[Velvet]

I am trying to decide what DTG fulfillment company to go with. One claims that DTG works on cotton only. The other claims they can do it on 100% polyester if I wanted. I've called other companies and most seem to agree with ONLY cotton.

I want so badly to believe that DTG will work on polyester. IF it can, how is it long term? Also, what should I ask to make sure poly guy knows what he is doing? He literally said opposite of other venders, saying ink soaks in no matter the material.

Thanks.

 

[IYFGraphics]

I am trying to decide what DTG fulfillment company to go with. One claims that DTG works on cotton only. The other claims they can do it on 100% polyester if I wanted. I've called other companies and most seem to agree with ONLY cotton.

I want so badly to believe that DTG will work on polyester. IF it can, how is it long term? Also, what should I ask to make sure poly guy knows what he is doing? He literally said opposite of other venders, saying ink soaks in no matter the material.

Thanks.

The quick answer is that you can only print on cotton and cotton blends (70% and up), but there is a new pretreatment on the market that is suppose to enable you to print on polyester...almost all dtg printers use Dupont textile ink and it will not adhere to man made fabrics.

That said there is much more to the story because some printers can use different ink sets that do allow it to print on other substrates.

I guess the all important question would be....which printers are you looking at?

Hope this helps.

 

[Velvet]

Do you mean printing companies or brand ofprinter used.

I am looking at these two companies:
Chigaco-
www.GreatApparelForYou.com
California-
www.apparelprintingsystems.com

Great Appareal is legit.
Apparel Printing I dont know much about them and they were the ones that said they could do polyester.

I am looking for a ON DEMAND fulfillment company that has a good
selection of shirt (esp fitness/ dance kind) (reg shirts too) thatwill make it look like it came from my company. I want to be the
designer and marketer only.

I am having the hardest time finding companies that have good selection of garments at wholesale price...only these two so far.

Can you tell me more about pretreatment? Does it do well long term?

 

[adivito]

on the 100% poly you can go sublimation which would save the hassle of finding special pretreatments and inks.

 

[DAGuide]

Well, I can confirm that Great Apparel for You can print on to polyester as I have been to their showroom (bottom floor on the corner) in Chicago and I showed them how to do it. Dave and the rest of the guys at GAFY are extremely intelligent. I would highly recommend you take a trip to meet with them face-to-face. I did and was able to work in a Cubs game during the same trip. (Day game at Wrigley Field in April is perfect).

There are several other people that have confirmed that it is possible to do this as well. Check out this thread where the guy is printing on to 100% polyester topped flip flops - http://www.t-shirtforums.com/brother/t119043-3.html.

Whether you are printing on to cotton, blends or polyester garments using a dtg printer, you have to be smart and do a print / wash test first. So I would never tell anyone that a dtg printer can print on any type of substrate. Because everything from the loom that was used, the dyes in the garment and the sizing chemicals or other treatments can effect how well the print looks and how long it will last. So don't assume that any dtg printer can print on any garment you put in front of them. Pay for some sample prints to be done and do the testing yourself.

Just my juick thoughts... but I am bias (it is my pretreat fluid that the companies above use).

Mark

 

[IYFGraphics]

I am looking for a ON DEMAND fulfillment company that has a good
selection of shirt (esp fitness/ dance kind) (reg shirts too) thatwill make it look like it came from my company. I want to be the
designer and marketer only.

I am having the hardest time finding companies that have good selection of garments at wholesale price...only these two so far.

Can you tell me more about pretreatment? Does it do well long term?

Ok....that makes more sense your looking for fulfillment type of company that can print on poly for you, your not looking at buying your own DTG printer....correct.

If that's what your looking for then you need not bother yourself with any of the technical details, simply find a printer in your area that can provide the services you require.

Traditionally it's two totally different processes to print on cotton and on poly unless your talking screen printing which isn't as limited to fabric types as DTG printing, but screen printing doesn't fit with your type of business so your left with just a few choices.

DTG on cotton, dye-sublimation on polyester, or some form of transfers (Plastisol) that could be produced and applied as demand calls for.....we're really getting out of my realm of knowledge I can explain DTG or dye-sub to you but the transfer aspect I have no experience with so I can't give you good info.

Biggest problem you have is that you need on-demand printing on poly which might be hard to find a company that does that.

Maybe someone else would have better info....

Hope this helps.

 

[[email protected]]

I have a Brother gt-541. I have recently started doing polys with a pretreat that is great. I printed 10 SanMar sport-tec shirts, took them home and washed them. A little fade but very acceptable. Only one wash , but love the margin increase and additional markets to sell to . Dtg machines use a water based ink, which , obviously is not compatible with oil based poly, but the pretreat spray is vey cool.

hope this helps

 

[Velvet]

Anthony-can sublimation be done on demand?

Mark- I spoke with Dave and said he can do screen printing on polyester etc but not DTG. He was saying even Bamboo couldnt be guarenteed to do well long term. Should I ask him it differently? What is the fluid called?

 

[DAGuide]

Mark- I spoke with Dave and said he can do screen printing on polyester etc but not DTG. He was saying even Bamboo couldnt be guarenteed to do well long term. Should I ask him it differently? What is the fluid called?

Do you know exactly what garments you want to use? If so, send Dave some samples so he can pretreat them differently and see what the results are when you do your testing. No matter who you choose to go with, you are going to have to do your testing if you want to ensure that your brand name / reputation is where you want it.

I should also say that printing on to polyester is only good for CMYK printing on light garments - no white ink. So if you asked Dave to do dtg printing on to dark garments (which require a white underbase), then he is going to say no.

The pretreat fluid is simple called DTG Pretreat - www.dtgpretreat.com.

Mark

 

[Velvet]

Jon- Yes fulfillment. I may have to do a different method or use another company with polyester materials. Back to researching!

Micheal-Would the fade be noticeable to the customer or only those who are looking? Dont want them to think its low quality. lol I would do another wash to double check before sending it to your clients just in case. From a clients standpoint I would want a company I was working with to do more than one wash. I hope it works well for you!

 

[Velvet]

Mark-
Thanks for the info. I was interested in darks of course but if I could do lights that be better than nothing. I'll ask dave more info about it. I may have to use more than one company anyways.

Is there any process for polyester that would work on dark stretchy fabrics? I think flex print (thin vinyl) does?

 

[[email protected]]

Velvet,
Its all relative regarding quality...detail of design, use, ...

my shirts were for a race, so one wear and they are happy. Business wear, whatever, yes I would test more thoroughly. This was mostly text, so no real challenge. I am still wearing mine though.

the shirts were from Zorrel..I met them last month in Nashville at a show, really nice, and different from the sport-tec

 

[DAGuide]

Yes, you can print a vinyl material... but many people think that it has too heavy of a hand. Because the polyester material feels so soft, any opaque vinyl material you use is going to make that part of the shirt feel different. Also, with vinyl you don't have the ability to do designs with fades.

You should also know that dye sublimation is a light transfer process as well - so not dark garment printing either. The only other way around this is to do cut-and-sew. This means that you print all the color (color in the design and color of the garment) on to a piece of all white fabric. Then you cut the pieces of up and sew them together to make a garment. This makes it look like the garment color is dark and the you printed light colors on it, but it is really the exact opposite. However, cut-and-sew comes at a higher price as there is significantly more labor involved.

Hope this helps you.

Mark

 

[[email protected]]

oh...I forgot to say, I would have tested more but it was a ..order on Monday for Tues deliver thing

 

[DAGuide]

I may have to do a different method or use another company with polyester materials. Back to researching!

Yes, there is no one single type of decorating technique that will work for all types of fabrics on all sizes of jobs (quantity of shirts ordered). What separates the best companies is those that understands when one application is better than another based on thresholds and price breaks. I discuss this on Page 6 of this document - [media]http://www.multirip.com/dtg101.pdf[/media].

Mark

 

[Velvet]

Micheal-
I'm so glad you took that well. After I thought about it, I'm thought "I hope he didn't get offend by that". I own another business and I'm always thinking what would the customer think. lol

It was great you were to keep your client happy and produce results in a short amount of time! That says a lot.

 

[Velvet]

Mark, Hmm I have lots to think about. Just when I thought I had it all figured out. lol Your info helps a lot.

 

[[email protected]]

any info that helps is good with me !
I suggest any Jack Trout book ...Differentiate or Die is my favorite

 

[IYFGraphics]

Yes, there is no one single type of decorating technique that will work for all types of fabrics on all sizes of jobs (quantity of shirts ordered). What separates the best companies is those that understands when one application is better than another based on thresholds and price breaks. I discuss this on Page 6 of this document - [media]http://www.multirip.com/dtg101.pdf[/media].

Mark

Mark,

Thanks for the link to your DTG 101 how I ever missed such a wonderful resource is beyond me.

BTW is there a problem with me posting a link to it in future posts? (I understand it can't be reproduced without permission)

 

[DAGuide]

No, go ahead. It has been posted here in the past as well.

Mark