Apparel decoration
DTF printing in Los Angeles
Direct-to-film printing puts full-colour artwork on a finished garment with no limit on how many colours are in it. We print and press in-house in the Fashion District, with no minimum — one shirt is a real order — and, the part worth saying plainly, you get finished garments. Most of what ranks for "DTF near me" is people mailing you a sheet of transfers to press yourself.
- Minimum
- None — one piece
- Colours
- No limit — photographs included
- Under 12 pieces
- One-time setup charge
- Production
- Up to 14 business days
What DTF is good at
Artwork with many colours
Screen printing charges per colour and embroidery approximates them. DTF prints all of it in one pass, so a six-colour logo costs the same to print as a one-colour one.
Photographs & gradients
Soft fades, drop shadows and photographic detail come through, which is the one thing neither stitching nor a screen handles well.
Lightweight tees
Where fabric is too light to embroider, DTF is the right answer — it sits on the surface without pulling the knit.
Small runs of mixed garments
There are no screens to burn, so a dozen shirts across four different styles is a normal order rather than an expensive one.
Caps
A printed cap front handles detail a stitched one can't. We do both — see embroidery if you want the corporate look.
Inner neck tags
A printed tag replaces the manufacturer's label. Two inches square, and it's the detail that makes merch feel like a brand.
How a job runs, and how long it takes
Pick the garment and your print locations on the product page and send artwork — a PDF, AI, PSD, EPS, SVG, PNG, JPG or TIF all work, and the store tells you if a file isn't usable before you get to checkout. We proof it, print the film, press the garments. Production runs up to 14 business days from artwork approval, and most jobs land well inside that; pickup on Pico is same-day once it's pressed, or we ship.
Artwork that prints well
DTF is forgiving, but resolution is resolution: a logo pulled off a website at screen size will print soft, and no process fixes that. Send vector where you have it, or a raster file at least as large as the finished print. Pure white artwork on a white garment is the one combination that doesn't work, for obvious reasons. Everything else — including white ink on black — prints.
Print areas and what each location costs
The maximum finished size at each location and the per-piece print charge, on garments and on caps. The garment itself is priced separately on its own page.
| Location | Maximum area | Per piece |
|---|---|---|
| Full Chest | 11" × 11" | $10.00 |
| Full Back | 11" × 11" | $10.00 |
| Pocket / Left Chest | 4" × 4" | $5.00 |
| Left Sleeve | 3" × 3" | $5.00 |
| Right Sleeve | 3" × 3" | $5.00 |
| Inner Neck Tag | 2" × 2" | $3.75 |
| Cap front panel | 4.75" × 2.2" | $5.00 |
| Cap left side | 2" × 1.5" | $3.75 |
| Cap right side | 2" × 1.5" | $3.75 |
| Cap back | 4.5" × 2" | $5.00 |
Small orders and volume
Under 12 pieces
A one-time $50.00 setup charge on that style, and no minimum at all — one piece is a real order. From 12 up there is no setup charge, so a dozen is the point where a small run stops costing extra.
Volume
Discounts start at a dozen and deepen as the run grows — the exact figure shows on the product page once you put a quantity in.
Two things about DTF nobody selling transfer sheets will tell you
A DTF print sits on top of the fabric rather than in it, so on a garment that gets washed hard for years, a stitched logo will outlast a printed one — that's why we still push embroidery for staff polos and caps. And a very large solid print will feel like a panel on the shirt rather than part of it; if you want a full back in one flat colour, screen printing is the better process and we'll route you there.
Common questions
Do you print the garments, or just sell transfers?
We decorate finished garments. You order shirts, hoodies, caps or bags from the site and we print and press them here. There's no minimum, and we are not a transfer-sheet supplier.
How many colours can a DTF print have?
As many as you like, at no extra cost. There are no screens and no per-colour charge, so a full-colour photograph prints the same way a one-colour logo does.
What's the difference between DTF and DTG?
DTG prints ink directly into the fabric and works best on cotton. DTF prints onto film and presses it on, so it runs on blends, polyester and nylon too. We offer both on apparel.
How big can a DTF print be?
A full chest or full back goes up to eleven inches square, a pocket print four inches, a sleeve three inches, and a printed inner neck tag two inches square.
Will a DTF print crack or peel?
Not if it's pressed properly and washed inside out in cold water. What kills a print is high heat in a dryer, which is true of every printed garment decoration, not just DTF.
Start an order
Fair pricing, published rather than quoted: the per-piece decoration charges are on this page and the garment's own quantity ladder is on its page, both before you add anything to a cart. No call-for-a-quote on the everyday work.
Have a large order?
Mixed items, bigger runs or special pricing — a real person quotes it within one business day.
Other ways we can decorate it
Where we work
We’re at 305 E Pico Blvd in Los Angeles’s Fashion District, a few blocks off the 10, and we serve Downtown LA, the Fashion District, the Arts District, Boyle Heights, Vernon, Koreatown, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Hollywood, Culver City, Glendale, Pasadena, Inglewood, the South Bay and the San Fernando Valley — plus the rest of the country by carrier. Pickup at the shop is free on every order.
305 E Pico Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90015(626) 320-4387Monday – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm (Pacific)