Is dye-sub quality more similar to screen print or DTG?

You won't beat dye sub for quality, but it has its limitations such as doesn't work on cotton shirts.

Dye sub quality beats, hands down, those other 2 methods. Dye sub on fabric does not fade, crack, or have a hand. It literally dyes the fabric unlike plastisol/dtg ink which sits on top of the fabric.

It's very much an apples to oranges to watermelon comparison.
These methodologies have very specific purposes.
A dye-sub on course grain wood would be equiveleant to DTG on the cheapest black cotton you can buy.

However, each method used in its PERFERRED environment will prove superior to all others.
For example, dye-sub loves polyester.
Screen print loves multiples in four colors.
DTG loves to dance in the black cotton, Print On Demand (POD) environment.

So, it would be more benefical for you to ask about what mehtod is best regarding the substrate you intend to print on.

For Polyester fabrics:

• For white garments, sublimation is the way to go.
• For light color garments, sublimation is still OK... just remember that sublimation does not have white ink.
• For dark or black garments, sublimation will not work.

For Cotton or polyester-cotton blends:
You cannot use sublimation directly. You can use a polyester substrate, but it becomes complicated at this point.

Thanks for all the advice here.

Do printers do dye-sub as one-offs? Meaning, are they able to print just one piece of dye-sub t-shirt/leggings like on-demand? Reason is because I want to use that one piece and send it to a model for photoshoot, then post and advertise it, and see the reception first before I mass-order more.

I can use mockups but they just don't have the feel of a real model in various poses that tell a story.

Nikar said:

Thanks for all the advice here.
Do printers do dye-sub as one-offs? Meaning, are they able to print just one piece of dye-sub t-shirt/leggings like on-demand?

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Of course they do... That's the whole point.

TABOB said:

Of course they do... That's the whole point.

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Thanks, then maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Almost all the ones I've seen so far have minimums of 12 and above lol

Nikar said:

Almost all the ones I've seen so far have minimums of 12 and above lol

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That would be screen-printing, not sublimation.

TABOB said:

For Polyester fabrics:

• For white garments, sublimation is the way to go.
• For light color garments, sublimation is still OK... just remember that sublimation does not have white ink.
• For dark or black garments, sublimation will not work.

For Cotton or polyester-cotton blends:
You cannot use sublimation directly. You can use a polyester substrate, but it becomes complicated at this point.

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I'm probably answering this question with a stupid answer of my own, but I just saw a video from Stahl's saying they had a new type of paper....different backing or something....that would allow transfers to black shirts. Apparently the backing helps "block" the black from infusing into the design/colors.


IDK, might not be sublimation printing, but sounds like something I was interested in, so I was trying to understand all the different types of paper they were selling.


Also several folks have found ways to work with cotton material....YouTube is now my best friend!

Nikar said:

Thanks, then maybe I'm not looking hard enough. Almost all the ones I've seen so far have minimums of 12 and above lol

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Dave does one-offs https://www.t-shirtforums.com/show-your-stuff-dye-sub-print-job-examples/t865728.html

MikeyB036 said:

Also several folks have found ways to work with cotton material....YouTube is now my best friend!

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Actually, there is a lot of rubbish on YouTube, so you need to be careful. Here is a really nasty example, some idiot will probably try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB0eRYHtpYo
Back to T-shirts... A lot of printing methods are intended for temporary use (events etc).

MikeyB036 said:

I just saw a video from Stahl's saying they had a new type of paper....different backing or something....that would allow transfers to black shirts.

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That is heat transfer vinyl or HTV.

TABOB said:

Actually, there is a lot of rubbish on YouTube, so you need to be careful. Here is a really nasty example, some idiot will probably try.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB0eRYHtpYo
Back to T-shirts... A lot of printing methods are intended for temporary use (events etc).

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That was fun nee!

DrivingZiggy said:

That is heat transfer vinyl or HTV.

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So second "stupid" question of the day: Isn't that what sublimation is?

MikeyB036 said:

So second "stupid" question of the day: Isn't that what sublimation is?

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No, HTV is HTV... which is a single color sheet. You can of course use the white one as a background and print on it, AND there are sublimatable options, BUT it is not the same as sublimating the fabric itself.

Sublimation needs a polyester substrate. If the fabric is cotton, then you have to add a layer of polyester to it, or it will not work. Also sublimation does not have a white ink option, so the substrate has to provide the white part of the print, just like when printing on paper with a normal printer. You cannot print on black.