Home › Guides › Printing methods
How to Choose a Printing Method for Custom Canvas Bags
Choose the print route by fibre content, artwork and quantity — not by colour count alone. Screen printing, DTG digital print and DTF heat transfer each suit different artwork, and each is confirmed on a sample of your own fabric.
By QIYOU · Wenzhou Qiyou Trading Co., Ltd. · 温州齐游贸易有限公司
Start with the fibre, not the number of colours
A print route is decided by three things: what the bag is made of, what the artwork looks like, and how many pieces you need. Canvas describes a weave, not a fibre content. A heavy canvas can be cotton, a cotton–polyester blend or polyester, and the print answers change with it.
This matters first because conventional disperse-dye sublimation needs polyester or a substrate prepared for it. It is not the standard route for untreated 100% cotton canvas. Printer manufacturers state that substrate limitation in their own material guidance — see Epson: sublimation printing for makers. Coatings and special routes can change the answer, so confirm the actual fabric rather than the label on the sample bag.
Match candidate routes to the artwork
| What the artwork is | Route to evaluate first | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| One-colour text or a solid logo | Screen print | Separations, white underlay, minimum line width, print area against fabric texture |
| Photographs, gradients, multi-colour detail | DTG digital print | Machine, ink set, pretreatment, substrate and curing conditions |
| Multi-colour artwork, short run, no long setup | DTF / heat-transfer film | Film hand feel, white ink opacity, press compatibility, how edges look after washing |
| Print that crosses side and base panels | Decide the production order first | Print cut pieces or print the sheet, pattern repeat, seam position, alignment tolerance |
These are routes to sample, not a ranking. Screen printing can reproduce fine detail and halftones with a suitable mesh and setup; digital and transfer routes are alternatives to compare on the same fabric. An all-over or full-bleed design does not by itself decide the method — it decides the production sequence, which is a separate question.
Dark fabrics and large prints need their own sample
Dark base colours usually need a white underlay. That affects opacity, hand feel and the number of passes, so a dark-fabric sample is its own approval, not an automatic version of the light-fabric one. Large transfer prints should be assessed in the hand as well as on a photograph.
DTG is not cotton-only: some systems also support polyester with matching pretreatment and process settings. See Epson F2270 material and pretreatment support. Equipment documentation describes the range that system supports; it does not mean every printing line has been verified for every fabric, so the fabric and route are confirmed per project.
Setup drives the minimum, not the sewing
Minimum order and unit price are set mainly by how much setup the artwork needs: one screen per colour and per version in screen printing, film and press setup in transfer routes, pretreatment and machine time in DTG. The same bag in one colour and in six colours can therefore carry different minimums and different prices.
For a trial run our own minimum is 50 pieces per design and per print, so a design can be tested in the market before a larger run. Where the specification is still open we propose material and size first and price that proposal. Order terms and the company profile are on the QIYOU company page.
What to confirm in the artwork and the sample
- Submit artwork at the real print width and height, noting front and back, position, colour reference and version. Upscaling a low-resolution image, or renaming the DPI figure, does not add detail.
- Confirm text, fine lines, negative space and print boundaries against the template for that specific method. Do not carry one minimum line width or bleed figure across every bag.
- Approve colour and hand feel on a sample of the same fabric, same base colour and same finishing. A screen preview is not a sealed sample.
- Agree what will be checked and under which conditions for the intended use — rub, washing, migration. A method name is not a fastness grade, and no print route should be described as never fading.
Scope and related reading
This page is QIYOU purchasing guidance for choosing a print route. It is not a materials standard and it does not replace a sample of your own specification. Fabric, printing and acceptance conditions are confirmed for each project.
Custom tote bag buyer’s guide · Drawstring bag sizing · Canvas vs non-woven vs RPET · 中文：单色与彩色帆布印刷工艺如何选
Frequently asked questions
Can sublimation printing be used on 100% cotton canvas?
Conventional disperse-dye sublimation needs polyester or a substrate prepared for it, so untreated 100% cotton canvas is not the standard route; printer-maker material guidance states the same substrate limitation. Confirm the actual fibre content of the fabric first, because coatings and other routes change the answer.
Does a full-colour design have to be printed by sublimation?
No. Multi-colour artwork on cotton canvas is usually evaluated as DTG digital print or DTF heat transfer. Sublimation is the route for polyester or suitably prepared substrates.
Is screen printing always cheaper than digital printing?
Not without the specification. Screen printing carries a setup per colour and per version but prints quickly at volume; digital and transfer routes carry their own setup and film costs. Compare quotes at the same fabric, print area, colour count and acceptance conditions.
How many colours before we should move away from screen printing?
Colour count is one input, not a rule. Look at total setup, print area, whether a white underlay is needed and the order quantity. Ask for the same artwork priced on two routes and compare like for like.
Browse our bag ranges
More buying guides
About QIYOU
QIYOU is the brand of Wenzhou Qiyou Trading Co., Ltd. (温州齐游贸易有限公司), based in Cangnan, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China. Bags are produced on our own production line; notebooks, acrylic products, badges, playing cards and gift boxes are supplied through partner production lines. Materials and processes are confirmed for each project. Company profile: registration, order terms and how to verify us.
Need a quote for a specific bag?
Send your spec — material, size, print, quantity and destination — and we will come back with pricing and options. In-house sampling, so you approve the real thing before the bulk run.
Tell us what you need
Send a drawing, a photo or a rough idea, with the quantity and the destination country. You get a quotation and a sampling plan.
- Contact
- Howard Xu
- Company
- Wenzhou Qiyou Trading Co., Ltd.
- Address
- No. 80, 安崰村, Chixi Town, Cangnan County, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
- [email protected]
- WhatsApp / Phone
- +86 137 3695 1266 · call
- Minimum order
- Bags 50 · notebooks 50 · badges 50 · standees 50 · gift sets 50
- Payment
- Bank transfer (T/T) against proforma invoice — no card payment on this site