Planning guides
Guides for planning a live DTF station
Written from load-in experience, not theory. These are the documents we wish every planner had before the first call — steal freely.
The complete station planning guide
Timeline, power, floor space, garment strategy, and guest flow — everything between "signed" and "doors open."
Read the guide →How many shirts per hour?
The throughput math: presses, operators, menu size, and the pre-press tricks that beat the line.
Read the guide →Full-color artwork, pressed live
Why gradients and photos survive DTF untouched, and how to prep files so the print matches the screen.
Read the guide →Why we publish our playbook
Some vendors treat throughput math and power specs like trade secrets. We'd rather you walk into the first call already knowing what a station needs, because informed planners make better events — and because the numbers hold up to scrutiny. Every figure in these guides comes from our own load-ins, not a supplier brochure.
Have a topic you want covered — venue-specific rules, fabric edge cases, hybrid station design? Tell us at contact@merchtroop.com and we'll write it up.