EandJ

85% of our business is printing on 100% microfiber polyester - a wicking material.

We're exploring the option of a DTG printer. Has anyone used a DTG to print on microfiber polyester? If yes, please give me your feedback.

What type of microfiber shirt did you print on?

What was the print quality?

Did you do a wash test?

What type of machine did you use?

Thank you!

Emily

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DAGuide

Most dtg inks are made to adhere to natural fibers (cotton, bamboo,...) and not synthetic fibers (polyester, nylon,...). The ones that I have seen done it have used pretreatment on the shirts. However, these tests using white ink have not all been real successful and the cost associated with doing these steps is more than doing a print-cut type transfer. Do a search from YoDan and he has posted some pictures of his tests.

Sublimation is the best way to print on to polyester for short-runs as it will last longer and have less of a hand. The negative to sublimation is it is a light transfer application and can't go on dark garments. However once you add the pretreatment (which is require when printing white ink), it will change the way a shirt feels and you will lose the wicking effect.

Good luck with your research,

Mark

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Don-ColDesi

DA Guide speaks the truth. New generation inks do perform much better on light colored synthetics, however white in on dark synthetics is a challenge. Aside from the chemistry side of things you have the concern of elasticity. Most fabrics like you mentioned stretch quite a bit (things like Under Armor are actually designed to be form fitting) thus the ink needs to have a high level of elasticity - while this may be chemically possible, I'm sure that it presents some issues in regards to jettability.

In my eyes this one of the most major stumbling blocks to the next quantum step in the evolution of direct to garment printing. The ability to do sports uniforms (which are generally made of poly or poly blends) with your DTG would greatly increase the process' acceptance in the marketplace - JMHO

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