Pick by the art. One bold design going on hundreds of shirts is a screen printing job. Full-color art, gradients, or a name that changes per guest is a DTF job. Plenty of New York events run both from one footprint.
Screen printing
Ink pulled through a screen, one color per screen, cured on the spot. It's the fastest way to put the same one- to three-color design on a lot of shirts, and the squeegee pull is the thing people stop to film. It suits a show day at Javits Center or a festival run where the art doesn't change. Screens are burned before the trip, so the design is locked once it ships. See live screen printing.
DTF transfers
The art is printed onto film ahead of time or at the station, then heat-pressed onto the garment in seconds. There's no color limit and no screen to swap, so a guest's name, a date or a second design costs nothing extra in time. It's what we reach for at SoHo launches and Hudson Yards product events where the art is full-color or personal. See live DTF printing.
A lot of New York briefs want both. The common build is a press running the main design for the general floor and a DTF heat press next to it doing names or a VIP version. Both fit in the same station footprint and run off the same two circuits, so you don't have to choose.