# 100% poly shirt with cotton lining!!



## plainwhiteshirt (Jun 4, 2007)

Hello friends, 

i have a consistent need to print vibrant one-off shirts. Yet, I cannot find a 

poly t-shirt that is: 

1: Nicely fitted like the Gildan 64000 for example
2: heavy

And then my friend overseas says why not use the 100% poly with cotton lining. 

Sounds ideal right? And the price is right too!

What is the catch? Have you used these outer Poly - inner cotton t-shirts for decorating? they sound perfect 

thanks!

Sublimation T-Shirt (polyester exterior & cotton interior) Promotion | New Products | What's New?


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## ZO6 KLR (Jan 8, 2013)

Daniel,

A colleague and myself were just discussing this the other day.

Sounds good in theory but there would be a potential problem of the cotton portion of the material absorbing the sweat and the poly shell would keep it from evaporating. Seems like it would trap the sweat inside, ultimately making it difficult for people to be around the person wearing the garment!


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## plainwhiteshirt (Jun 4, 2007)

Hi Mark, You raise an excellent question. 

Is it possible that the poly shell actually wicks the moisture out of the cotton where it can evaporate out of/ away from the poly shell?

thoughts? 

thanks


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## ZO6 KLR (Jan 8, 2013)

I guess that would depend on the wicking properties of that particular poly. A person would have to run a few tests to determine wether or not the poly functions correctly.


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

Some informative articles on wicking and fabrics for those looking for info on the what and how and whys of wicking. 
Least I thougth so.


Moisture Wicking: What is it?

Fabric Guide


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## plainwhiteshirt (Jun 4, 2007)

thank you both.....

I am still perplexed by whether or not the poly layer cotton shirt will trap the moisture. i do know that based on the informative article wicking shirts only work to draw out moisture outdoors where moisture can evaporate and not indoors...Yet another dimension to consider. 

I'll have to order a shirt and report back!


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

plainwhiteshirt said:


> thank you both.....
> 
> I am still perplexed by whether or not the poly layer cotton shirt will trap the moisture. i do know that based on the informative article wicking shirts only work to draw out moisture outdoors where moisture can evaporate and not indoors...Yet another dimension to consider.
> 
> I'll have to order a shirt and report back!


I don't think it will. Once the cotton gets wet I don't see how the poly will pull it out. And even if it did over a period of time the sweat smell is going to build up in it.
Maybe as a non phyiscal work shirt or go out and eat shirt but I can't see it work for performance or active wear.

But if you get them please do report back.

Thanks


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## plainwhiteshirt (Jun 4, 2007)

Hi Mark - My intention is to use this a casual wear t-shirt not an active wear shirt. This is where i see the benefit - casual wear. 

that said: if you are sweating inside a building and not outside where wicking takes place (evaporation) this shirt may get stinky. I am on a mission to one. 

I will reoprt back - thanks


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## deehoney (Dec 16, 2010)

Didn't Hanes have a shirt like this called SoftLink or something like that? It was discontinued years ago. It was before I got into sublimation so I don't know much about it. I think if you do a search in the forums for the shirt name, you can find quite a few posts on them.


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## plainwhiteshirt (Jun 4, 2007)

i remember that they were very expensive - thanks for the heads up.


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## mgparrish (Jul 9, 2005)

deehoney said:


> Didn't Hanes have a shirt like this called SoftLink or something like that? It was discontinued years ago. It was before I got into sublimation so I don't know much about it. I think if you do a search in the forums for the shirt name, you can find quite a few posts on them.


You are correct, Hanes and Sawgrass created that line of t-shirts and was discontinued. These were never marketed as "wicking" or "performance" t-shirts.

I used to print on those a lot, they rocked too. Unlike 100% poly t-shirts these were not see thru and ladies didn't need to worry about it.


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## mcpix (Jun 27, 2008)

Yes, the soft link shirts were great. I think several people on this board would be interested in these. Let us know the price and availability.


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## sister1 (Jun 16, 2008)

The Hanes SoftLink shirts were great -- cotton against the skin, poly on the outside to take the sublimation. I'm not sure why Hanes discontinued them -- guessing they were too much of a niche market at the time. The only problem was they required a LOT of de-linting, although that was probably because they weren't handled differently than cotton tees at the distributor level. As mentioned above, they were more opaque even than Vapor Apparel, and were an easy sell to older folks who remember the bad old days of polyester and would give you the sign of the cross if you even mentioned the word! One other problem -- if you happened to get a batch (as I did once) that was constructed inside out, you were screwed.


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## ultraprintworks (Mar 2, 2015)

Would love to get my hands on a few to sample. Let us know how it goes!


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## BGSSUB (Oct 17, 2008)

I have a smattering of white and the ash colored in back inventory ... got them when they were being discontinued all over. I mostly use them for those customers who just need "one" shirt for a quick job. 

In my experience, these SoftLink shirts printed great (except for the batch inside out!), but were really boxy and ran fairly large - side to side .... after repeated washings, they seemed to "shrink" upwards and I did have some guys complain their shirts were getting shorter and shorter!

Also, when wearing out in the sun, they don't breathe and are very warm.


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## AbbyinID (Feb 6, 2016)

I found 100% poly shirts with cotton lining on Best Sub under their apparel section. I haven't pressed any, but just thought I'd put my two cents out there.


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## plainwhiteshirt (Jun 4, 2007)

thanks - that's an excellent lead! I was going to order from Joto Paper as I am in Canada. the thing is, you can also buy directly from best sub and the price is dirt cheap. I am sure you have to buy 300-500 maybe a thousand so i would want to make sure they work. Doesn't this seem to be a good option for other. not perfect but good enough to try!

thanks


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