# Alternative to Vapor Apparel - dye sublimation



## sizzers (Jun 20, 2012)

When it comes to shirt blanks for dye sublimation, everyone only seems to mention Vapor. However, they can a bit expensive, and many of their shirts only come in white.

Has anyone had success sublimating non-Vapor shirts? 

Specifically, I'm curious about A4. They have a variety of light color options. Their shirts are really lightweight, which is good b/c I'm doing running apparel.

Thanks in advance.


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## charles95405 (Feb 1, 2007)

most any 100% polyester will work fine. most should be white because the sublimation processes are crying dying the material. you can use pastel but there will be some color shifting. I have used non vapor wear with good results.


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## sizzers (Jun 20, 2012)

Thanks, Charles.

When you say "color shifting" with non-white shirts, are you referring to color management or ink shifting (i.e. ghosting, gassing out, etc.)? I'm nervous about getting into this, so I want to make sure that I know what I'm doing before diving in.


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## Riderz Ready (Sep 18, 2008)

Think of shirts/ink like paint. Take yellow (shirt) dye sub it with blue (ink) and mixed you will get a green.

You just have to take a test shirt and experiment with different color swatches.

Be aware 100% poly does not automatically mean professional results. Furthermore you have to aware that many colored shirts, when pressed, will get a shiny box indicating where it was pressed.


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## D.Evo. (Mar 31, 2006)

+1 to what Mark said.

If keeping true colours of your design is important -i.e. particular club colours, sponsor's logos, etc. - white shirts are the best to use. 

On coloured (light) shirts you might get very interesting artistic results, but keep in mind - the colour of the shirt will become your background colour and will "mix" into the colours of your design.

As mentioned above, coloured shirts are trickier to press than white - you may need to experiment with combinations of time, pressure and temperature for different fabrics and colours to achieve the best results. 

If you haven't done it yet - take time to read through as many threads in dye-sub section of the forums as you can handle. You'll find answers to a lot of questions you didn't even know you had (yet) and some tips that might make your learning process less frustrating (and less expencive) 

Good luck with it!


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## greatind (May 29, 2012)

The best way to find out how the colors will look on each vapor shirt would be to print a color chart on each colored shirt that vapor offers. You will spend a few dollars producing these samples, but it will be worth it in the end. Your customers will be able to see a color chart on a white shirt compared to a red shirt. Also your samples should have the item number and what sizes they come in from vapor. Hope this helps.


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## sizzers (Jun 20, 2012)

Thanks, everyone. My plan is to start by using very limited-color designs on colored shirts. For examples, light blues shirts will only include designs with navy and darker blues. Does this sound like the safest way to start?


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## MAAG (Feb 20, 2012)

Try Atlatl
www.atlatlsports.com


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## carolinasoft (Feb 4, 2013)

This is long sorry, but hopefully this should answer a few questions....

I may be able to give you a little insight from my experience. I have been lurking tsf during the 4 years I have been printing via sublimation. I am really thankful for all of the helpful info I have received on here through the years, so hopefully I can help a little too. With all due respect to other post on here, I can tell you there are a lot of great options with sublimation and you are not as limited to colors as you think. Through my experience, you cannot count on the blend ratio of the garment for it to make the cut for your business. Test it. One 50/50 brand may print completely different than the same blend from another company. I have pretty much printed and compared over the past 4 years and I finally feel like we offer a pretty nice selection of blanks for our customers to choose from.


*Soft Blend Tees - *

1. *Tultext 0240*(ladies) and *0241*(men's) are cheap and I am VERY satisfied with the printing results. Only problem I have is cuts can vary and the garments are not as well put together as others. All colors print well except black of course. Very thin shirt. My landscaper buddies love them. I printed 300 for a festival last weekend and they loved them. Oh.. the heather greys do not hold dye sub as well as the other colors available.

2. Next Level Apparel - These guys have awesome garments. Too many to list. However, I would suggest sticking to their garments that are 65/35 poly/cotton. Cuts are very athletic. You can print on the tri-blends but I will tell you that they print VERY vintage and will fade a good bit more. But IMHO the tri-blend is the best feeling garment out there. Also, I will say that I believe their *Burnout Thermal (ladies) 8511* is probably one of the hottest wholesale blanks I have come across. All the NLA blanks are thin shirts but not as thin as Tultex. Price is a little higher but so is grade.

3.* Allstyle 5301* - Their heather blends are the closest to RVCA as far as cut and feel that I have found. Only complaint is the sleeves fit a little tight. They print well but my experience is more limited here. Wish they had other colors. Shirt has more weight than two above brands but still super soft. Close in pricing to Tultex.

4. *Guildan 64000* - Their 65/35 heather blends are great. Not quite as soft as others above. But still will pass as a really nice tee. Price is similar to tultex.

There are other brands that are great but prices keep me away. Would love to hear suggestions.

*Heavier duty tees - *

*Hanes 5170* (50/50), *Guildan 8000* (50/50) - These shirts are awesome for sublimation. A poster said earlier that some shirts may 'blend' with the color of the design and create another color. That may be the case but for the most part, I have not experienced that. These shirts are cheap and do like I did and test it. The prints don't fade much at all. Very good results.
*
Performance tees/ golf shirts/ jerseys - 100% Poly*

The blank market has exploded since we have been in business so there are MANY choices. Each brand can vary as to how well it takes heat. The best advice I can give you here is this: 100% poly like someone mentioned above tends to sheen from too much pressure and heat. I have pretty much figured out a way to avoid sheening.
First, I set my heat press temp to 365-370. Then I make a template out of Nomex Felt Pad from Conde( not exact to design ) to lift only that part that you aim to print. Next and most important is setting the level of the press to where it just kisses the garment ( when in the 'locked' position, you can still slide press back and forth to where it slides over the teflon sheet). Dwelling time depends on size of design. Ex. I print a lot of worker tees using the Hanes 4820 cool dry. I usually print a small design on pocket area for front. My image might be as big as 4"x4". So my dwelling time is 50 seconds. The back may be as big as 11"x11". Dwelling time=150 seconds. That large of an image can be tricky with such light pressure. I usually keep 'screw ups' around to practice on before starting a new order. 

Thanks, Charles


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

Thanks for sharing what has worked for you @carolinasoft!


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