Proper care is essential to keep your DTG printed shirts looking vibrant and long-lasting. Because our garments are pre-treated in the print area to achieve the best print quality, washing before first wear is highly recommended. If unwashed, pretreatment may react with sunlight and cause mild discoloration over time. Following the steps below will help protect your direct-to-garment (DTG) prints and extend the life of your custom apparel.
At Top Banana USA, we use the latest direct-to-garment (DTG) printing technology to deliver high-quality, full-color prints at affordable prices. Unlike traditional screen printing, DTG ink bonds directly to the fibers of the garment. This makes proper pretreatment, washing, and drying practices essential for preserving vibrancy and durability.
Think of pretreatment as primer for drywall. When painting, a primer coat creates a protective barrier, improves adhesion, and ensures colors stay bright. If drywall is painted without primer, the paint soaks in, appearing dull, muted, and less durable.
The same principle applies to DTG printing. Pretreatment acts as the “primer” for the garment. It allows the white ink printed first to sit on top of the fabric rather than soaking in. Without pretreatment, white ink would sink into the fibers, turning gray, uneven, and creating a rough surface that prevents CMYK inks from printing cleanly. The result would be a faded, unsellable shirt.
Pretreatment also reacts with white ink in a process similar to a screen printer’s “flash cure” step. Flash curing partially sets plastisol ink so that additional colors printed on top stay sharp without smearing. Likewise, pretreatment “flashes” the white DTG ink, turning it into a semi-solid surface. This prevents CMYK inks layered on top from blending or becoming muddled, ensuring a crisp, full-color design.
Because pretreatment is water-based and eco-friendly, it may leave a faint box around the print. This is completely normal and disappears after the first wash cycle. Pretreatment is the foundation of DTG printing, making it possible to print bright, long-lasting images on dark and colored garments—especially black shirts.
We’re ecstatic to work from our home in Philadelphia, America’s sixth-largest city. Top Banana USA prides itself in excellence, both in quality and customer service.
If you have any inquiries about large quantity direct to garment orders or if you are interested in exploring other printing services, please contact us via our email: info@topbananausa.com. Please provide us your order quantity, design and design specifications in your email so that we can better assist you.
Monday: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Tuesday: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Wednesday: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Thursday: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Friday: 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Saturday – Sunday: CLOSED
