# Dye sublimation vs Direct to garment print



## 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.


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## 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


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## 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?


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## D.Evo.

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


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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.


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## 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


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## 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.


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## 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. 




tra517 said:


> 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## 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.


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## rockwell

sunnydayz said:


> 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?


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## rockwell

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


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## 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.


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## 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?


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## BGSSUB

rockwell said:


> 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.


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## conde tech

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


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## 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?


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## raise

conde tech said:


> 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??


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## raise

Justin Walker said:


> 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.


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## 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.


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## conde tech

Conde does sell it by bulk.


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## 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


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## binki

Jada said:


> 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.


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## red514

binki said:


> 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!


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## D.Evo.

CHEPE said:


> 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.


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## D.Evo.

raise said:


> 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.


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## fabricio

ImagineThreads said:


> 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.


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