# What colour t-shirts work with with dye sublimation besides white?



## sas1 (Feb 8, 2012)

what colour tshirts work with the dyes
obviously white works best but wat other colours work just as good


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## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

Hello Sas1 and welcome to the forums!

Light pastel colours will work well for dye-sub, but keep in mind - the background colour of the t-shirt will influence the colours of the design: it will "mix" in with the print colours. For example, if you print on yellow - your reds will get "orangy", brighter hue; blue will have a greener hue (think navy blue vs royal blue); green and brown will become deeper, etc. 
If you require photo quality reproduction or particular club and logo colours - stick to white shirts.

For artistic designs coloured shirts could be very complimentary to the print and add some interesting effects. 

I would suggest getting some coloured poly swatches and printing the same print on all of them to see how colours of the design with interact with different dackground colours.

On darker t-shirts like red, darker shades of blue and green only black print will stand out (or very dark coloured prints, but they might look muddy).


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## sas1 (Feb 8, 2012)

Thank you very much for that helpful reply.
Heat pressing tshirts is something I've never done so what quality could I expect with dye sub and also using transfer papers with ink jets?


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## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

Dye-sublimation printing permanently DYES the design into the fabric: you can't feel it on the surface, the fabric remains breathable and the print will never crack, wash off or deteriorate in any other way.

To achieve the best result with dye-sublimation you need to be printing on 100% polyester fabrics.

Dye-sub doesn't work on natural fabrics, so if you are using a blend - only polyester fibres will get printed. For example, if your t-shirt is 60% polyester and 40% cotton only 60% of your image will get transferred onto the garment and as the result it will look washed out and dull (some people use this this type of effect for "vintage"/ distressed designs).

Sorry, can't comment on ink-jet transfers - we don't work with them, but here are some threads that might help you to understand the difference between printing methods:
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t48532.html
http://www.t-shirtforums.com/general-t-shirt-selling-discussion/t37985.html


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