[Justin Walker]

Anybody know what is involved in combining two fabrics? How would one go about making a roll of fabric, consisting of a very thin polyester shell for sublimating, and a very thin cotton layer for the inside of the garments; something that could be placed on a roll printer, perhaps?

 

[raise]

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

Doesn't sublimation fade with exposure to the sun moreso than other print methods??

 

[raise]

Anybody know what is involved in combining two fabrics? How would one go about making a roll of fabric, consisting of a very thin polyester shell for sublimating, and a very thin cotton layer for the inside of the garments; something that could be placed on a roll printer, perhaps?

I think that was basically Hanes SoftLink which was discontinued.

The outershell was poly and the inner shell was cotton.

Not sure if you wanted finished garments or a method for making a cut and sew product but the finished good does exist. Conde still sells them.

 

[Justin Walker]

Thanks for the tip! Although I was wondering more along the lines of making a "combination cloth" from the ground up, for printing from rolls (unless Conde already sells it as rolls of fabric?). This way, the amount / weave of the polyester and cotton can both be controlled, allowing for a (potentially) more comfortable and well balanced fabric. Of course, these are just ideas I'm bouncing around.... I have long admired the advantages that sublimation boasts over DTG; vibrancy, gamut and washability are just three examples. Currently, the biggest limiting factor (in my mind) is the lack of availability of a flexible range of fabric substrates for printing.

 

[conde tech]

Conde does sell it by bulk.

 

[arvelclinton]

This is really a nice question. According to me direct to garment print is more good rather than dye sublimation. The color of direct to garment print is more durable and more natural as compared to dye. screen printing colorado

 

[binki]

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.

The results are NOT similar. Dyesub is a superior product and comes at a much higher price.

Dyesub will not fade, crack, or fall off. It is vivid and permanent. It is for lights only but if you do wide format printing you can turn any white garment into a full color garment. Dyesub is for poly only.

DTG is a waterbased ink for cotton. As the cotton shirt breaks down, so will the print. It looks like fading but it is the shirt fibers poking through.

Each printing method has its place. From sports uniforms, I would go with Dyesub. A premium product at a premium price. For handout shirts, DTG printing. Low cost product on a low cost shirt.

 

[red514]

The results are NOT similar. Dyesub is a superior product and comes at a much higher price.

Dyesub will not fade, crack, or fall off. It is vivid and permanent. It is for lights only but if you do wide format printing you can turn any white garment into a full color garment. Dyesub is for poly only.

DTG is a waterbased ink for cotton. As the cotton shirt breaks down, so will the print. It looks like fading but it is the shirt fibers poking through.

Each printing method has its place. From sports uniforms, I would go with Dyesub. A premium product at a premium price. For handout shirts, DTG printing. Low cost product on a low cost shirt.

completely agree!

 

[D.Evo.]

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?

True, there are sprays out there designed for this puprose, but many of us tried and failed to get a retail quality result printing on cotton treated with such spray.
The spray creates a kind of thin film on top of the fabric, when sublimated it gets stiff and sometimes yellowes, after wash it cracks and fades. It doesn't look or feel nice.

 

[D.Evo.]

Doesn't sublimation fade with exposure to the sun moreso than other print methods??

It definitely doesn't fade more than other printing methods - sportswear and swimwear are mainly printed by dye-sub method and I'd say these types of garments get much more sun exposure than other types of clothing.
A lot of outdoor advertising - banners, flags, umbrellas - done with sublimation too.

 

[fabricio]

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.

Do you know what kind of printing or sublimation i need for suited speed cloth? thank you.