large format sublimation printer and heat press,t shirt heat press sublimation transfer machine,t shirt printing equipment for sale south africa

Fabric is the basis of your work, something like a canvas for an artist, so choose the proper fabrics not to get notorious for producing substandard goods. But keep in mind that different fabrics require different printing techniques.

The first thing to understand is that fabrics can be of 2 types: natural and synthetic.

Natural fabrics are of vegetable or animal origin and come in 3 types: cotton, wool, and linen.

An overview of the most popular fabrics for printing

✔️Cotton

It’s an actual leader of the fabric world for any clothing production, including the POD industry. If you are a newbie at the business or unsure of your choice, we recommend going with cotton. It’s an eco-friendly material widely used to make T-shirts. But keep in mind that 100% cotton, like any other organic fabric, is expensive and can increase your costs substantially. To avoid unnecessary spending, use cotton combined with synthetic fibers in different proportions (20% polyester or 50% elastane).

✔️Denim

It is also a popular fabric for casual wear. Denim is used for jeans, jackets, shirts, and dresses. It is made from cotton, which allows clothes made of denim to be soft, durable, and breathable. The most commonly used printing equipment is a DTG printer, taking the fabric through three stages: pre-processing, preparing, and loading into the printer. The settings should be set to use more white ink and super fine quality printing).

✔️Flannel

It’s thick cotton, wool, or wool blend with fleece added on both sides. Flannel is a pleasant fabric for the body: it is soft to touch, warm to wear, durable, and hypoallergenic. The fabric is excellent for children’s clothes, bedclothing, and people with sensitive skin. Sublimation printing is used to get the rich colors of the flannel pattern.

✔️Linen

This environmentally friendly material keeps its shape well, does not tear, gives the clothes an attractive matte finish, lets in air, and does not irritate the skin. It is used for hot weather clothing such as shirts, dresses, skirts, shorts, pants. This fabric is suitable for digital printing without any preparation. The use of heat treatment will deepen the print saturation and prevent the fabric from shrinking.

✔️Hemp

Hemp fibers are the coarsest plant fibers and have come into fashion as a trend for naturalness and sustainability. This fabric is strong, practical, and durable, and at the same time soft, hypoallergenic, and hygroscopic. With durable reactive inks, hemp dyes are better than many other fabrics, including cotton.

✔️Silk

You may think that this thin material is only suitable for summer clothing, but it is not. Silk is also suitable for cold weather because it retains body temperature. The fabric does not irritate or clog your skin, and it looks amazing. Suitable for sewing both home wear and evening outfits. Silkscreen or thermal transfer can be used as printing techniques. If you want to keep your costs down, choose polyester silk.

✔️Rayon

We have already written that it is a variant of artificial silk, which combines the advantages of several fabrics: strength, elasticity, smoothness, and lightness. It is used for sewing summer clothes and inner linings. The best print quality is achieved by using a digital printer and reactive inks.

✔️Nylon

This sturdy synthetic material is used for everyday wear, hosiery, and various hiking and sports stuff. It is easy to dye. Using a thermal transfer printer, sublimation (fabric must contain 50% nylon or more), or silkscreen, one can achieve saturated colors.

✔️Polyester

It is widely used in the clothing industry as one of the fabric components. Polyester is valued for its ability to hold the complex shape of things such as skirts and dresses with pleats. Patterns are sublimated (over 50% polyester and light fabric) or silkscreened.

✔️Sateen

It’s produced of cotton or as combinations of synthetic and silk fibers. This lightweight, durable fabric absorbs moisture well without irritating the skin or maintaining body temperature. It is usually used for bed and children’s clothing. Often used printing techniques include reactive and pigmented printing.

✔️Leather

It’s distinguished by its strength, durability, elasticity. Natural leather holds its shape perfectly, lets air in, and absorbs moisture. Leather substitutes can not boast such a set of properties. To put quality and durable print on leather goods (jackets, coats, dresses, skirts) UV printing is used.

✔️Wool

Wool in its pure form is rarely used, but combined with other fibers, wool gives unique warming properties. So it is used to make warm clothes. In addition, it repels dirt, odors, and water, which makes it dry for a long time. Wool fibers are suited to acid dyes, which improve their durability and appearance.

✔️Mixed fabrics

A variety of mixed fabrics are printed using thermal transfer techniques.

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