# Sublimating on Black 100% Polyester



## Miner Wear

Hi guys just tried sublimating a AWD Black 100% Polyester T-shirt. 

I pre-pressed to remove moisture etc. 
Then pressed for 50 secs at 190
Medium to Hard Pressure 
I used paper to cover the Sublimation paper and a Teflon sheet on top of that.

The Logo was yellow and gray, it didnt really Sublimate and if anything the black from the t-shirt came more on the paper. What did i do Wrong?

Do I need a different sublimation paper I just used my Mug Sublimation paper?

Many Thanks Graham


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## VTG

Miner Wear said:


> What did i do Wrong?


Graham, unfortunately you just discovered first hand that you can't do dye sub on a dark garment. You can only use white or light colored polyester when doing dye sub on garments.

In order to get a full-bodied black shirt, with your yellow and gray logo, you would have to dye sub the entire shirt (a white shirt) using a wide format printer and heat press. The other option would be a professional cut and sew process. Either way, you have to start with a white (or light colored) polyester.


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## Miner Wear

Newbie mistakes lol

Thanks for the advice m8


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## headfirst

Miner Wear said:


> What did i do Wrong?


The thing about dye sublimation is that it is *DYE*.

The you are dying the fibers of the shirt not printing on top of them. 

I usually explain it to customers by referencing paint and stain. Paint is like your screen printing ink, it covers the substrate (shirt in this case) and can make the image any color. Dye sublimation is more like a stain. You can never stain something lighter only darker. Sublimation is the same way.


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## SickPuppy

I have seen Black polyester Dye sub T-Shirts. They are Black with a white area on the front or back I will try to find the supplier and post it.


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## skdave

You can turn a white shirt into ANY color you want with oversize pressing. .


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## SickPuppy

skdave said:


> You can turn a white shirt into ANY color you want with oversize pressing. .


There are issues with all over prints. It is almost impossible to do without leaving white areas on the sides and under the arms. Plus the startup cost is rather high. I have been doing a little research on this as I am thinking about offering all over prints


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## Riderz Ready

SickPuppy said:


> There are issues with all over prints. It is almost impossible to do without leaving white areas on the sides and under the arms. Plus the startup cost is rather high. I have been doing a little research on this as I am thinking about offering all over prints


In my opinion going wide format to crush shirts is a death warrant. Just not enough margins in shirts due to the competition from all sorts of decorating competitors.

The results are so-so at best. As mentioned you will get voids. The more fitted a shirt the more voids you will typically have. The way to avoid a lot of voids is basically a "box" shirt which typically does not fit well for the fashion fit minded customers.

In short if I was looking at dye sub as a new method of decorating the last thing I would go after is the t-shirt market.


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## Max Dos

SickPuppy said:


> I have seen Black polyester Dye sub T-Shirts. They are Black with a white area on the front or back I will try to find the supplier and post it.


We make this shirts. You may take a look at our provisional site. We will have a proper website with store later on this week.

Thanks!


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## skdave

Mark and Sickpuppy,
As you can see we address the voids with the proper art work. We encourage the correct art work to hide the voids.
Mark we have been over and over the more proftable nitches of dye sub and we don't need to go over that again because we are in agreement, but I still like to crush shirts, on Super Bowl Sunday. Go Ravens.


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## skdave

Max Dos said:


> We make this shirts. You may take a look at our provisional site. We will have a proper website with store later on this week.
> 
> Thanks!


Max can you share the cost of you shirt yet. You must have a ball park price by now, it has been coming soon for months.


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## Max Dos

Hi Dave. It's on the site, $6.90 per shirt. Rectangles will be priced lower than custom voids. We'll have a special first sale.

We're sorry about the delay. It´s been caused by customs issues. Our product was hard to classify because of the different blanks in every shirt, but we're mostly good to go now.


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## skdave

Great I want to try them. I'll take two of each size email me for payment.
[email protected]


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## texasjack49

Max Dos said:


> Hi Dave. It's on the site, $6.90 per shirt. Rectangles will be priced lower than custom voids. We'll have a special first sale.
> 
> We're sorry about the delay. It´s been caused by customs issues. Our product was hard to classify because of the different blanks in every shirt, but we're mostly good to go now.


hey Max,
have you considered offering an Oval along with the rectangle? there are several popular desktops that print 13"X19" so a 12 X 18 Oval might work well, maybe a little easier to blend than a square corner. Given a choice I would purchase an oval blank over a rectangle.
Just a thought


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## SickPuppy

I am curious as to how well the black dye will match the shirt color. Say I want to order some shirts and just to keep it simple I order a shirt with 12 x 18 inch blank shape. Now I want to place a custom print on the shirt that has an odd shape. If I just fill the background of my image with black how well will it match the shirt color. Will it blend in unnoticed or will it look like a big black square with a color print in the center. I don't want to order shirts with custom blank shapes each time I just want to keep blanks on hand with a standard print area.


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## Max Dos

Thanks Dave! Two of each going your way! I`ll e-mail you as soon as the store is up.

Jack: Almost any shape is possible. For the first orders we will suggest our costumers to order only simple shapes, preferentially with straight lines, to make the registration easier. Rectangles of any proportion should be easy. Squares, and irregular polygons with not too many sides, anything that has a opposite sides you could trim with scissors or a cutter to check the fit, should be easy to position on the blank. Ovals and circles should be easy too. We plan to build a small inventory according to the most ordered shapes, but the focus of our service will be custom shapes, simple or more elaborated.

Puppy: I don't think the blacks will be easy to match. We will provide a test fabric with a blank space with each order so our costumers can try heat, pressure and time setting before using a shirt. You could print a color and black swatch and try to match it. 

Thank you all.


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## D.Evo.

When it comes to "black" sublimated t-shirts we do both - "crush" ready-made t-shirts with all-over print and custom make them. We have enough clients for both types of shirts. Some actually prefer ready-made all-over printed shirts and even if their quantities justify custom production, they go for ready-made option. As Dave pointed out - the artwork can be adjusted to make any distress look planned and deliberate.


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## skdave

SickPuppy said:


> I am curious as to how well the black dye will match the shirt color. Say I want to order some shirts and just to keep it simple I order a shirt with 12 x 18 inch blank shape. Now I want to place a custom print on the shirt that has an odd shape. If I just fill the background of my image with black how well will it match the shirt color. Will it blend in unnoticed or will it look like a big black square with a color print in the center. I don't want to order shirts with custom blank shapes each time I just want to keep blanks on hand with a standard print area.


I did this for DTG a number of years ago and matching black is a problem.
SEE www.eclipsetees.com


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## Max Dos

I know this is a few months old, but I wanted to share some testswe've been doing.

As Dave pointed out, matching the blacks it´s not easy. It depends on heat press pressure, time and temperature. But the most important factor are the inks. 

Trying to make the matching easier, we made a simple color chart. In the lower side we made some squares with some variations on black.

With this particular printer and heat press, the best matching black is not RGB 000, but R-0, G-20, and B-20.







































The light direction also affects the perceived hue of the tones, on the print and on the shirt because it's a slightly shiny fabric. But generally speaking, is possible to get a pretty close match in blacks, not indistinguishable, but acceptable.


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## goodwear

*Re: Sublimating on Black 100% Polyester &cotton T*

Any interest in a cotton t-shirt with a white poly shape sewn in so you can sublimate to that shape?
,


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## skdave

*Re: Sublimating on Black 100% Polyester &cotton T*



goodwear said:


> Any interest in a cotton t-shirt with a white poly shape sewn in so you can sublimate to that shape?
> ,


Why would you want to do that??


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## HeadhunterX

Why go to all this trouble... The whole idea is to have a shirt with no hand... Not a shirt with a piece of cardboard hung on it...


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## cherlmas

where can you get the black polyester shirts with the white blank space for sublimating I seen several places that give the web site sublimatte.comÂ*-Â*This website is for sale!Â*-Â*sublimatte Resources and Information. and I get now where the site does not have where you can buy those shirts.


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## Max Dos

cherlmas said:


> where can you get the black polyester shirts with the white blank space for sublimating I seen several places that give the web site sublimatte.comÂ*-Â*This website is for sale!Â*-Â*sublimatte Resources and Information. and I get now where the site does not have where you can buy those shirts.


Hi Cherlmas. We were on hiatus, and then started making shirts just for local costumers. We are working on re branding the line and start exporting again. Hopefully this summer.


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## cherlmas

thanks let me know the link when you get going I am in the U.S. and saw several places talking about this type of shirt with the white blank area for sublimating and even saw a video on you tube with this shirt and everyone I saw was giving the link sublimatte.comÂ*-Â*This website is for sale!Â*-Â*sublimatte Resources and Information. and the link is not good. I want to buy some of these shirts. I was saying awhile back that they need to come out with a window polyester shirt just like the one you have. so please let me know if and when you will be selling these shirts. Are yall the only ones doing this type of shirt.


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## Max Dos

Yes. As far as we know, we are the only shop doing this shirt. It's an original process we developed. We are working to get them to the US as soon as possible.


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## easystickerco

Max Dos said:


> Yes. As far as we know, we are the only shop doing this shirt. It's an original process we developed. We are working to get them to the US as soon as possible.



I'm interested in buying some of these shirts when ready..
Rudy


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## cherlmas

please let me know when you are selling in the us I will be checking back here from time to time I really want some of these shirts.


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## cherlmas

these black shirts would have been awesome for a big Job we are doing this April would love to be able to order these now for the that tournament we are printing the shirts and they would love them cause I would be needing about 100 shirts so I would give you a good business and plus I would order more later. Oh you should do different colors man If you offer different colors with this process you would be doing awesome and I would buy a bunch from you all the time. I would love to have some right now.


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## cherlmas

oh another question could you different sizes of the blank area like I have a sublimation printer that prints 13x19 so could you make the blank area that size ore a little smaller like 12x 13 or 12x14 or 15. I am excited about these shirts can't wait to be able to get some. please let me know when I can get some of these shirts ASAP yes you should offer different colors. I was thinking about this technique months ago saying if there was polyester shirts with blank sublimatible areas on them that would be the greatest. If I knew how to do some I might would try some but you are much easier.


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## cherlmas

anybody know of any info on polyester shirts dyed black with a white blank box so you can sublimate in the blank area. this one person that does it said they hope to able to sell in us this summer. Just wondering if there was anybody else doing that and if there is a place to buy these shirts right now. and if they have different colors other than just black. I think that is a cool idea and want to buy some of these shirts.


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## chinasubpaper

sublimation can not be used on dark garment, because there's no white sublimation ink, just think about that all the colors are lighter than black color, they definitely can not be showed in black garment(actually there were in your garment, but because the black is too dark ,you can not see other colors with your eyes.)


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## mgparrish

chinasubpaper said:


> sublimation can not be used on dark garment, because there's no white sublimation ink, just think about that all the colors are lighter than black color, they definitely can not be showed in black garment(actually there were in your garment, but because the black is too dark ,you can not see other colors with your eyes.)


Suggest you read the entire thread and understand the context before you say no. 

Of course you cannot sublimate onto something black.

In this case there is a open white area custom made to a customers specification and the rest of the garment is black (or whatever color they wish).


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## carpediemandmore

headfirst said:


> The thing about dye sublimation is that it is *DYE*.
> 
> The you are dying the fibers of the shirt not printing on top of them.
> 
> I usually explain it to customers by referencing paint and stain. Paint is like your screen printing ink, it covers the substrate (shirt in this case) and can make the image any color. Dye sublimation is more like a stain. You can never stain something lighter only darker. Sublimation is the same way.


Great!

That is the one Excellent Definition for newbies i have ever read.


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## cherlmas

Where can I get these dark polyester shirts with blank areas for sublimating. I heard about these last spring and never heard where since then is there a website I can visit to order these shirts. Thanks


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## unobeavfan

cherlmas said:


> Where can I get these dark polyester shirts with blank areas for sublimating. I heard about these last spring and never heard where since then is there a website I can visit to order these shirts. Thanks


Ran across this older thread and thought I would ask...are they here yet lol. This might be a game changer as far as being left out of the dark tshirt market. I guess my biggest worry going forward if available is quality of shirts and how would the black dye take the sublimation process. Any info much appreciated.


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## Max Dos

unobeavfan said:


> Ran across this older thread and thought I would ask...are they here yet lol. This might be a game changer as far as being left out of the dark tshirt market. I guess my biggest worry going forward if available is quality of shirts and how would the black dye take the sublimation process. Any info much appreciated.



Hi there! We are still making the shirts, but only in small runs for our local market.

After a couple false starts, including a setback with the sewing quality (we work with much better sewing shop now), we decided to slow down a little and focus on other business.

We are aware of the potential of the product an even have some offers for distribution, but we want to get it right this time. 

We want them to be available this year in the US. Wish us luck!


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## justkaran

Hi
Can you please help us with your website. We are keen on buying some of these.

Also, have you developed any method to match the black colour we get in the print to the rest of the shirt?
Guess the colour configurations required to get the desired output would vary from printer to printer and also with the quality of the ink. How do we handle this? Any thoughts?


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## justkaran

unobeavfan said:


> cherlmas said:
> 
> 
> 
> Where can I get these dark polyester shirts with blank areas for sublimating. I heard about these last spring and never heard where since then is there a website I can visit to order these shirts. Thanks
> 
> 
> 
> Ran across this older thread and thought I would ask...are they here yet lol. This might be a game changer as far as being left out of the dark tshirt market. I guess my biggest worry going forward if available is quality of shirts and how would the black dye take the sublimation process. Any info much appreciated.
Click to expand...

Any Luck yet mate? I am also looking for this product. If you find it somewhere, please do let us know.
Thanks


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## PedalJustPedal

To be honest making a shirt like this would be pretty easy. It would cost around $8 to make here in the US so you have to ask the question why no one is doing it? First I think it is one of those things that seems to be better than the end results. The vast majority of people who would be the target market would be desktop users which typically means smaller presses (less than 30 x 40). 

You really could not get a professional results for several reasons. first your black and the black in the shirt will most likely not match this even if you tried to fill in the black with a design you would still see the "box". Second you would really have to be careful and probably experiment a lot with temp/pressure as pressing a second time will most likely activate the original black. Last, is the cost to create such blanks. There clearly is not enough of a market to have mass qty done overseas thus are people willing to buy a $10-12 blank?


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## justkaran

PedalJustPedal said:


> To be honest making a shirt like this would be pretty easy. It would cost around $8 to make here in the US so you have to ask the question why no one is doing it? First I think it is one of those things that seems to be better than the end results. The vast majority of people who would be the target market would be desktop users which typically means smaller presses (less than 30 x 40).
> 
> You really could not get a professional results for several reasons. first your black and the black in the shirt will most likely not match this even if you tried to fill in the black with a design you would still see the "box". Second you would really have to be careful and probably experiment a lot with temp/pressure as pressing a second time will most likely activate the original black. Last, is the cost to create such blanks. There clearly is not enough of a market to have mass qty done overseas thus are people willing to buy a $10-12 blank?


Know anyplace I can find it?


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## sublial

Doesn,t Reveal do this process with there new magic paper film?
AL


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