Sublimation on cotton
In this blog post we devote ourselves exclusively to sublimation printing on cotton and present some interesting materials for this application.
Basically, the fact remains that synthetic polyester fabrics or polymer-coated materials are required for sublimation printing.
Otherwise the physical process will not work and the sublimation ink cannot be transferred to the desired printing material.
If you use 100 % cotton fabric, the sublimation ink cannot penetrate the fibers and will be washed out the next time you wash it.
There are now some materials that can be printed with sublimation ink and then transferred to the cotton fabric.
Similar to toner transfer, plottable transfer films or vinyl films. Here we introduce you to four materials for sublimation on cotton.
You can find the materials in our shop in the Sublimation_Sublimation on cotton section.
Subli-Cotton fabric
Subli-Cotton is an extremely thin, fine microfiber fabric for sublimation printing on cotton.
The material has a coating on the back that bonds to the cotton fabric when transferring.
Subli-Cotton is easy to process and opens up completely new possibilities in sublimation/transfer printing.
The end result is characterized by a pleasant, soft touch.
Please note:
The material is not suitable for cutting. If you are looking for a plottable fabric, we recommend our Sublitextile fabric or HTV vinyl.
Subliflock flock film for sublimation inks
Subliflock is a flock film made of polyester fibers. The film is plottable and can be printed with sublimation ink.
Thanks to its unique microfiber flock, its surface is particularly pleasant and it is virtually impossible for it to get dirty in the washing machine due to foreign fibers.
It also has high elasticity and an excellent grip. Even large motifs can be applied without any loss of comfort.
Sublitextile- plottable fabric for patch labels
Under the name Sublitextile we offer five different polyester fabrics on a carrier film that can be printed using the sublimation process.
The fabrics can be plotted or further processed with scissors.
In a further step, the image motif is transferred to the printing material.
The special thing is that almost all types of fabric are suitable for this, including cotton.
It doesn't matter whether the tissue is white, light or dark.
HTV vinyl printable flex film for sublimation on cotton
HTV stands for “Heat Transfer Vinyl”.
HTV Vinyl is a printable flex film for sublimation on cotton.
The vinyl film is suitable for light-colored textiles.
A major limitation in sublimation textile printing has so far been the inability to print on high-quality cotton or blended fabrics.
This is now possible with Subliking® HTV . The film can be transferred over a large area to the cotton fabric and then printed.
The film can also be printed first and then cut to size with scissors or a cutting plotter.
What is needed for sublimation on cotton?
Thermal transfer press, calender, hot air oven, cup press
