What is DPI?
Also known as: Dots per inch, PPI
Dots per inch — the resolution at which a digital design will be printed. Directly determines print quality and file size. Textile printing uses 72-600 DPI depending on print method.
In detail
DPI specifies how many ink dots will be deposited per linear inch of fabric. Higher DPI produces finer detail and smoother gradients but uses more ink and produces larger files. Textile DPI requirements vary by print method: digital roll printing uses 150-300 DPI (150 for casual apparel, 300 for high-detail prints); screen printing uses 72-150 DPI (limited by mesh count, typically 110-156 mesh for textile screens); rotary engraving uses 300-600 DPI (highest detail, used for fine fashion prints and home textile). DPI must be specified in the production file metadata AND backed by actual pixel density — 'tagging' a file as 300 DPI without resampling does not change the visible quality. Always export at the target DPI, not at a higher resolution that the print partner has to downsample. Note that DPI and PPI are often used interchangeably in textile-design software, but technically PPI describes the digital file's pixel density and DPI describes the physical printer's dot density. They're equal only if the file is printed at exactly 1:1 scale — any scaling at the RIP stage breaks the equivalence.
Example
A 30 cm × 30 cm rapport printed at 300 DPI requires a 3543 × 3543 pixel file. Printing the same rapport at 600 DPI requires 7087 × 7087 pixels — 4× the storage and processing time, with detail benefit only visible under close inspection.