“The sublimation printing” is another one of the best printing methods that create high-quality manufacturing designs and styles. You might be seeing and getting impressed by all the creative, unique designs and colors in the market. That’s because of the massive popularity of sublimation printing. Sublimation printing use has increased enormously because it’s easy, stylish, cost-effective, easy to customize, and caters to a diverse audience.
Now that you are here, you are likely curious about sublimation printing and all it entails. At Custom Clothing Manufacturer, we can answer all your questions regarding Sublimation printing including what equipment is necessary to start Sublimation, sublime material required, how Sublimation works and all its intricate complexities – so let’s get to work and begin our exploration together.
What is Sublimation Printing? Or what does Sublimation Mean?
Sublimation printing refers to manufacturing and printing clothes in which the designs are transferred over the clothing fabric or materials using ink and heat. It could be a photo frame, mug, T-shirt, or more. Sublimation printing requires a specific kind of printer that specializes in Sublimation.
Sublimation printing is an innovative method for creating vibrant, stylish, and colorful clothing lines with sublimated prints that customers appreciate. Many major brands feature sublimated clothing lines in their product lineup and their success speaks for itself: Customers love sublimated printing products.
The magic of sublimation printing lies in between the printing process. During the process, the designs are directly converted over the fabric using the sublimation printers. Sublimation paper allows all design elements – logo, number, styles, colors, patterns – to be easily transferred onto fabric for permanent placement on its surface.
What is a sublimation paper?
Sublimation paper is an adhesive type of paper used to transfer designs onto fabric, mugs, photo frames and any other objects that come into contact with it. You will understand the whole printing process and how sublimation paper is used along with the sublimation printer to print a design over it in further ahead.
How does the sublimation printing work?
As mentioned before, ink and heat are the main things involved in the printing process. Heat plays a significant part in sublimation printing. The sublimation print brings the ink and fabric together with the help of heat. Depending on the case, the two main elements in the process are ink and heat used to transfer the designs over the clothes.
To initialize the process of custom sublimation printing, the design is transferred over the special sublimation paper. After it, the inks are used during the sublimation printing to turn into gas when it comes in contact with the heat. After that, the designs are combined with the fabric and permanently imprinted over the clothing line or any element.
The design printed over the clothes is permeant and less likely to fade away as the ink penetrates over the fabric, being a permeant part of the clothing line.
We are a professional custom t-shirt printing and manufacturing company serving startups and established brands by manufacturing their top-selling clothing lines. With a comprehensive catalog, we offer the best sublimation printing services with the lowest Minimums MOQ you can order at the best affordable rates. Our low MOQ of 50 gives you better control over prices and allows you to plan and work on more clothing designs, increasing your brand offerings.
A Summary of the Whole Sublimation Printing Process
- The sublimation printing dyes are filled in the printers, and the colors are filled accordingly to the CMYK color partition. Sublimation printing has no restrictions over color. You can use ad whichever color you want in your design.
- The design or images are then printed over sublimation paper (a particular type of printing paper).
- After transferring, heat is applied that transfers the ink to the fabric, initializing the sublimation process over clothes.
- The ink is used to go deep and fuse into the pores of fabric so that the design becomes a permeant part of the clothes.
- After that, the panels are sewn together from the front, back, and sideways, turning them into a complete finished product.
What are sublimation printers?
Sublimation printers are particular types designed to sublimate the design over the fabric. The printer inputs the structure, processes, and prints it over the specific type of printing paper that is further transferred over the material using heat, making the design a permeant part of the fabric.
Along with the sublimation printer, you will also need to invest in a heat press that can transfer the design over the clothing line. Sublimation printing is a popular method, so if you need to transfer the design over the mug, you will need to get a mug clamp to print the design over it.
What Do I Need For Sublimation Printing?
Here is the list of a couple of things you need for sublimation printing
- A sublimation printer
- Sublimation Printing Software
- Ink & Paper
- A particular type of paper to have a design printed over it
- Sublimation blanks
- Heat press
- Additional supplies
The list of additional supplies might include
- Spray
- Gloves
- Thermal tape
- Foam pillows
- Cover sheets of silicon
Moreover, you might be thinking about the type of clothing over which you can sublimate the design. So here are some of the best-suited fabrics that are good to go with sublimation printing.
- Polymer
- Polyester made fabric
- Ceramic
- PVC
- Polymer Coated Metal
- Polyester Coated Aluminum
- Poly cotton fabric
- Plastic
- Polyester
- Glass
Sublimation vs. DTG Printing
There is always an alternative to everything. As we mentioned, dye sublimation printers work well over a light background, and DTG printing is a well-suited method for fabric with darker scenes.
The main difference between Sublimation and DTG printing is that DTG printing provides you with greater details and visibility over a darker background. At the same time, Sublimation is not so efficient for it. Also, unlike Sublimation printing, DTG printing is efficient in printing over natural fibers like linen and cotton.
To answer the question of what is better, Sublimation or DTG, we would say both processes involve different processes, and both can outperform the other, having their own best results. So, for example, if the Sublimation is well known for polyester materials, then on the other side, DTG printing is well known for printing over cotton or linen fabric.
One plus point that Sublimation printing has is that the design printed through the sublimation process is more likely to last longer and doesn’t fade away even after hundreds of washes.
Sublimation vs. Heat transfer printing
Sublimation printing and heat transferring printing are two different printing processes widely used in the industry. While both of these processes are unique and beneficial in their own way, they have several differences. The biggest difference between these processes is that in the heat transfer printing method, the design is placed over a coating film that is pressed over the fabric using heat and power. The heat allows the design to immerse into the fabrics deeply.
Heat transfer printing is a comparatively less expensive method of printing. But the prints of heat transfer printing can fade over time, or the design will get a crack in between them design. At the same time, sublimation printing can result in vibrant and accurate color designs over the fabrics for longer times—the heat transfers. So most companies consider a sublimation process a more reliable process as results from sublimation printing are more durable and prominent.
Why is Sublimation Print Method better than the Rest?
Sublimation printing offers the flexibility of using different fabrics, as it works well on many fabrics. It results in accurate color precision, and it efficiently prints detailed prints. This opens the room for uniqueness, creativity, and working over new styles. With sublimation printing, you can easily utilize a whole range of full-color printing. Moreover, sublimation printing is a cost-effective process.
Quick fact:
If you are a clothing brand looking for a clothing line with permanent designs that never goes off even after washing the fabric hundreds of times, Sublimation printing is the suitable method for you.
The sublimation process is quick, cost-effective, and famous for smaller and larger batch clothing lines. The sublimation printing process allows you to choose a custom design with various customization options providing you with flexibility.
Pros & Cons of Sublimation Printing
Pros:
- You get to choose from unlimited colors for designing
- The best method for creating accurate, vibrant color designs
- Allows you to create complex designs all over the T-shirts.
- The plan doesn’t fade away as it’s permanently printed over the Shirt.
- Sublimation printing is a popular style in the market that customers love, so your brand is more likely to sell when you sell unique, creative designs among your target audience.
- Sublimation printing can result in a softer feel of fabric even with the complex design or printing, making it the best choice for uniforms, sportswear clothing lines, and more.
Cons
- Sublimation products are likely to lose their design or printing if they are exposed to the sun or UV rays for longer.
- In making the digital image transfer, the printing might get limited by the original image resolution, or you might need to enlarge the maximum size of the designs over the clothing line.
- The designing area must be light-colored, as a darker background will result in a less visual design.
Wrapping up
So here is a detailed guide about what sublimation printing is and how the sublimation process works. In this blog, we have mentioned the different types of fabric you can use in sublimation printing and how sublimation printing differs from DTG printing. The pain point in sublimation printing is handling the printer and heat transfer, as minor mishandling would lead to serious loss in the finished product. That’s why we have professionals with decades of experience and skillful workers handling our printing methods and clothing line manufacturing.
