Consequently, the garment is unaffected by this method, apart from the addition of your art. The characteristics of sublimation mean that prints are never heavy or dense. Adding names, numbers or other personal touches to a garment is as simple as creating a new file. Since each garment is printed from its own transfer as opposed to en mass on the same set of screens, sublimation makes it considerably easier to enhance each garment with individual customization. There are a number of benefits to the dye sublimation process: So, what does all this all mean to you, the t-shirt buyer? Images on hard substrates will not chip, peel or scratch.ĭid you know the word sublimation is from the Latin word sublimare, meaning “raised to a higher status”? All the way to its roots, sublimation printing, allows for your images and creativity to rise to the top and reach its peak performance. Once the substrate cools again, the pores close and allow the dye to become solid, permanently embedded in the fabric or polymeric material.ĭye sublimation printing yields beautiful and permanent colors that are embedded in the substrate or fabric rather than printed on the surface, images on fabric won’t fade or crack even after multiple times in the washer. The heat not only transforms the dye to gas, but it also expands the spores of polyester or polymers and allows the gas to be drawn into the pores. When the sublimation process occurs, the dye molecules that were a held in the sublimation process turn directly into a gas and bond with the polymers present in the fabric or the polymer coating on the blank product.īecause of the chemistry involved with these dyes, the dye actually becomes part of the substrate that it’s fused to. This printed sheet is laid on top (face down) of the polyester fabric or polymer coated product and is heat pressed. The method is widely used to digitally print onto a wide range of products, including fabrics, garments, mugs and other ceramics, wooden items, metal items, glass products and more.įirst, the printer prints dye-based inks onto sublimation paper, a special paper that holds the dye in place ready to be released during the sublimation process. Sublimation printing is where the printer cleverly uses the sublimation process to dye a substrate (polyester fabrics or other items with a polymer coating or surface) by turning dyes from a solid into a gas and back into a solid again, while bonding with the polymer materials present in the substrate or product.ĭye sublimation works by penetrating the surface of the substrate with ink. Let’s look at what precisely the dye sublimation method is. So, that begs the question, why should I opt for dye sublimation printing on my next order of t-shirts when I already have a couple of good options? The beauty of heat transfer is that it works on different materials and fabrics and literally creates no mess in the process. Because it works like a printer, it is best suited for designs or artwork considered too complex for printing techniques such as silk screening.įinally, heat transfer involves laying sheets of transfer material on top of garments to then be heat pressed in order to permanently apply custom graphics to garments. The method has been used way before you or I were born.ĭTG is pretty much like using a printer to print on fabric. Screen printing is the most well-known t-shirt printing process around. Moreover, screen printing inks are thicker than other printing methods, allowing them to last longer and produce more true-to-life colors. To compensate for the setup times needed for screen printing, many screen-printing shops will have a minimum order requirement to make jobs worthwhile.ĭepending on how big the design is, the ink quality, how much squeegee pressure is applied, the number of strokes and the mesh count, you can print from 200 to as many as 500 t-shirts with just a gallon of printing ink. A special screen has to be made for each design, which means there should be a sizable quantity of the same design to be cost-effective. Screen printing is the process of pulling a layer of ink over a screen to produce a design. These include screen printing, direct-to-garment (DTG) and heat transfer. The use on polyesters is key here, as we’ll see a bit later.īefore proceeding, however, let’s take a few minutes to review the other most popular printing methods when it comes to printing apparel. The system is different from most other printing methods since the pigments that are used are specifically designed to bond to plastics or polyesters. It was initially developed to print on plastic parts and items for awards and specialty printed items for industry needs. ![]() ![]() Then perhaps dye sublimation is the ideal option for you.ĭye sublimation is a process that has been around for some time. Dye Sublimation: Another option for printing t-shirtsĪre you in need of perfect, cost-effective promotional printing garments?
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