Do you need company T-shirts for a small team, but don’t want to order hundreds of pieces for stock? Are you looking for a way to put a full-colour logo or a creative design on textiles without being crushed by production setup costs? Are you wondering how to handle it all even if you’re “just” a sole trader or a small business? Read this article and you’ll find out why DTF printing is a practical path to professional company T-shirts even in small runs.
What DTF printing is and why small businesses benefit the most
DTF printing is one of the most modern methods of printing on textiles. The design is not printed directly onto a T-shirt, but onto DTF film, onto which a special powder adhesive is applied after printing and then cured. Only the finished transfer is then heat-pressed onto the textile. Because the design is prepared on film, you get a buffer stock of prints that you can use exactly when you truly need the T-shirts.
For small businesses and sole traders, the key point is that job setup is digital. No screens for every colour, no demanding mechanical setup. The design is printed from files, so you don’t pay high upfront costs just to be able to afford a few dozen pieces. That’s a big difference compared to classic technologies that pay off only with truly large runs.
How DTF makes company T-shirt printing easier in small runs
A typical small-business scenario is that you need T-shirts for a few team members, sometimes for temps, sometimes for a new colleague, or for a short promo event. The number of people, T-shirt colours, and sizes change, but the need for a consistent visual identity remains.
And this is exactly where the big advantage is that DTF printing doesn’t require a large minimum quantity. You can prepare smaller runs that mix different T-shirt sizes, colours, and cuts, while still using one design. When a new person joins your company, you can simply reprint another T-shirt with the identical design, without having to set up the whole technology again.
Thanks to that, you can handle company textiles gradually. You start with twenty T-shirts for the core team, test how they wear, how customers react, and how the fit works. Then you decide whether you want more pieces or a new design variant, for example for a special event. DTF printing lets you think in small batches, which is exactly the style that suits small businesses and sole traders.
What cooperation between a small business and a DTF supplier looks like
Printstep focuses on DTF technology and DTF transfers. In practice, that means it produces printed films both by the metre and on sheets, offers consumables for DTF printers, and provides outsourcing of their own print production.
For a small business or a sole trader, there are basically two options. Either the actual heat pressing is handled by a partner print shop that works with transfers from Printstep, or you have your own heat press (for example as a small ad workshop or studio) and you have ready-made DTF transfers ready to apply. In both cases, the big advantage is that Printstep takes care of the key part of production—high-quality printing onto film and fusing with powder adhesive, and you can focus on how you use the T-shirts in practice.
When DTF company T-shirts make the most sense
DTF company T-shirts bring the most value where a small number of pieces is combined with a professional look. Typical situations are when you need to unify staff appearance in a shop, in a café, in a small production facility, or on client jobs.
DTF printing works just as well when you’re preparing a one-off or seasonal event. It can be a local trade fair, a workshop, a weekend event, the opening of a new branch, or a campaign that runs for just a few weeks. In that case, it doesn’t make sense to order a huge run of T-shirts that would sit in storage after the event. A small DTF-printed run matches the need precisely: after the event, only a minimum of unused pieces remains.
DTF is also great for companies that want to build merch for their loyal customers or a community around the brand. You can afford to produce a smaller collection of T-shirts, hoodies, or even aprons for your most loyal fans, and then gradually add more designs or variants depending on demand.
DTF vs. other technologies
When you’re deciding which technology to choose, it helps to understand the differences. Screen printing is great for large runs, because with dozens or hundreds of pieces with one design it can keep an excellent unit price. For small businesses, however, the disadvantage is that most of the cost is hidden in setup. Twenty-five T-shirts with a more complex logo can end up surprisingly expensive.
DTG printing is based on printing directly onto the textile and has its technical limits. DTF differs from it mainly because it works as a transfer. The design exists separately on film, can be printed in larger batches, and applied gradually to different textile products. This gives small businesses room for flexible planning: sometimes you press finished company T-shirts right away, other times you have only the transfers delivered, which you use later or hand over to a partner workshop with a heat press.
Conclusion: Why DTF printing is the ideal way for small businesses and sole traders to get company T-shirts in small runs
DTF printing combines what small businesses and sole traders need most— flexibility, a professional look, and sensible costs. Thanks to the fact that the design is first printed onto film and only then transferred onto the textile, the need for high minimum quantities and costly production setup—typical of older technologies—goes away. A small business can therefore have quality company T‑shirts even when it needs only a few dozen, or even just a handful of pieces, while still keeping the option to reprint more T-shirts at any time as needed. DTF printing can handle full-colour logos, fine details and different types of textiles, so you can easily transfer your brand identity onto T-shirts, hoodies, and other workwear. Printstep adds specialised DTF transfers, print outsourcing, and know-how that let you use professional technology even without your own technical background. If you’re looking for a way to have quality company T-shirts even in small runs, without unnecessary risk, DTF printing is a solution that lets you grow and strengthen your brand at a pace that matches your business.
