# best T-shirt quality : chromablash or dye sublimation



## ggc (May 28, 2008)

Hello,

I recently got a summa D60 Pharos vinyl cutter and got a Secabo TC-38 heat press for free !

I'm considering to start T-shirt printing for friends of mine and probably create my own T-shirts in the future

I have heard about Epson printers being modified for this process with either sublimation or chromablast like ink setups.

It seems that sublimation has the advantage of being able to print to virtually anything that has an polyester coating and that can transferred by heating using a applicable heat press.

So futurewise, setting up an Epson with sublimation inks seems to be the best bed, as it can be put into practice for other items as well.

Since i want to start with T-shirst in the beginning, i was wondering how the quality of sublimation transfer created T-shirts compares to Chromablast transfer created T-shirts ?

Which one has to most vibrant colors ?
Which ones has the best durability, wash-resistant ?
How about cost per print comparison ?

i know i might be asking a lot for a beginner, but all the information i found here just gives me an overload of information, so now i don't know anymore.

also, i can't find any good pictures of T-shirts being done with sublimation inks or chromablast ?

This could also help me make an visual comparision.

All help is appreciated !

greetings,

ggc


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## DAGuide (Oct 2, 2006)

It really depends on what items you want to sell and your customers will buy (cotton vs. polyester, mugs, license plates, tile,...). Here is a link that goes over the main areas of the sublimation process - General Information about Sawgrass Dye Sublimation Printing - MultiRIP Hybrid Software. There are a ton of posts in here about the ChromaBlast product as well. Some people like it and others don't. I think it is a good product for white t-shirts. If you want to put things on to color shirts, then you still need to cut away the excess paper to eliminate the polymer window.

Here are your questions:
Which one has to most vibrant colors ?
- In my opinion, sublimation can give you the brightest colors of any decorating technique if you have the right color management procedures.

Which ones has the best durability, wash-resistant ?
- Sublimation has the best durability hands down.

How about cost per print comparison ?
- As for ink and paper cost, sublimation is cheaper. I believe Sawgrass was saying it cost around $2.00 a print for ink and paper to do ChromaBlast.  The same printer size for sublimation would be below $1.00. However the blank imprintables for cotton are a lot less than sublimation. You can get a cotton shirt depending on quantities and sales between $0.75 to $2.50 depending on color. The average price for a polyester shirt is over $5.00. So the overall price of a sublimation shirt is higher than a ChromaBlast shirt. But I can get twice the amount for a sublimation shirt than I can for an inkjet transfer shirt. So the profits for sublimation tend to be higher because it is a better quality decorated shirt in my opinion.

Both the sublimation and ChromaBlast inks are heavier inks and you will need to make sure you run a print every other day or the printer can clog up on you. There are also some tricks that you will need to learn like:
- How to prevent ghosting and press lines
- How to get good colors
- What the proper time, temperature and pressure is for your products and heat press

ChromaBlast might be faster to pick up since it is only limited to cotton. If you put the time and effort into sublimation, it could be very profitable if your market wants these items.

Hope this helps.

Mark


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