WHAT IS HYBRID PRINTING?

Hybrid printing combines a screen printed white underbase, and then the machine digitally prints the colors on top. After screen printing the white ink, the pallet rotates under the hybrid digital squeegee print head and CMYK is printed, often times wet-on-wet over the white ink. By screening the white underbase and digitally printing CMYK, hybrid printing is up to four times faster than DTG. Furthermore, the screen-printed white underbase reduces digital ink costs because the screen print underbase is pennies compared to digital white ink. 

By using a digital print head to decorate your garment, printers can get screen print photorealistic images and complicated high-color t-shirt jobs from only making one screen. Hybrid printing can also print “variable data.” This means that a hybrid screen printing setup can change the wording and even the final design image from t-shirt to t-shirt without stopping or slowing down production. The digital ink is printed wet-on-wet so there is no need for flashing in between. Compact digital hybrid printing systems do not require any “post-printing” afterward. Just run it through your screen printing conveyor heat tunnel dryer. 

Hybrid screen printing is not limited to just cotton. It versatility allows screen printers to digitally print on almost any fabric your customer wants. You no longer had to steer customers to 100% cotton as previously for DTG printing. Digitally print any fabric you can screen print - this includes popular polyester and other synthetic materials.