Many flatbed printers know from experience that customers often require more pieces than they initially order. As a hedge against the painful prospect of asking the customer to pay for a new setup (or eating the cost), many printers inventory additional prints. This practice, of course, has its own unwanted costs. Making up for shortfalls with textile prints solves this problem.
The same logic that makes flatbed printer so suitable for short runs and proofs also makes them ideal for creating prototypes. Flatbed printing allows printers to keep their screen printing lines dedicated to higher-volume runs and avoid the inefficiencies of frequent setups and teardowns.