Promotional items are meant to advertise your company and its products. That means when you give away freebies like umbrellas and T-shirts, they must be branded with an unobtrusive yet attractive company logo.

Most companies choose to print their logo on promotional garments. Printing is cost-effective, fast, and cheap but there are so many different printing techniques used for apparel printing. Almost all of them suit different business strategies but not everyone knows about them in detail. We've listed a few of the more commonly used apparel printing techniques used nowadays that you should know about before you choose.

Screen printing - This is the most commonly used method of apparel printing. Inks and mesh screens are used to burn or expose an image on to cloth. The entire printing process is simple and easy and the same screen can be used multiple times to create several designs and images.

Vinyl printing - Heat transfer vinyl printing is the best option for printing lettering on T-shirts and small objects. A special vinyl cutter machine is required to cut out images from a vinyl sheet. The heated vinyl is then pressed on to the fabric to bond it on to the material. This process is labor-intensive and quite slow. Moreover, color selection is limited and inks are expensive.

Digital printing - Direct to garment digital printing or DTG printing is printing directly on to clothing using special inkjet printers. Textile inks are used and the clothing material absorbs the inks to create a unique design. The process is quick, easy, and images are clear with sharp borders and bright colors. However, the machine and its inks are expensive and small orders may turn out to be pricey.

Sublimation printing- This process involves transferring heat on to polyester apparel items. The process uses a special heated gaseous ink to open pores on the polyester material and create an image. This process can also be used to print on non-textile polyester items like mugs, key chains, mouse pads, and puzzles. The process is restricted to white or light colored polyester items. It is expensive but durable, and creates an attractive stable image.

As you can see, there are several more types of apparel printing you can choose from but most of them are too expensive for bulk printing.

Apart from printing, companies do choose embroidery to create their logos on promotional items. The process is simple as an embroidery digitizer creates the design and then the design can be stitched over and over again on an embroidery machine as many times as you need. The embroidery digitizing process is a very important stage to get good quality, outstanding looking designs. The machine can create a range of beautiful effects like appliqué, 3-D effects, shading and depth on your logo.

Embroidery versus Printing

Printing is a cheaper option than embroidery. Screen printing is the cheapest option. However, this should not restrict your choices. Because embroidery is a long term option. Embroidery is definitely more durable and wash-worth.

In fact, you can choose to mix printing techniques and embroidery to create a unique promotional garments. With embroidery, you can incorporate different types of appliques, 3d embroidery, embroidered badges and so much more.

The bottom line is that as a businessperson, you want to create promotional garments that combine quality and effectiveness with price. Yes, printing is cheaper but embroidery creates a unique 3-D effect that remains in place even after multiple washes.