# Pros and Cons of polyester t's for printing??



## PatriotT (Feb 5, 2014)

Hi!
Anybody out there using Polyester shirts to print on?

I have been using cotton T-shirts (usually Gildans) or cotton/poly in the case of heathers, etc. for all my printing. 
For local stuff I use HTV, or airbrushing, or occasionally heat transfer paper for some designs.

Here's my ?. In a recent convo with another local printer, he told me that he ONLY prints on polyester T's. no cotton. said it prints cleaner, doesn;t shrink, so no cracking, sagging, etc. doesn't get fuzzy around the HTV edges as cotton does.

My question is: is he right, and if so, why isn't everyone using Poly? There must be some downsides - what are they? Also, I've never tried airbrush on Polyr. How does that work?

Thank you


----------



## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

It depends on what you are selling.

The normal t-shirts you wear every day, should be cotton or cotton blend.
Polyester is ideal in activewear, for performance reasons, which are difficult to explain in layman's terms.


----------



## kaospromosi (Jun 26, 2018)

why isn't anyone using poly t-shirt?
maybe poly t's has more expensive price than cotton, and i thought any body would prefer cotton t-shirt than poly t-shirt as it gives you more comfortable


----------



## DrivingZiggy (Apr 24, 2017)

Seems that most of the folks I know insist on cotton. Except for the ones that sweat a lot.

Advantage of poly? SUBLIMATION.


----------



## TABOB (Feb 13, 2018)

DrivingZiggy said:


> Seems that most of the folks I know insist on cotton. Except for the ones that sweat a lot.
> 
> Advantage of poly? SUBLIMATION.




Polyester is just nasty for prolonged skin contact. It is the same material used for plastic bags and soda bottles. Actually, often recycled bottles do become fabric.

Athletes wear it, because it does not absorb water, and the Evaporation of sweat (mostly water) is an endothermic reaction. So it absorbs heat from the body. 

Polyester however, does absorb the oily smelly odors in your sweat, which then become a permanent part of the fabric.


----------

