One of the most popular questions when people are considering whether to purchase a CMYK Ink or a CMYK + White Ink printer is “What colored garments can I print only CMYK ink on?”. Most prospective owners are just concerned that if they buy a CMYK only printer that they will be stuck to printing on just white garments. However, this is not the case – in fact, it is far from that depending on the graphic you are printing. The key principle to understand when you are just printing CMYK is the inks are transparent. In order to allow you to print a spectrum of colors, we have to use a multiple colors of ink layed on top of each other to create the desired color(s). The CMYK model is the basic foundation for almost all types of printers. This picture illustrates how this process works.
However, the CMYK model works when you are printing on a white substrate (i.e. garment, paper, banner,…). When you change the color of the substrate, you may start to change how the colors of the graphic will look. In order to keep the accuracy of colors, the general rule is “The lightest color in your graphic must be darker than the color of your garment.” Below are a series of graphics that will show design simulated on a white, yellow and blue garments. The examples of yellow and blue garments are shown printed with just CMYK Ink and also with CMYK + White Ink to show the differences.
CMYK Ink on a White Garment
CMYK Ink on a Yellow Garment CMYK + White Ink on a Yellow Garment
CMYK Ink on a Blue Garment CMYK + White Ink on a Blue Garment
So the answer to the question of “What colored garments can I print only CMYK ink on?” is really based off of the graphic you are printed and the desired finished garment. Technically, if your graphic is all black – then you can print on any colored garment except a black garment. In addition, some graphics may look good on dark garments depending on the desired look. See the example below.
We hope this document answered the question thoroughly for you. Feel free to continue a discussion about this question by clicking on the link(s) below.
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Special thanks to Great Dane Graphics (www.greatdanegraphics.com) for the rights to use its graphics above in this technical support document.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
[…] the color of your substrate or the colors will change. Here is a link to an illustration of this - What Color Garments Can I Print Using Only CMYK Ink on a Direct-to-Garment Printer? | DAGuide. You can also check out this document that goes over dtg printing in general - […]
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:50 pm
[…] Read this post for more information as to how the color of the garment will affect how you print - What Color Garments Can I Print Using Only CMYK Ink on a Direct-to-Garment Printer? | DAGuide. Mark __________________ Mark E. Bagley, Esq. - Marketing / Digital Consultant Perfect Transfers […]
February 14th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
[…] Since the GT-541 printer is a CMYK only printer and the inkset is transparent (required to make all the colors from just CMYK), the artwork will only show up properly on the garment if the lightest color in your graphic is darker than the color of the garment. If not (which is the case in the graphic you used as a sample), then either the colors will be altered. Here is a post that gives you examples of exactly how a graphic will look on different color garments with just using CMYK ink and then if you use CMYK+White ink - What Color Garments Can I Print Using Only CMYK Ink on a Direct-to-Garment Printer? | DAGuide. […]
March 24th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
[…] print CMYK inks on different light colored garments. Here is a page that provides some examples - What Color Garments Can I Print Using Only CMYK Ink on a Direct-to-Garment Printer? | DAGuide. So if you tint or print any other colors on a colored garment, it may or may not change the way […]
May 31st, 2010 at 8:20 pm
[…] but this link might help explain to you when you should use white ink and when you do not need it - What Color Garments Can I Print Using Only CMYK Ink on a Direct-to-Garment Printer? | DAGuide. Bottom line, the color of the garment is only half of the equation. The colors in the artwork are […]
July 21st, 2010 at 1:13 pm
[…] or not. If you want to look at an illustration as to how a graphic changes, check this page out - What Color Garments Can I Print Using Only CMYK Ink on a Direct-to-Garment Printer? | DAGuide. Hope this helps. Mark __________________ Mark E. Bagley, Esq. - Marketing / Digital Consultant […]