DTG Redefines Hot Market Printing

THE SUPER BOWL IS A genuine cultural phenomenon. According to Nielsen, Super Bowl LVII drew 113 million viewers across Fox’s television and digital properties, making it the third-most-watched television program of all time. According to the National Retail Federation, Americans spent more than $16 billion on Super Bowl-related purchases in 2023, with 103 million people – nearly one-third of the U.S. population – hosting or attending a Super Bowl party themselves. It’s kind of a big deal.

Even for casual fans, the Super Bowl is an excuse for friends and family to gather in celebration. Whether a favorite team made the big game or people are simply enjoying the hoopla, they are ready for spiritwear and other gear to go with it. It might be a commemorative shirt, jersey, jacket, sweatshirt or shorts adorned with officially licensed logos or the name and number of a favorite player.

To get their fanwear, they shopped on a website that offered a selection of styles and graphics. They chose their favorite from a limited array of options, paid for it, and a few days later received it. And then saw many of their friends and family wearing the same shirt.

Very soon, this experience will be completely different. Instead of choosing a mass-produced shirt of the same design, customers will be able to create a product that is unique to them. They’ll be able to choose not only the player, team, or event they want to commemorate, but also a variety of customization and personalization possibilities. Do they want to display the final score or a key play accompanied by a photorealistic image of their choice taken from the game? It’s possible and maybe even the next day.

A client’s imagination will be the only limit, thanks to the ability to provide customized products through a network of on-shore suppliers. And always with the guarantee that the garment has been printed using responsible and environmentally-friendly production practices, saving water, energy, and materials to provide exactly the piece purchased without waste.

This is the power of mass customization enabled by a digitized marketplace, complemented by a digital execution ecosystem. This is the value of direct-to-garment printing – a comprehensive, sustainable, on-demand, digital process. One that eliminates overproduction, consumes up to 95% less energy, nearly eliminates water waste, and reduces greenhouse gas emissions by more than 80% compared to traditional analog production.

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The Digital Difference

Sportswear production has long been limited by the time it takes to design, produce, and ship clothing. At major sporting events, stories abound of manufacturers producing clothing to meet every possible outcome, knowing full well half of that stock will be thrown away when only one of two teams win.

With most traditional production methods, rapid demand for clothing requires predicting what fans will want to buy and where they will want to buy it, which leads to overproduction.

Furthermore, the practice of stocking inventory overlooks a significant – and growing – profit opportunity in a market where consumers are conditioned to satisfy wants and needs instantly without restrictions or compromises.

Just like the inkjet printers we use in the office and at home, state-of-the-art digital direct-to-garment printing systems eliminate these constraints by simply printing the media – in this case, a blank garment made of cotton, polyester, polyester blend, or any other common fabric of fan clothing – at the press of a button. After drying, the piece is ready to ship or wear in minutes.

Unlike screen printing, this process requires no preparation time, can reproduce an unlimited range of colors on a single piece and generates profits from the production of a single piece. There are no minimum order quantities, which is ideal for personalization.

Unlike heat transfer vinyl, you don’t stock up on media for every possible application. You can forget about inventory, storage space and wasted paper by reproducing a digital asset to suit your needs. Unlike sublimation, this technique is not limited to white polyester and does not generate paper waste. Unlike direct-to-film printing, there’s a better feel and greater product consistency, even for larger graphics applications, while avoiding the tedious manual process that operators hate.

With single-step, single-operator direct-to-garment printing systems, producers can replicate and improve each process, and even mimic embroidery and add layered 3D applications, on a single machine.

Efficiency and Agility Win the Game

On-demand digital production means delivering more profitable products by reducing time, labor, materials, and floor space. This is an ideal recipe for growing print businesses and ensuring the agility needed to respond in real time to unforeseen market dynamics. These could be supply-chain disruptions, inflation, labor shortages, socio-political unrest, a global pandemic – or a sudden product opportunity generated by company performance or a team or athlete during a match or tournament such as Super Bowl LVIII.

Additionally, a growing ecosystem of DTG decorators stand ready to offer local fulfillment on a global scale, eliminating time and logistics associated with offshore production. A digital workflow ensures production transparency and accountability from point of sale to shipping of finished products.

It brings production closer to the consumer, who has the tools to efficiently create designs. Local decorators can quickly respond to any need with durable, high-quality printed apparel. It’s a victory for fans, producers, brands, licensees, and the environment.

Sustainable, on-demand digital production is transforming the sports and fan apparel game, and if you’re ready to win, you can build your digital fulfillment strategy now.

• Stop producing gear that won’t sell. With digital, go from anticipating demand to fulfilling it. Make the sale and produce ready-to-wear apparel just in time.
• Give fans a unique, engaging experience. Empower sports fans with the ability to create their own designs, personalize gear, and choose their own graphics or events.
• Achieve responsible, sustainable production. Leverage near-shore fulfillment and networks to cut waste (and risk) associated with global transport. Adopt consistent, eco-friendly production to yield higher margins with less time, labor, energy, and production footprint.
• Unleash creative expression and grow business. Today’s DTG capabilities consolidate screen, dye sublimation, vinyl, embroidery, 3D, and other graphic effects to one single-step, single-operator production system. Increase production capacity and capability exponentially and scale your operation with confidence.

When you watch the big game in the comfortable, durable, digitally printed garment you’ve long dreamed of, you’ll also be a fan of this game-changing technology.

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