DTF vs DTG: How Direct To Film Unlocks Activewear Margins

Most print on demand sellers start the same way: cotton tees, a few hoodies, maybe a mug or two. It is easy to set up, there is huge demand, and almost every provider supports it.

That same simplicity creates a trap.

Cotton tees are crowded, margins are thin, and DTG printing starts to show its limits once you charge premium prices or sell to people who actually use their clothes hard, like gym customers or runners.

Direct To Film printing changes that. In this article I explain what DTF really is, how it compares to DTG in practice, and how Gelato’s DTF launch on brands like Nike and Sport-Tek can help you move from cheap basics into real activewear.

Along the way I will reference what I see in my own stores, what other sellers share in communities, and where Gelato fits into a realistic POD stack. 

If you want a broader overview of the platform itself, I also have a detailed Gelato print on demand review and a vendor snapshot on my Gelato provider profile. Here I focus specifically on DTF and activewear.

DTG is still great for cotton basics

Before I talk about DTF, it is worth being clear: DTG is not outdated technology.

For most POD businesses today, DTG does a good job on:

• 100 percent cotton or high cotton content shirts and hoodies
• Short runs and one-off orders
• Fast, automated routing inside big POD networks

On darker garments, DTG prints often look rich and almost like a soft screen print. On lighter shirts, though, many sellers report muted colors, faster fading, and issues after a few washes, especially if the customer ignores care labels.

DTG is perfect for low ticket basics when:

• Volume is the main lever
• The brand is clearly positioned as casual streetwear or merch
• Customers do not expect performance fabric or long term athletic use

The problem appears when you try to charge forty or fifty dollars for a shirt that behaves like a twenty dollar tee in the wash. That is where I see frustration build up in communities and support tickets.

If you are still choosing a provider for this “basics” layer, I compare Gelato against the usual suspects in Printify vs Gelato and Printful vs Gelato, and I have separate guides like best print on demand T-shirt companies and best print on demand hoodies.

What Direct To Film actually is

Direct To Film sits somewhere between vinyl transfers and screen print in how it feels, but the production pipeline is different.

Very simplified:

1. The design is printed in full color onto a special film, with a white ink layer.
2. Adhesive powder is applied and cured.
3. The film is then heat pressed onto the garment.

For a POD seller the important part is not the chemistry. It is what this process allows you to do.

Fabric flexibility

DTF can be applied to:

• Cotton
• Polyester
• Blends
• Many nylon and technical fabrics

This immediately solves the cotton trap for performance wear. Most activewear pieces are polyester or poly blend. DTG struggles here. DTF does not.

Durability

Good DTF transfers hold up very well under repeated washing. In forums and subreddits you see the contrast clearly: sellers complain about DTG prints that already look tired after a handful of washes, while others report DTF transfers that still look fresh on shirts worn heavily over longer periods.

You should still test your specific provider and blank, but in general:

• DTG tends to fade faster, especially on light garments and when pretreat or curing is off.
• DTF behaves more like a high quality transfer that shrugs off regular washing when it is produced and applied correctly.

How DTF feels

A common fear is that DTF will feel thick and plasticky.

Reality:

• Large solid blocks of ink will always feel more noticeable.
• Designs with a lot of negative space, linework, or smaller elements feel surprisingly light.
• The feel depends heavily on the film, adhesive, press settings, and the provider’s process.

The way I think about DTF is simple:

• Use it for performance garments, technical fabrics, and designs that suit it.
• Avoid covering a whole chest with a solid rectangle of ink and then expecting it to feel invisible.

DTF vs DTG vs DIY DTF: a practical comparison

Here is a simple comparison from a POD seller’s point of view.

Many sellers flirt with the idea of buying their own DTF setup to save on POD margins. That can make sense if you run a serious local brand, have a workshop, and already know printing.

For most POD businesses, DIY DTF means:

• Several hundred to a few thousand in equipment
• Time spent learning print settings and maintenance
• Space for a press and stock
• Responsibility for shipping, returns, and customer service

POD DTF gives you the fabric flexibility and durability of DTF without that overhead. You pay more per unit than DIY, but you keep the business simple and scalable.

With Gelato specifically, DTF is exposed as just another fulfillment method inside the same environment you might already use for wall art, mugs, posters and basics. You can explore the current product set on their Gelato DTF page.

Why DTF matters for activewear margins

Another recurring theme in seller discussions is margins. New sellers regularly discover that after product cost, shipping, VAT, marketplace fees, and ads, profit on a cheap tee is only a few dollars.

It often looks something like this:

• DTG cotton tee
• Base cost: around 8 dollars
• Retail price: around 22 dollars
• Marketplace and payment fees: 3 to 4 dollars
• Shipping and VAT: a few more dollars depending on region
• Net profit: often in the single digits

Even if you push volume, that does not leave much room to reinvest or pay yourself.

With performance apparel, the numbers change.

A very rough example:

• Nike or high quality performance tee
• Base cost: around 18 dollars
• Retail price: around 45 dollars
• Similar fee structure relative to price
• Net profit: significantly higher absolute margin, even if the percentage margin is similar

Now you are no longer fighting over an extra two or three dollars on a cotton tee. You are playing in a higher price band where an active buyer expects to spend more for good fabric and a known brand.

DTF is what makes this possible in a POD context because it lets you print reliably on those performance fabrics.

Nike and Sport-Tek with Gelato: what actually changes

Until recently, if you wanted to sell real performance wear with strong brand recognition through POD, you had limited options. You either:

• Used generic performance blanks that feel like gym promo swag, or
• Went DIY with Nike or similar blanks and handled printing yourself.

Gelato’s DTF launch opens up a third option. In their DTF partner materials, Gelato positions DTF exactly for this premium activewear use case and explicitly mentions big brand blanks such as Nike and Sport-Tek.

For a POD seller that means:

• You can put your brand identity on garments your customers already know and trust.
• You get access to moisture wicking tees, long sleeves, quarter zips, caps, and polos in the same environment you already use for posters, mugs, or cotton apparel.
• You can build a clear separation in your catalog between basics and premium performance lines.

Use cases that suddenly become realistic:

• A gym or fitness brand that wants branded Nike tops instead of generic poly tees.
• A running club that wants performance shirts and quarter zips that members actually train in.
• Coaches or local sports teams that want better blanks than budget teamwear.

There are a few important guardrails:

• You are still printing your own brand, slogan, or artwork.
• You are not selling counterfeit Nike designs or logo bootlegs.
• You treat the Nike or Sport-Tek branding as a quality signal for the garment, not the main design.

DTF questions POD sellers actually ask

Looking across seller communities, three questions show up over and over. It is worth addressing them directly.

1. How long do DTF prints actually last?

There is no single number that applies to every provider and blank.

What I can say from the mix of community reports and print shop experience is this:

• Poor DTG work often shows noticeable wear after a handful of washes, especially on light shirts.
• Good DTF transfers, applied correctly to the right fabric, hold up very well under normal use and washing. Many sellers talk about prints that still look fresh on well worn shirts.

If you connect Gelato or any other DTF capable provider, treat your first orders as a test:

• Order samples in the exact colors and sizes you plan to sell.
• Wash them multiple times with realistic settings.
• Check edges of fine lines and high wear areas like chest and shoulder folds.

Do not assume that DTF as a technology automatically guarantees perfect durability. Process and quality control still matter.

2. Does DTF feel plasticky?

It can, but it does not have to.

You can keep DTF comfortable by:

• Avoiding huge solid blocks of ink and breaking up large rectangles with negative space.
• Keeping very large, heavy designs for cotton DTG or screen print where appropriate.
• Being honest in product copy about what the customer can expect.

On performance wear, customers already expect a slightly different hand feel than on a combed cotton tee. If you pair good blanks with smart artwork, DTF will feel in line with that expectation.

3. Should I buy my own DTF equipment or stick with POD?

If you run a serious brand with consistent volume, have space for a press, enjoy production, and want total control, then owning your own DTF setup can make sense.

If you are:

• Testing ideas, or
• Running a small POD brand on the side, or
• Selling across marketplaces and need routing, tax handling, and returns baked in,

then POD DTF is almost always the better starting point.

I think of it this way:

• POD DTF trades some margin for zero equipment, zero maintenance, and instant scale.
• DIY DTF trades time, money, and complexity for tighter control and margin, but you become a print shop.

Most POD sellers are better served by first mastering demand, branding, and product selection, then revisiting DIY production later if needed.

If you want to see what a “tool tested in a real store” experiment looks like, I documented a full Gelato+ workflow in my case study We Published 10 Etsy Listings in a Day: Manual vs Gelato+. That article is about listing speed, not DTF, but it shows how I approach testing tools in practice.

How to plug DTF into a catalog without chaos

You do not have to rebuild an entire store around DTF. A simple way to start is to treat DTF activewear as a small, deliberate extension on top of what already works.

Step 1: Audit the catalog

• Identify designs that already sell well in fitness, sports, or streetwear contexts.
• Make a short list of designs that would make sense on performance fabric.

Step 2: Pick a small DTF activewear range

For example:

• One performance tee
• One long sleeve or quarter zip
• One hoodie or crewneck
• One cap or beanie

Step 3: Mirror existing winners

• Put proven designs onto these DTF products first.
• Avoid designing a whole new collection until you know people actually want activewear from you.

Step 4: Create a clear performance or training collection

• Group these products in one section of the store.
• Use copy that explains why these are different: fabric, fit, and use case.

Step 5: Price them as premium products

• Do not anchor them to tee prices.
• Price in line with what people already pay for Nike or similar performance wear in the niche.

Behind the scenes you can keep DTG for cotton basics and posters, and use DTF only where it actually matters.

If you sell on Etsy and worry about shipping speed and reviews, I also have a separate article on that topic: Fast Shipping = Better Reviews: How POD Speed Affects Etsy Success, which looks at delivery and routing rather than print methods.

When DTF is not the right choice

Despite the benefits, there are cases where DTF does not need to be the default.

• If a brand only sells low ticket cotton merch and the buyers do not care about performance fabrics, DTG is fine.
• If designs are huge solid blocks and customers are very sensitive to hand feel, DTF might feel too heavy on some blanks.
• If you are just validating whether anyone wants your designs at all, it can be simpler to stay on DTG tees until you see real traction.

The goal is not to replace DTG everywhere. It is to add DTF exactly where it expands the range and improves margins.

Where Gelato fits into a POD stack

If you already use Gelato, adding DTF is mostly a catalog decision:

• Use DTG for cotton basics.
• Turn on DTF for polyester, blends, and premium branded lines, especially Nike and Sport-Tek.
• Route traffic through a central Gelato vendor page so you can compare performance against other providers on the site.

If you are on another provider today, you can:

• Keep the existing setup for DTG basics.
• Use Gelato specifically for DTF activewear and compare blanks, quality, and support.

Either way, DTF is no longer a curiosity or a side experiment. It is a practical way to escape the cotton trap and build a more serious product ladder, especially in niches where customers live in performance gear.

Affiliate disclosure: This article includes affiliate links to Gelato. If you decide to try their services through these links, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.