Thinking about printing on the whole garment or just a small area? Wondering which method works best? This blog is for you.
All-over print (AOP) on clothing
All-over print designs allow unlimited creativity and customization. It’s common to see all-over printing on streetwear, swimwear, yoga wear, تي شيرتات, sweatshirts, hoodies, activewear, outdoor apparel, and more.
Dye sublimation
Dye sublimation is perfect for polyester garments with all-over designs—even the seams can be fully covered. The process uses high heat (180°C–210°C) to turn the dye into gas and embed it directly into the fabric, making the print part of the garment itself.
The number of colors or design complexity doesn’t affect the cost. It is priced by print area, typically less than $1 per square meter.
الإيجابيات:
- Breathable, colorfast, and just as durable as the garment.
- Great for full-color, gradients, photo-realistic, and complex designs.
- Eco-friendly and non-polluting.
- Good for single-piece printing like POD T-shirts.
Limitations:
- Only works on polyester and polyester blends—not suitable for 100% cotton, which can scorch at high temperatures.
- Looks best on white or light-colored fabrics. Colors may appear dull on dark fabrics.
- Recommended polyester content is 80% or more—the higher the content, the brighter and sharper the result. Low-poly fabrics can cause faded or blurry prints.
Reactive printing on cotton
If you want to achieve all-over prints on cotton garments, reactive dye printing is the way to go. Reactive dyes chemically bond with natural fibers like cotton or silk, resulting in vibrant, long-lasting prints with a soft hand feel. They won’t crack or fade over time.
Common methods like screen printing and digital printing can achieve all-over designs on cotton garments, as long as reactive dyes are used.
Keep in mind that reactive printing involves steps like steam fixation, washing, and drying, which makes the overall cost higher. It’s more suitable for premium or branded apparel.
AOP examples from JingSourcing
بصفتك شركة توريد رائدة في الصين, JingSourcing has helped many clients print their all-over designs on finished apparel—T-shirts, hoodies, socks, ملابس داخلية, and more—with flexible MOQs.
For example, we had a client from Hungary who wanted to customize 1,000 pairs of all-over print underwear. But he couldn’t find any supplier on Alibaba or 1688 willing to take the order. This is because:
- Most factories in China require an موك of 2,000 units for this print type.
- Exact same print placement was required on every pair, but standard methods couldn’t do it—they print on fabric before cutting.
We reached out to one of our long-term partner factories and convinced them to take the order. They used placement printing—a method that prints each fabric panel individually before assembly. Unlike standard digital printing, this technique allows for precise print placement, ensuring the final design appears exactly the same on every garment. The printing cost is around $1 per square meter.
Apparel logo placement and small-area printing
هناك العديد من ways to print logos or patterns on T-shirts, polos, hoodies, and more. The right method depends on your budget, pattern design complexity, and the desired print effect.
Screen printing is cheapest for bulk orders (≥500 pcs) with simple patterns.
Screen printing is one of the oldest and most widely used methods in the apparel industry. It works well on all types of fabric and is ideal for simple designs with just a few colors—each color requires a separate screen.
This is the most cost-effective method for 500 pieces or more. For example, printing a 5cm two-color logo on 1,000 sportswear pieces costs around $400.
If you’re printing on cotton T-shirts, kidswear, or underwear—where breathability and softness matter—water-based ink screen printing is a great choice. Water-based inks soak into the fabric and become part of the garment. However, it doesn’t work well on dark-colored fabrics.
If breathability isn’t a top concern, plastisol ink is more versatile, working on almost any fabric and any color. It sits on top of the fabric and creates a slightly rubbery feel.
Heat transfer & DTG are ideal for small orders and complex, multi-color designs.
Heat transfer and DTG work well on garments made from various fabrics. Both methods offer high-resolution printing results and can handle any design style, ideal for small runs of custom, eye-catching logos and graphics.
In terms of printing costs:
- DTG is expensive due to high demands for printers and specialized inks, which are sprayed directly into the fabric.
- Heat transfer is a budget-friendly method that’s easy to apply and works with most machines. But since the design stays on top of the fabric, it can feel a bit thick and less breathable, ideal for small prints like logos.
For example, heat pressing a 5×5 cm logo onto 200 T-shirts costs around $0.60 per piece—T-shirts not included. The larger the print, the higher the cost, as heat transfer pricing depends on both the design size and order quantity.
You’ll often see this method used at sporting events—brands set up booths where fans can pick a team logo and have it heat-pressed onto a blank T-shirt in just minutes using pre-made transfer papers.
It’s also popular in شركات POD, where pre-printed transfers can be heat-pressed without reprinting every time.
Heat transfer has more special effects like glow-in-the-dark, reflective, metallic gold or silver finishes, commonly used in fashion-forward streetwear.
Before wrapping up
The printing methods above are some of the most common, but in reality, there are many more ways to create private label garments. For example:
- التطريز, while not a printing method, is also widely used to customize logos and patterns. It adds a textured, 3D look and a premium feel, but it’s not suitable for complex graphics or gradient colors.
- Flock printing and puff printing are popular 3D effects often seen in streetwear.
- Combining embroidery with DTG printing can achieve any color, pattern, or gradient effect in embroidered designs.
Just reach out to us—send a reference image if you’re unsure which method suits your design, or share your design file if you already have one but want a better printing solution.
No matter how complex the prints, we’ll recommend the most cost-effective solution, tailored to your needs and better than what you’ll find locally or on Alibaba.
