Printed logos
We’ve just invested in a new full-colour sublimation printing system which is accurate, precise, durable and, of course, economical.
Using our system, any design can be printed from a computer onto special transfer paper. The print out is then loaded into a high-tech optic-eye cutter. This detects the edges of the design with very high precision and then cuts away the unnecessary bits of paper. This high precision technology means that extremely intricate designs can be printed with ease and clarity.
The cut out is then transferred onto the garment in a heat press, by a process called sublimation. We’re using the new generation of transfer papers which sublimate at 140ºC. Polyester starts to degrade at 150ºC and earlier transfer papers had to be heated higher than that – this meant that the fabric would start to degrade and mingle with the dye, causing bleeding at the edges of the image. Using these latest transfer papers we only need to heat garments to 140ºC, there’s no bleeding and logos stay sharp and clear.
The pin-sharp sublimated image on the garment is made of a vinyl dye, so it keeps clean of mud, etc. However, because it has bonded to the fabric, it stretches with it, and doesn’t peel, crack or fade like old-style t-shirt printing. Also, unlike old-style fabric printing, the modern ‘ink-jet dark’ transfer paper we use can print onto any colour of fabric, unlike older technologies, which only let you print onto white fabric.
Before this new system, full-colour logos meant you had to make up six different screen prints (in six different tones) and then print all of them onto the fabric, one on top of another. This meant much higher set up costs, as you had to pay for six screen prints, even if you only wanted one shirt! – meaning that low print runs weren’t economical. But we know that most clubs don’t want to print hundreds of shirts. With this new printing technology the set up costs are practically zero, meaning that you can have the professional logo you want printed onto your shirts, at a price you can afford.
Our printed logos are safe to wash up to 80ºC, or to dry clean.
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What is sublimation? tagged 'sublimation'
In printing, this means that dye is transferred onto the fabric by heating. The heating process causes the special dye chemicals to vaporise; they then solidify again on the fabric, ...