Google Trends: Public Interest in Digitally Printed Shirts Shows Growth

Screen Printing, Embroidery Losing Steam

The digital t-shirt printing business is still relatively new to the clothing industry. While the over-all interest for the digital solution is small in comparison to other garment decorating methods, such as screen printing, trends still show growing public interest in digitally printed shirts. The following graph reveals a mostly steady search volume for three similar terms which are all related to what is commonly referred to as "Direct to Garment", with a slight upward tick:

Digital tshirt printing, direct to garment printing, and digital shirt printing compared

While August of 2008 saw the highest spike in volume of these three searches, spikes have continued to reach near that point since. While peaks and dips appear throughout the graph, the year over year trend shows growth. June of 2013 saw an average 7.7% rise over June of 2012 in the three search terms.

The next graph shows the search volume trends of both screen printing and embroidery. For both decorating mediums, the highest peaks on the graph occurred prior to 2005, and the trend of interest has continued downward.

Screen printing and embroidery compared

This final graph compares all the previous search terms, and displays the fact that, compared to both embroidery and screen printing, digital printing does not even register a blip in search volume.

Digital printing compared to embroidery and screen printing

The upward movement of interest in digital printing, while not yet significant in view of the industry as a whole, is still a positive sign. The relatively small level of interest is not the story, since this is to be expected while the technology is in its infancy. The contrast between digital and traditional methods of garment decorating is a sign that digital has a different appeal. One could speculate that digital's ability to be utilized for printing short runs and "one off's" at a lower cost than screen print could be part of the reason for it's growing popularity. Another aspect of digital garment printing's charm is it's ability to create high detail, customized images with ease. The simple integration of digital technology means that embroiderers can begin offering a printed product that sells at a similar price point to embroidery. An Anajet.com article points out that in SGIA's 2012 DTG Benchmarking Report, 78% of DTG owners also own embroidery equipment. Finally, digital represents a leaner means of production and sales. No longer do companies have to keep large stock of single prints in inventory, tying up valuable capital with the risk of over purchase. Shirts can be left blank until the order is made, and the order does not have to be enormous to be worthwhile. Whatever the reasons, the outlook is positive for companies who are looking at adding the Direct to Garment technology. There is still more than plenty of room for growth as companies find new ways of leveraging digital's strengths, and consumer demand for it's unique product offering increases.