# Pros -Cons , Solvent vs Sublimation



## g.lupo (Aug 20, 2007)

Hello everyone. I been throwing out the idea to get into the solvent or sublimation industry, I been doing DTG and want to expand. I have done my research in the process of both. Just not really sure yet how one might be a better fit or not. So could you please let me know from experience what are some pro and cons so hopefully I could decide which would fit better. Thank you


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## cubedecibel (Nov 1, 2009)

my 2 cents as follows:

I have done DTG, and solvent printing in a long time and recently got in to (wide format) sublimation.

Once you compare a sublimated shirt printed with the right gear and garments to a DTG-printed shirt you don't want to look at your DTG again. That was the case for me. I Would NEVER sell a DTG'ed shirt again. There such huge difference in colors and washability. And I can print alot more than 20 shirts in the same time as DTG. 

With that said. If you run DTG, and you and your customers are pleased with it. Don't go into sublimation 

For solvent, eather versacamm or a seperate print / cut solution is a true moneymaker.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

I don't do DTG or Solvent, but one thing to consider if you sublimate. Good dark garment solutions don't exist except for cut and sew or all over prints.


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## cubedecibel (Nov 1, 2009)

mgparrish said:


> I don't do DTG or Solvent, but one thing to consider if you sublimate. Good dark garment solutions don't exist except for cut and sew or all over prints.


Thue that. How ever, I rarely printed on dark/black tees with DTG, because of the time and costs.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

cubedecibel said:


> Thue that. How ever, I rarely printed on dark/black tees with DTG, because of the time and costs.


Yes, that seems to be a common complaint. Still looking here for the Holy Grail in imprinting.


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## treefox2118 (Sep 23, 2010)

I have a Mimaki solvent print-and-cut solution. Quality is fantastic, but weeding really sucks. We have some customers who love the look and hand feel (it's heavy, but can appear to be like plastisol if done properly).

I prefer DTG because it requires less touch-time than print-and-cut.

We are going to play with sublimation this year, but not for garments yet. I want to get a simple 24" roll feed dye sublimation machine with OEM quality inks. Yes, they're expensive, but I'd rather start with knowns than unknowns. We really want to do all-over dye sub on shirts, but the heat presses are out of our budget for the moment.

We have done huge prints with print-and-cut solvent. 24" x 32" I believe (not a solid print, vector based designs with a lot of negative space). They look great, wash great, and are relatively cheap to print. I can't recall exactly, but I believe the 24" x 32" print was around $8 in material and around $3 in ink overall. We had to heat press it in multiple pieces, which was a pain, but the application tape allowed it to work fine, and the customer said it washes excellently.


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## g.lupo (Aug 20, 2007)

Thanks, I do not plan on leaving DTG, We have a good clientele with that and do about 65% dark prints. We are happy with our wash and print cost and time with white and dark, we run two machines. I do not plan on doing cut and sew, I was mainly going into to solvent or sublimation more for the non t shirts industry.


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