good morning all. just wondering if anyone else heard the news that hanes is no longer making soft l'inks. i tried ordering some this morning and my supplier said they were all out and told me hanes stopped making them. so i had to get the vapors.
i just hope vapors doesnt get greedy and raise their prices since they no longer have any real competition.
i'm just getting into the business and when i called a company for info about sublimation, i found out that out about Hanes... thank god i found out before i bought a new printer and all that other expensive inks....
I just called my supplier Americana Company and they confirmed that Hanes is no longer making the soft l'inks. Says that production has stopped. I am pretty new to all of this - what is Vapors? Is that a tee similar to the soft l'ink, sorry if I sound ignorant to it all.
There are alternatives to Hanes. A sublimation shirt is a polyester shirt. I found a European alternative within five minutes of googling. Sure there are stateside options too.
Chromablast goes on cotton, the results are mixed and its very expensive per transfer,, sublimation ink is actually a ink that when heated to around 400 degrees turns into a vapor or gas it the transfers to the fabric and acts as if the fabric were dyed with the image thus having no hand what so ever,,thus the term dye sub,, you need to use light pastel or white polyester shirts as this method only works on man made materials such as cups with polyester coating etc. I prefer sublimation as the colors are very vibrant.
I just called my supplier Americana Company and they confirmed that Hanes is no longer making the soft l'inks. Says that production has stopped. I am pretty new to all of this - what is Vapors? Is that a tee similar to the soft l'ink, sorry if I sound ignorant to it all.
Vapor Apparel is a full line of sublimatable apparel including T shirts, Muscle Shirts, Long Sleeve T's, Polo Shirts, Sweat Shirts, Hoodies and More. They are a moisture wicking micro polyester microfiber.
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i havent found any other option to hanes or vapor for sublimation. believe me ive looked.
only thing ive found even close is a place that makes 75/25 tees. but they only make "unisex" tees....and only in white. ive tried them and they do come out pretty good..but the colors just arent as vibrant as hanes or vapor. but much better than 50/50 blend though.
they even supply their own paper which transfers more ink to the shirt. they call their tees "the SofterPrint collection". tees are under $3.
the place is gosublimation.com if anyone is interested.
just to name a couple, and I understand there may be someone else about ready to jump in the tech shirt manufacturing biz, don't ask because I can't give out any info. all I can say is they will be quite inexpensive.
I honestly never liked the Sof'links. Their cotton base with a polyester shell design always felt odd to me and the fabric was unmistakably poly to anyone who looked at it in person. The shirts were also heavy and oppressive feeling when worn. So good riddance in my opinion. Hopefully they learn from it and come out with a better sublimatable product in the future.
Personally, I only sublimate on Vapor Apparel T's. There really is no comparison to the feel and quality of the print on them. A good competitor would be nice to bring prices down on the Vapors, but that competitor was never going to be the Sof'Links.
__________________ ...and on the 8th Day science said, "The first seven days are lies."
The one possible downside of using Vapor garments, is the wash instructions say not to use fabric conditioner as it can clog the micro weave. This would presumably prevent the moisture wicking feature from working?
Most people's wash routines consist of throwing all the light fabrics in the machine together and all the darks in together in another. The wash powder and fabric conditioner then go in. I don't somehow see the Vapor garments getting washed separately. Sooner or later, they'll be thrown in the machine with everything else.
I would welcome other input on this. Am I misinterpreting the outcome of using fabric conditioner with Vapor garments?
well unless your going to be sweating alot when you wear the vapors..i dont see a problem with the micro weave clogging with fabric conditioner. the wicking feature is there for the people that wear the vapors during excercise, or other physical activity, where they will perspire alot.
most of my clients buy the shirts for the designs i print on them..they wear them casually like they would a regular cotton tee. i dont think they would even notice if the wicking feature was there or not.
hanes no longer making soft l'inks 
