver sells 75 to 150+ shirts through their store, screen print delivers the best combination of quality and value. The fans get a premium product that holds up, and the driver gets the best possible margin.
We use DTF for specific situations: small crew orders (6 matching crew shirts with a complex design), one-off samples, or designs that require photographic reproduction where screen print wouldn't capture the detail. It's a great tool in the toolbox — it's just not the primary tool for most race shirt runs.
Bottom line: if you're selling shirts to fans through an online store or ordering 24+ pieces, go screen print. If you need a handful of shirts with a complex full-color design, go DTF. We'll recommend the right method based on your specific order — we have no incentive to push one over the other since we run both in-house.
What About Embroidery?
Embroidery is a different category entirely. It's not a substitute for screen print or DTF — it's an add-on. Embroidery works best for hats, jackets, quarter-zips, and stocking caps. It gives a premium, textured look that printing can't replicate.
Through our online store program, you can add embroidered products to your store for just $35 extra. We run 15 heads of embroidery in-house, so it's all produced under the same roof as your printed shirts. Your fans get a full merch line — tees, hoodies, hats, jackets — from one source.