# printing on waterproof/nylon jackets print is lifting



## jess211989 (Nov 20, 2013)

I have had a football jacket contract for the past 3 years. I print onto pro-star, game gear, b&c collection and stanno. 

This year I have had them returned to me as the prints are lifting.
I have been using materials from xpres, ultra cut/nylo flex/super flex/ easy flex/ dark jet 100/ ink jet dark.

They all seem to be lifting. 

These jackets are waterproof 100% polyester and also 100% nylon.

I am being made me look silly to my customer with the prints coming clean off, and no explained reason to why this is happening. 

I do not know if the jackets have changed anything this year/ any thing changed in the inks.

I have lost so much money (and time) investing in new materials and nothing is sticking.

They are not even washing them , they are just falling off letter by letter after wearing for a few hours. 

I have had my heat press re-calibrated too. 

I use a company called xpres and have never faulted them before, but every time I ring them they say try a different material and its costing me a fortune, for the jackets to come back to me. 

Please help me out.


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## proworlded (Oct 3, 2006)

Sounds like the fabric will not hold any type heat applied material. Possibly screen printing is the way to go.


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## jess211989 (Nov 20, 2013)

There must be a way though, that you can heat transfer onto these jackets.


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## lrsbranding (Aug 6, 2011)

My guess would be the waterproofing. Have you wiped the application area with rubbing alcohol before applying? The manufacturer may have changed the type of waterproofing so you could be out of luck. I have seen Teflon sealants that you can't get rid of.


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## jess211989 (Nov 20, 2013)

I have just had this reply from my ink supplier...

No vinyl can be guaranteed to adhere to such jackets as the vinyls are designed to adhere directly to the Nylon, cotton or polyester and not a coating. 99% of jackets we come across have some type of outer coating designed to repel water.

If the Nylo Flex is lifting it sounds likely to me that there is a coating causing durability problems, in which case you may continue to see the problem. Unfortunately without testing the Multi Flex on these jackets it is difficult to know how durable the product will be, again it all comes down to the jackets exterior.

Im not sure where to go from here.... or do I give the jackets and money back and say sorry I cannot complete this due to the waterproofing of the jackets.


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## lrsbranding (Aug 6, 2011)

Rubbing Alcohol is the only thing I know of to try. You could try the spot remover used in screen printing. I have never tried to use it for removing waterproofing. If nothing works to remove the waterproofing and the specs from where you ordered them say nothing about decoration restrictions then I would return them to the supplier for a refund due to the fact they are not able to be decorated and they did not disclose that.


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## lrsbranding (Aug 6, 2011)

With the new hydrophobic chemicals that are being used embroidery may be the only solution. So if the garment says waterproof we make sure the customer is aware that it may not work.


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## jess211989 (Nov 20, 2013)

just an update- I have contacted suppliers of jackets and they have not changed anything in the waterproofing. I have tried heat pressing with multi flex which can go on polyester and nylon and this has lifted after one wash this morning.
There is nothing on their website that says their vinyls may not stick to waterproof materials. 
Shall I admit defeat and give up or is there anything else I can try?
Many thanks


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## sudomark3 (Oct 22, 2013)

The nylon agent is urethane glue so only add the nylon agent to a batch of plastisol you’ll be using because the ink will harden in about a day making it useless for future runs.


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## Printcess Jen (Mar 5, 2013)

Hi, just seen this post and thought i'd tell you that I have been having the same problem, first it was embroidered badges that press on and they fell off so we had to have them embroidered on and now it seems that the vinyl which was especially for nylon materials has lifted off, most after washing but some are also lifting without washing. This has been a real learning curve for me and also quite stressful, however luckily the customer is quite understanding with the issues we are having, they have only had a few jackets back but i imagine the problem will arise in the future when they start getting washed

I agree that many suppliers do not tell you that the product is not guaranteed to stay on if there is a waterproof coating and this seems to be the case. 

If you find any more information about this then i'd be interested to hear about it!

For now, for my future orders i have had to use a disclaimer stating that due to the material being coated there is no guarantee that it will stay on so we will just have to wait and see the outcome.

Good luck!


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## jess211989 (Nov 20, 2013)

I have just seen you message Jen, I do feel your pain. but am so happy you to know it was not just me. It has been very stressfull for me with having over 150-200 jackets. I am just putting togeter a disclaimer now as website is having a re-vamp. Did you manage to find anything else regrading this issue?


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