# Dye Sublimating microfiber towels



## tom1993 (Aug 16, 2016)

Has anyone had any luck dye sublimating polyester towels?
would be great if anyone could give me any tips or share your experience with it.

My main question is whether or not I can press an image on a towel without the paper being larger than the towel and using a heat press that doesn't cover the whole towel if that makes sense?


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## Resu (Oct 16, 2011)

I do them all the time. Apply a light hold spray adhesive to the sublimation paper to negate shifting and ghosting if it becomes a problem. Also stick with dark colored inks and the lightest color towel for the best results.

In regards to paper substrate size, tee shirts fronts are done. So a towel being larger than your paper and platen shouldn't be a problem.


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## cprvh (Jan 23, 2006)

You can press the towels pretty well in a press that is smaller than the towel. You can also get away with using a small transfer. Keep your pressure to a minimum...just enough to get a crisp image. Right when you open the press, run a lint roller over the entire towel. This will pull the nap back while it's still HOT. The box from the transfer paper and the heat platen will just about disappear. We use spacers on the corners of the press to keep from crushing the towel to much...just pieces of 1/8" mouse pad material.


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## tom1993 (Aug 16, 2016)

cprvh said:


> You can press the towels pretty well in a press that is smaller than the towel. You can also get away with using a small transfer. Keep your pressure to a minimum...just enough to get a crisp image. Right when you open the press, run a lint roller over the entire towel. This will pull the nap back while it's still HOT. The box from the transfer paper and the heat platen will just about disappear. We use spacers on the corners of the press to keep from crushing the towel to much...just pieces of 1/8" mouse pad material.


well that is fantastic news for me. Do you by chance have some photos of your towels you could show me? what kind of microfibre are you sublimating on?


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## Dekzion (May 18, 2015)

I'm in the UK, What I've been doing is when in Tesco shopping pick up some of their white microfibre cleaning cloths (they call them everyday cloths, so you can see the disposable-ness of them) 3 to a pack for £1.50. they hold a pretty nice image, and take a full A4 print. Print 'em up with an advert and a few butterflies then pass them out as samples of wash-ability. Because no matter how you tell some people they still think that as you can't feel dye sub on a shirt it must have been run through a printer and the ink will wash out! yes there is a 'nap' to them but they look very nice and perfectly acceptable.


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## tom1993 (Aug 16, 2016)

anyone else care to share their experiences sublimating onto towels?


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## jtilden (Sep 30, 2013)

i sell tons of them at car shows.....take a pic of the customers car, add whatever wording they want...give it to them, they show the car next to them...and bingo....it's pretty easy to do...just make sure you lint roll before and after..and use moderate pressure...size of heat press does not matter if your logo or pic is of nominal size.


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## headfirst (Jun 29, 2011)

tom1993 said:


> anyone else care to share their experiences sublimating onto towels?


We print about 5000-10000 microfiber towels a month. Best tip use beaver tacky paper and make the transfer slightly larger than the towel.


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## bodan63 (Feb 5, 2010)

It is fairly easy. Is your press smaller?


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## STPG Press (Jul 6, 2015)

headfirst said:


> We print about 5000-10000 microfiber towels a month. Best tip use beaver tacky paper and make the transfer slightly larger than the towel.


I am guessing that you are using a rotary press on a big roll and cutting to size afterwards. Correct?


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## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

I press 10x18 rally towels everyday we did 500 today. We use a rotary press and run 5 across at 6 feet a min. we can press 30,000 per day. 
We also print beach towel and blankets and bulk rolls of fabric.


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## STPG Press (Jul 6, 2015)

skdave said:


> I press 10x18 rally towels everyday we did 500 today. We use a rotary press and run 5 across at 6 feet a min. we can press 30,000 per day.
> We also print beach towel and blankets and bulk rolls of fabric.


I've really got to find some time to call you one day. I've got a great local source for embroidery and screen, but I need a great source for full image dye-sub.

Cheers to you!


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## skdave (Apr 11, 2008)

STPG Press said:


> I've really got to find some time to call you one day. I've got a great local source for embroidery and screen, but I need a great source for full image dye-sub.
> 
> Cheers to you!


Friday Would be a great time to talk. 314 560 2181
Dave


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