# Printing Hoodies with DTG



## Titchimp

Hi Guys, 

I am interested to hear how hoodies print with DTG? 

Most of the ones i can find online are 20-50% polyester and generally. Will the print fade quickly?

Thanks


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## jayball

Depending on the colour of the jumper, and the colour of the print you will get varying results.
Printing on white 60%poly 40% cotton, you can print beautiful light coloured graphics. I don't know why, but black, red and cyan fade into the jumper real quick the more poly there is.
I have printed designs which were essentially made up of pastel colours which we have been wearing for 2 years with no visible signs of fading.
HOwever the black designs we printed look like garbage after a couple washes.

Currently I print on 80 cotton 20%poly, and these work great.


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## sunnydayz

The higher the cotton content the better. There are a couple of different hoodies out there that work well that I have found. American apparels california hoodie is 100% cotton. Then there is a hanes hoodie that 100% cotton shell that is a cheaper one then AA, and it prints nice as well. I get the hanes ones at americana. Here is a link to the hanes ones http://www.americanasportswear.com/live/catalog/. I believe they have them in zip up as well as pullover. Hope this helps


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## princessracer

Would one need a different platen for the hoodies? Or just.. do the same as you would with a t-shirt?


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## zoom_monster

princessracer said:


> Would one need a different platen for the hoodies? Or just.. do the same as you would with a t-shirt?


 Being able to raise the non-raised areas , so things like pockets or zippers can be equalized is a benefit. The idea is to get the printing surface as close to the head as possible without the danger of a head strike. I use a 7mm foam on my platten for this as well as for printing polos and accross collars and seams. Many people will just lower the printing surface, but you will get less of a "crisp" image.


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## theprintshop

If the hoodie is made from rough cotton then it have a lot of link on the surface of the hoodie which then creates problems around the print head


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## IGS-UK

Titchimp said:


> Hi Guys,
> 
> I am interested to hear how hoodies print with DTG?
> 
> Most of the ones i can find online are 20-50% polyester and generally. Will the print fade quickly?
> 
> Thanks


Try the AWD range, they are 60 cotton 40 poly but have a very fine weave fabric making them print very well when using the DTG process.


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## silverdogprints

I'm having a terrible time printing hoodies and it seems to be the 50% cotton/50% polyester that are the problem and I can't get the vinyl to transfer properly. Also, the more times I try, the more of the colour gets dissolved into the fabric. I'm getting marks from the press, too which I'm not happy with, but I got one of those pillows and it's no better.


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## utero

80/20 Cotton Poly Hoodies generally give reasonable print quality, we have a brand called AWD in the UK which work well but not 100% perfect as you will find that the weave of the garment will come through the white upon curing with a heat press, I don't know if a conveyor dryer would help this problem. We generally find that darks give this problem, lighter colours not so much.

Haven't tried the American Apparel but they are over twice the price in comparison.

We have been give 50/50 gildan heavy's to use before and they are a complete no go.


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## silverdogprints

Yes, I have had problems with that Gildan and also Casual Classics. FotL seem to be ok but I've only done the lightweight ones that don't have a fleece lining so far.

Which supplier do you use in the UK? I would like to have a choice of more than one.


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## forgedthrufire

Anyone use Independent Trading Co? The have a nice line of hoodies but most are a blend of some sort.

http://www.independenttradingco.com/


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## EricDeem

Independent Trading Company
Cotton Heritage
Tultex
Hanes Nano Fleece


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## forgedthrufire

@dekay317 how do you like Indys line?


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## EricDeem

They have several models that I like..not all are good for DTG tho. Stick to those styles with the highest cotton content.

IND4000 is a good style from Independent


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## Le fever

Any tips in terms of pretreating and heatpressing hoodies and fleece crewnecks? Like Silverdogprints I've been struggling with heat press imprints when doing garments this thick.


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## silverdogprints

I'm wondering if the imprint disappears after washing so I'm going to wash a test one.


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## JimmyCheeseWiz

silverdog / fever -- I picked this trick up recently on these forums, so I thought I'd pass it along. I took 2 pieces of cardboard and positioned them on my platen so there would be a 1/2" gap between the two that the zipper would fall into when printing the back, and did the same thing on my heat press. Eliminated the shiny imprint from pressing, and makes the garment lay pretty flat for printing & pressing.


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## silverdogprints

One on top and one on the bottom, or do you put them inside the garment? Do you not get the imprint of the cardboard on the fleece?


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## Jmelwak

i bought a heat pillow from stahls, you put it inside the garment and it works awesome. no marks from the back when pressing for pretreatment anymore


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## silverdogprints

So did I, but I couldn't afford the largest one and it still leaves a mark around the edge so I don't use it.


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