Ok i know what pre treat does and what its for but what actually is pre-treat?
It smells like watered down PVA glue, the care label from DTG on their own brand pretreat states that it is harmful if swallowed , can cause irritation although no chemical make up is given.
I currently pay around £20.00 per litre of pre treat. I'm sure there must be a more cost effective solution. I have asked our supplier for the ingredients which they are reluctant to give me. Surely to be inline with COSHH regulations the ingredients should be on the bottle ?
thanks
Ian
Last edited by 1clickprint; February 20th, 2009 at 05:10 AM.
It's hard to say for certain what it is, but it certainly breaks down the sizing and other chemicals that are present on the shirt before washing.
Our custom shirt and web fulfillment shop use it on all darks. It definitely helps.
__________________
Eco-Friendly printing at GreatApparelForYou.com for organic tshirts and Direct to Garment Printing in Chicago, Illinois including shirt web fulfillment, and Funny Tees at gafy.com!
The pre-treatment solution used by most direct to garment distributors is basically the same (as it is manufactured by the same company) - it consists of binders, saline and a catalyst - I'd guess that it is not any more harmful than bad whisky is for you, just doesn't taste as good. The MSDS sheets should give a basic breakdown of the potentially harmful ingredients. As for making your own, knock it out, you could probably send a sample off to be analyzed and build your own from the results they give you, if you can find a lab willing to perfrom the testing on a commercial product.
On 1 hand, I hear you about the contents being listed on the bottle. On the other hand, I'm sure the various companies have invested a lot of time and money perfecting their mixtures. I don't think it's reasonable to expect them to list their mixtures on the bottle and give away their trade secrets...
If my wife still worked in a chem lab, I could probably have her break it down and determine the formula but it's probably not worth what it would cost to pay someone to do it.
I could probably have her break it down and determine the formula but it's probably not worth what it would cost to pay someone to do it.
Exactly, we inquired about getting the formulation and making our own and we were told that some of the components were readily available in quantities that would make it financially feasible to make small quantities (and we buy 600-1000 liters per month!).
I have no intention of trying to rip anybody off, businesses dont grow like this. i agree with all the posts above, my main concern was that i may be getting charged for what is basically watered down PVA glue. If this was the case then i would have no concerns in making this myself as the manufacturer would be basically ripping me off. If however it has a chemical composition which has been specifically designed for the job so to speak then i understand the companies not only have to make a profit but also have to recoup the costs involved in developing the product.
Other issues also arise, i have actually found out since my initial post that it is made up out of 4 different components, one being formaldehyde which is carceogenic. it would have been nice to have been informed this on the packaging.
What is pre - treat ? 
