# why do dtg prints fade on white shirts?



## Inkognito (May 5, 2012)

i got some sample dtg prints done recently from a couple of different dtg manufacturers. the quality of the sample prints that i received on the dark shirts seems ok after washing, but the prints on the white shirts faded pretty much across the board. the sample prints were all on white cotton shirts, but done on different dtg printers. the prints on the white shirts just look more weathered after washing than i expected. none of the ink washed out or anything but they all noticeably faded. is this normal for dtg inks on white shirts?


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## Remark (Apr 17, 2011)

Maybe? Haven't been in the industry long enough to say yay or nay. I can say that we have printed several white shirts with our DTG machine and haven't had that issue. I mean, the shirts look about the same as when they come off the press...even after several washes. We do a "double pass" on our white's and light colors and have fantastic results. I'll find a shirt that's been washed several times and post pictures. It will most likely be tomorrow.


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## shughey (Jul 22, 2010)

Inkognito said:


> i got some sample dtg prints done recently from a couple of different dtg manufacturers. the quality of the sample prints that i received on the dark shirts seems ok after washing, but the prints on the white shirts faded pretty much across the board. the sample prints were all on white cotton shirts, but done on different dtg printers. the prints on the white shirts just look more weathered after washing than i expected. none of the ink washed out or anything but they all noticeably faded. is this normal for dtg inks on white shirts?


Well for one...when you print on dark shirts...the white ink does not absorb into the cotton. It pretty much sits on top and is bound by the pretreat.....for the most part.

Now...when you lay down the color inks they sit on top of the white ink and again do not absorb into the cotton at all. When heat pressed you get, to me, something that looks and feels kind of like a screen print...although nowhere near as heavy hand.

So the inks sorta sit on top of the shirt..if that makes sense. I swear my dark shirts I wear that the cotton will wear out before the print...

Now when you print CMYK straight on to the shirts( no white underbase) the inks absorb into the cotton and seem to wash and wear along with the cotton itself. Now...I know that there have been enough wash tests to show thats some ink is lost in washing...is it wear..is it washing out...not sure but it does happen slightly. So for whatever reason some color loss occurs....to me it happens around the 3rd or 4th wash .....the first couple washes I don't see much change ( if treated and pressed correctly)....but by 5 I can see a change when compared to the original unwashed shirt I use as a standard

Now, if you pretreat the white shirts with a cmyk only pretreat you will definately get better washability. Like many...I have done many wash tests on this and the pretreats do help alot....and what they do is keep the inks from absorbing as much into the cotton. I would imagine that the pretreat acts like a binder much like it does on the pretreat used for white inks.

But whatever the chemistry is behind it all. You will see cmyk printed on white shirts wash or wear differently than when printed over white inks. The bonding is just different when color is printed on white ink verses straight cotton.

Proper use of a good pretreat will help this but...I can also say for certain that after 10 washes if you compare the same design printed on a white shirt even with a good pretreat verses the same design printed on a dark sahirt with a white ink underbase....the dark shirts wear and wash better.

I have shirts a year old and the dark ones look almost like new. All of the light colored shirts have faded somewhat.

Due to this I had considered printing white ink underbase on every shirt iregardless of shirt color. Just use alot less white ink for a white shirt. I knew that the prints would last alot longer due to the way the bond when printed on white inks. But....gave up that idea when I calcultaed the cost....customers would never pay for a white shirt printed that way...and explaining it would have been pointless.

I sorta wish we had CMYK inks that held on like the white inks do...I wish they would sit up on top of the shirt more and bond to the pretreat like the white does. Although maybe then the CMYK would clog like the white does and then that would suck.


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## spiderx1 (Oct 12, 2009)

A lot of this fading is really the fibers lifting up after wash. So a good quality tight ring spun cotton is a must. The new Phoenix line of shirts by Justin Walker are great and my new favorites. More info on that and a bunch of other good articles and tips can be found at dtgprintsolutions.com. 
So if your are using a shirt such as an Gildan ultra. You will see more "fading". If you go with bargain basement shirts even worse. You can pretreat the whites as a lot of us do with either a pretreat for white / light shirts or a poly pretreat, my fav. This helps as well.


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## MZDEELO (Oct 14, 2006)

You have to remember that this is not anything like silkscreening. Instead of plastisol being layered on top of the garment, DTG inks are embedded into the fabric. Just like any dyed shirt, the inks will fade a little over time in repeated washings. The prints will last longer if you wash your garments inside out, in cold water, and tumble dry low.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

I cure the white shirts for 90 seconds on the heat press...I am using the new Veloci T printer and the wash test is pretty damn good...and I recommend inside out..no bleach and gentle fabric setting on the dryer


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## zoom_monster (Sep 20, 2006)

spiderx1 said:


> A lot of this fading is really the fibers lifting up after wash.


This is very true and happens with screen printing as well when you do process printing. With very thin films of ink.. you are only printing on one side of the fiber. When this twists and lifts in the wash, you will see part of the unprinted side of the white fiber exposed.
In screen printing, you can put down a composite clear or a very thin coat of white (extra screens/artwork, etc) to prevent the shirt from unraveling. In DTG you can pretreat to encapsulate and matte down the fiber, but you are still dealing with cotton, so it will degrade. Good thing is, that if you compare a process screend T to a DTG printed T it will usually look as good after a year of washing.
Spot printed tees hold their color better because the stregth of the pigment is better and you usually have a ink thickness that is much heavier than any DTG can create.


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