Big Bets Being Placed on DTG

Still Waiting to Get Into Digital Direct-to-Garment Printing? Recent Large Investments Say You Might Get Left Behind.

Revolution Growth Logo

At DTG Awareness, we have been chronicling the awakening of the world to the wonders of digital Direct-to-Garment printing. The recent introduction of a new line of DTG printers built by manufacturing giant, Epson, is one clear indication that the technology is taking hold. Their entry into the DTG printing industry represents a big growth in confidence in the young technology.

On the heals of the news of Epson's DTG line comes a story from the Washington Post, published just three days ago about venture firm Revolution Growth and it's decision to invest $40 million dollars into CustomInk, one of the largest online fulfillment houses in the U.S.; a feat in large part made possible by the use of, you guessed it, Direct-to-Garment printing.

Revolution Growth co-founder, former top AOL executive, and present owner of the Washington Capitols, Ted Leonsis, said of CustomInk, "It's a next-generation social shopping company".

Plans for the investment capital include a move to more spacious offices, expansion of a current production facility and of CustomInk operations, as well as plans to open an additional facility.

If you are a printing company and you have been questioning the viability of digital Direct-to-Garment, the big players are now giving you plenty of reason to assume that the technology will be a major part of future garment printing. If your business model doesn't work well with DTG, you may want to revisit your business model.

T-Shirts: 100 Years of Awesomeness!

Attribution: tshirts.com

2013 is the 100th Year Anniversary of the T-Shirt. 

An article in Promowearmag.com explains, "In 1913, the T-shirt as we know it first appeared as standard-issue gear within the U.S. Navy. Since then, the iconic garment has become an essential part of the American wardrobe and identity."

And become a part of our national identity it has. The t-shirt, like a billboard you wear, can be an advertisement for what you think. In an age where everywhere we go, there is an ad telling us what to believe about this or that, the t-shirt is a way of expressing our personal view. It allows a way of communicating without opening your mouth. A t-shirt can make people see you as funny, and approachable or, it can communicate, "stay the hell away from me". The majority of us own all kinds of t-shirts, and truthfully, most of the time, we just want to be comfortable and look cool, like the above pictured John Lennon.

The Power of a T-Shirt Design

In this history of t-shirts, some designs have reached an iconic status. They can be like universal symbols of an ideology, or relate a common experience. These t-shirts have the power to bring people together. Check out this tribute to the t-shirt in Parade Magazine's, "Top 10 Most Iconic Designs".

Attribution: parade.com

What is most interesting is that because of it's comfort, low cost to manufacture, and ability to be printed on, the t-shirt, regardless of what image or saying is actually on it, is itself an icon. This is because we are a generation that put off the stuffiness of suits, vests, and petticoats, and accepted the idea that a simple garment is good enough. At one time, there were truly rich clothes and poor clothes. Today, this is not altogether gone, but the t-shirt is a type of equalizer. Rock stars, jocks, boaters, moms, bums, businessmen, babies and people from almost every other category of society wear t-shirts. It is the American uniform.


                             "The t-shirt is a type of equalizer... it is the American uniform."

 Everybody's Doing it

With such wide acceptance, people have tried a myriad of ways to personalize their shirts. From tie-dye, to that puffy paint stuff, to markers, to cutting holes; folks made t-shirts their own. But it was never quite the same as that printed image you bought at the concert, or the mall. The digital age is now revolutionizing the way people individualize their clothes.

Through the process of digital Direct-to-Garment printing, people are now making their own mark on the world. And it looks like we prefer it this way. According to a survey conducted by CustomInk, found in the same Promowearmag.com article mentioned earlier, "76 percent of Americans report they would have a stronger emotional connection with a shirt that they or someone they knew custom-designed, versus a shirt that was mass-produced." While there will always be a place for those mass produced shirts, this generation is transitioning into custom everything: custom song lists, custom cell phones, custom rims, custom paint jobs, custom TV, custom walls (social media), custom YouTube channels, and on and on. As the Byrds famously quoted from the book of Ecclesiastes "To everything, turn, turn, turn. There is a season." With 100 years of t-shirt awesomeness, it now continues with the season of digital Direct-to-Garment freedom. Those who have used it, love it. But for those who just won't try it, I leave you with the famous words of Marty McFly in "Back to the Future", "I guess you guys aren't ready for that yet..........but your kids are gonna love it."

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