[Jada]

Can anyone tell me the difference between dye sublimation and direct to garment digital printing? I'm a bit confused as the images they produce seem rather similar.

 

[3oats]

Dye sub is for synthetic materials. The ink turns to a gas as it is heated and sublimates into the synthetic material. DTG works best on cotton. It is like an ink jet printer on steroids. Instead of printing on paper, it prints directly onto the T shirt The image will dull slightly as the synthetic content increases. Both get heat cured. Oscar

 

[brandxtempe]

Do you have a source for 65% poly 35% cotton blended tshirts? I have bought sublimated shirts from target before with this blend content, with the label "Anthill Rockware." any ideas?

 

[D.Evo.]

Charles, look up Vapor Apparel - they are perfect for sublimation

 

[tra517]

don't know if this is the correct thread to post this question or not..

what is the difference between watermation and dye sublimation?

also I am searching for a company that does the all over printing directly to the fabric, then creates the clothing. I have found here the link to inyourfaceapparel - but does anyone know if there are other companies that offer this exact same service?

thanks.

 

[Rodney]

I haven't seen any other companies besides inyourfaceapparel that do the all over printing.

There are a few printers that have the capabilities to do it, but you would need to do a google search for something like roller printing or roller screen printing to find companies that might have the right machine. I remember seeing one in Canada last time I searched.

Not sure of the difference between watermation and sublimation. I think they describe watermation on the inyourface site.

 

[tra517]

rodney, great thank you hon! i'll search for that too I was not finding any other companies with watermation searches. have a great night! s

 

[ImagineThreads]

Sublimation requires specially treated fabrics. It also involves a printing to paper process (using specially reated sublimation paper) and then requires a heat application onto the frabric from th epaper.

Direct to garment printing means just that - the garment is inserted directly into a specifically engineered printer configuration and the ink jet prints directly to the garment. Fabrics should have no more than 50% synthetic composition with the other 50% being natural fabric such as cotton.

Such direct printing can even be done on colored shirts after appropriate pre treatment and after a white underbase is laid down first. Once all printing is completed, the used of a heat press us needed to "cure" the printing so that the results are color fast.

The "hand" (feel) of the printed garment is soft like the fabric.

 

[charles95405]

someone mentioned Vapor ware for me. I have used it...they are a polyester type material...and you can sublimate on it...but still can't do dark material

 

[Gunslinger]

We are using Hanes Softlink white, for customers who want a quick print with Dye Sublimation (walks-ins). Vapor gets a little pricey. For colors, we direct them to our Direct-to-Garment.

 

[cozzydc]

My company sublimates fabric then manufactures it. What kind of orders are you interested in doing? Is it just a one time deal, or continuous high volume orders? We have t-shirt templates in adobe illustrator.

don't know if this is the correct thread to post this question or not..

what is the difference between watermation and dye sublimation?

also I am searching for a company that does the all over printing directly to the fabric, then creates the clothing. I have found here the link to inyourfaceapparel - but does anyone know if there are other companies that offer this exact same service?

thanks.

 

[Skinbus]

just got a dark shirt from zazzle, dtg. should dtg feel anything like dark transfer paper? the lettering looks like it was cut out rather than printed. the straight edges of an upper case E aren't uniform as they're wider at one end. I was under the impression that the finished product would feel like light transfer paper on a light shirt. the light transfer paper has no hand at all, so if it's printed directly on to the material should I be able to feel it at all? would appreciate reply to" [email protected]." Thanks in advance.

 

[rockwell]

I was wondering if there are any advantages to printing via dye sublimation as opposed to direct printing? Is the print quality better? Will the image last longer? etc.

I have a design that is similar to a advertising poster and my printer recommended dye sublimation. Price wise, dye sub will be more costly mainly because Soft'Link tees are about $6 a piece. I have some basic white Gildan tees that I'd like to use instead, but my printer said the image will come out faded unless we use the special tees?

Any feedback will be much appreciated.

 

[sunnydayz]

Doing sublimination the printer needs to print on poly garments. If you do dtg printing you can print on the cotton gildans as they are made to print on natural fabrics. Hope this helps. You should not have fading issues as long as the printing is done right with the dtg. Also with dye sub the same thing, as long as they print on poly it wont fade.

 

[rockwell]

Doing sublimination the printer needs to print on poly garments. If you do dtg printing you can print on the cotton gildans as they are made to print on natural fabrics. Hope this helps. You should not have fading issues as long as the printing is done right with the dtg. Also with dye sub the same thing, as long as they print on poly it wont fade.

The Gildans are not poly, so I guess they won't work for dye sublimation without the design looking faded, right?

 

[rockwell]

Anyone have a t-shirt preference for dye sub printing...Soft'Link or Vapor?

 

[CUSTOM UK]

Hi. You cannot use sublimation to print onto cotton fabrics, as it relies on a chemical interaction with polyester fabrics. If you print on a poly/cotton mix, the sublimation ink will only adhere to the polyester component, it will wash clean out of the cotton component.

The two biggest limitations of sublimation garment printing, are that you are limited to using polyester fabrics and you can only print onto white, or light pastel colours. Sublimation garments undeniably cost more than cotton garments, but you do end up with a very high print quality.

 

[CHEPE]

I have hear that you can use for cotton t-Shirts an Poliester spray, so you apply the Poliester spray on the Cottton T shirt and you can sublimate without any problme on it, is it true?

 

[BGSSUB]

Anyone have a t-shirt preference for dye sub printing...Soft'Link or Vapor?

The Vapor Apparel T's are more of an athletic cut. The Vapor also have the moisture wicking Intera yarn which does just that ... keeps one cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter.

The SoftLink are a bit heavier (more like the feel of a Hanes Hefty 100% cotton). These shirts have the cotton layer inside and the polyester layer on the outside. They definitely do not "breathe" as well as the Vapor, but they are also more "dense" to see through. Our women wearers prefer the SoftLink ... it's not so "see-through" ...

Vapor does carry a "ladies" basic t-shirt which is heavier and not so "see-through", but it has a doofy collar ... not a traditional t-shirt collar ... the girls I showed these to were like "what's with the collar?" More for the "mature" women, I guess.

 

[conde tech]

Sublimation will last the life of the garment. Direct to garment will eventually fade with time and washing.