# White ink partially peels off after washing



## Werionae (Jun 19, 2020)

Hello Everyone!


My name is Thomas and I'm new to this forum. Some time ago we bought Brother GT-361 for our company.
I have a question that desperately need an answer.


Most of the time, approx 95% of the printed t-shirts with white ink are in perfect condition after washing. However, there are some t-shirts where part of the prints come off after washing. When you touch the affected part it is kind of rubbery.

Can it be that I put less than or more than enough pretreatment? Or is it because the textile is not dried properly after ironing and is still a bit wet on some parts, although it looks dry already? Can someone tell me what is wrong?


I have attached a photo for your reference.


Any comment or suggestion will be much appreciated. Thank you in advance.

http://i.postimg.cc/TYnh63dm/20200619-084245-1-1-1.jpg


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## chuckh (Mar 22, 2008)

My guesss is that if some parts of the white print are releasing from the shirt and others areas are fine, this would probably be due to an inconsistent pre-treatment.

If you are pre-treating with a spray gun, that could be your problem.


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## DTG Merch (Apr 21, 2019)

Hello Thomas, hope you're doing fine!

I would like to help too... if next time you could give more details it will be better... like ink and pretreatment brands used, times and temperatures for curing, are you using heat press, tunnel dryer, or a combination of both?

Apart from what Chuck mentioned above, which is a good advise, have a look on these:
- Is your pretreatment well sprayed on the garment? Check the nozzles. Use a paint roll to spread it evenly.
- Do you mix the pretreatment yourself? Check the water to pretreatment ratio.
- Is your curing machine (heat press or tunnel dryer) working properly? Look out for cold spots in the heat press (you can use thermal strips to check that) And the uniformity of heat inside the tunnel dryer can be checked with a "data pack probe" (ask your supplier for that)
- Is this happening on all t-shirts? Same brand? Same colour? Every single one or at random?
- What's the composition of them? Some colours/brands use coatings to make their product better/especial (silicone finishing, anti-wicking, flame retardant) and because of that its kinda complex for the inks to adhere in the fibers... maybe this is not the case here, but perhaps this info can be kept for future reference!
- Finally... how are you washing these t-shirts? Do you wait a few hours before wash? Do you turn then inside out? Minimum 10 pieces per load? At what temperature?

Well... I guess I went a little deeper than I should on this. But perhaps helps a little more...

I hope you can fix it!


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## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

Too much pretreatment for those particular shirts!
You are trying to print all t-shirts with the same amount of pre-treatment. Unfortunately DTG is not that easy.
If you print different model shirts, you have to balance the white ink and pretreatment for each one. 
The same applies for the same model shirts where different colors use different fabric etc.


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## Werionae (Jun 19, 2020)

Thank you for the replies. 

I printed about 40 t-shirts (160g, 100% cotton) with white ink last Monday and they were okay after washing. On Wednesday I printed a different type of t-shirt, 4 pieces (200g, 100% cotton) with white ink and 3 of them were broken after washing (it was the photo I attached last time). All procedures I did for both days were the same. We use a spray gun for pretreating, but we are planning to buy a pretreatment machine so I hope it will fix the problem.


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