Why Dye Sublimation Rules!

Trying to decide between screen printing or dye sublimating your team jerseys? We'll make the decision easy for you; dye sublimation rules.

Here are 5 reasons why ...  

When it comes to sports apparel, dye sublimation offers a superior product. 

1) Fade Resistant

2) Made for Sports Fabrics

3) Small Order, No Problem  

4) Uber Design Flexibility 

5) Eco-Friendly Printing 

Now for the 411 on each print process.

Screen printing is an analog technology that involves pushing ink with a squeegee through a stencil on a fine mesh screen and onto the substrate being decorated. This process can be done either by hand on a manual screen printing press or with an automatic machine. Dye sublimation is a digital printing process that requires a specialty printer similar to an inkjet printer. For dye sublimation, you must first print a mirror image of your design onto special transfer paper, which you then apply to the substrate using a heat press. The heat from the press sublimates the ink on the transfer paper, meaning it goes directly from a solid to a gas without becoming a liquid in between. As a gas, the ink penetrates the material being decorated.

Dye sublimation ink by nature permeates the fabric so the final print has no noticeable weight, leaving you with a more comfortable garment.   

High volume is the bread and butter of screen printing. The larger the screen printing order, the more cost effective it becomes compared to other methods. By contrast, dye sublimation is time consuming, expensive and highly impractical for large orders. Small orders can be equally impractical for screen printing. To compensate for the setup times needed for screen printing, many screen printing shops will have a minimum order requirement to make jobs worth their while.

With youth teams averaging 12 players and last minute players a usual occurrence, dye sublimation is cost effective and gives coaches and team moms flexibility.  

Both screen printing and dye sublimation are capable of reproducing fine details and photorealistic images. Dye sublimation always uses combinations of CMYO (cyan, magenta, yellow and clear overcoat) ink to produce any color you desire, so photorealistic images require no additional setup. Screen printing, though more suitable for simpler designs, can achieve the same result using techniques called four-color process or simulated process printing, which recreate photorealistic images using grids of tiny dots. Sublimation garments are extra durable because the dyes are embedded into the garment’s fabric. 

There is no cracking or peeling with a sublimated print. The embedded dye is fused with the fabric and becomes as strong and durable as the fabric used.    

If you have a creative design idea for your team jerseys, hands down - go for a sublimated product. No short cuts are taken when creating sublimated sports apparel. We source the highest quality fabrics to ensure your product comes out looking and feeling perfect. Sublimated apparel is bright, bold, big and colorful.

Sublimation printing for uniforms is great idea for protecting your branding image as the uniforms look great for a long time. We use high quality polyesters and polyester stretch blends with advanced moisture management and wicking finish. 

Dye sublimation is extremely “environmentally friendly” when compared to traditional screen printing, where the screen preparation, printing and clean-up uses mass amounts of water and chemicals. Moreover, no toxins are employed in dye sublimation, protecting both workers and the environment. That's our jam. 

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