Impressions - October 2014 - 70

Digital Decorating

Hix's 20" x 25"
manual swing-away
press offers a larger
imprint combined with
efﬁciency.

It's important
to note that even

The Insta 204 is a classic example of
the 16" x 20" swing-away press that is ideal for
sublimation.

heat is critical to
sublimation success.

large-format press users to get their feedback on how their equipment is working
for them. Other key factors for spot-hit
presses are:
* Manual Function: You want a manual press that allows you to control
the amount of pressure you place on
the garment. Using foam and Teflon for perfect pressing has become
an increasingly prevalent industry
trend. This is only possible with a
manual press.
* Swing-Away: Swing-away heat presses provide even downward pressure
more reliably than "pop-up" models.
Sublimation can have a signiﬁcantly
higher error rate with a pop-up or
clamshell press over time. Swingaway presses do not have this issue.
* Clean Machine: Some heat presses
have less-than-ideal fulcrum points.
They produce a buildup of oil or lubricants and, as a result, garments can
be negatively impacted. Having a machine that runs clean is important. Inspect all aspects of the press before you
move forward with your purchase.
70

Impressions | October/November 2014

MARKET ADVANTAGE
Is 20" x 25" the new proﬁt spot? Anyone who has been "on the press" before
knows that AOP labor costs are much
higher than those of spot-hit printing. The
problem is that the market wants large,
full-color graphics now. Customers want
full coverage as well. For a substantial part
of the market, a manual 20" x 25" press
could provide the best of both worlds.
This includes huge graphics - big
enough for AOP on youth garments and
18" x 23" graphics for adult tees. Also, it
helps with spot-hit workﬂow. More shirts
per hour, and lower ink and paper costs,
make this a great area of proﬁtability.
Finally, don't forget the foam. All of
these presses offer a solid platform from
which to build sublimation success. They
also meet the requirements of the modern
apparel sublimator. And they all can be
made better with the use of sublimation
foam systems that will help you eliminate
retail-limiting press lines and production
imperfections.
The market has a number of foam pillow and foam kit solutions available. Make

sure you don't leave out this key ingredient to your sublimation success.
Chris Bernat is chief revenue ofﬁcer at
Vapor Apparel. He is a current SGIA board
member, and he speaks and writes on sublimation and mass customization. For more
information or to comment on this article,
email Chris at chris@vaporapparel.com.
(Editor's Note: Visit impressionsmag.
com/intelligentsublimation to check out a
video about using colored garments engineered for sublimation.)

Suggested

Reading

Like this article? Read additional
digital decorating articles at
impressionsmag.com.
* "Next-Generation Heat Presses
Feature Digital Technologies"
* "Top Ten Heat Press FAQs"
* "Ironing Out the Details:
The Story of the Heat Press"
impressionsmag.com

http://www.impressionsmag.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Impressions - October 2014

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