Impressions - September 2020 - 30

Adding both industrial and
commercial dye-sublimation
equipment into a print shop
presents opportunities to
increase revenue.

Controlling Fabric Design
Traditional fabric design is a long process that takes time; it involves communicating designs and colors with textile companies overseas, then waiting for minimum-order samples that often consist of
multiple bolts of fabric.
With dye sublimation, designers can be more involved in creating
their designs, printing on transfer paper and using a heat-transfer
method to embellish designs directly onto the fabric. Compared to
traditional textile dyeing or screen printing, dye sublimation can provide benefits such as high-resolution prints, increased color gamut,
faster product-sample turnaround time and less textile waste.
A first-run sample can be a yard of fabric instead of a full bolt,
and design edits can take hours instead of weeks. With dye-sublimation equipment, print shops can work directly with designers to
create textiles with intricate details, precision accuracy and unlimited
color options - something that is nearly impossible with traditional
textile manufacturing and screen printing.

Customization
Adding both industrial and commercial dye-sublimation equipment
into a print shop presents opportunities to increase revenue. This
can be done not only by bidding on fast-fashion contracts, but also
by expanding into customized apparel. Print-shop owners can offer
retailers and customers the ability to "build a garment" online.
For example, customers can build a sports jersey by selecting different fabric colors and designs for the jersey arms, stripes, numbers,
etc., adding personal touches to the basic design. By implementing
a simple template design on garment-creation software, it's easy to
swap colors based on orders and add high-resolution photographs
submitted by customers for personalized orders. This can further
increase both service offerings and revenue streams.
Furthermore, everything offered to merchandisers can be created
in smaller-batch orders, providing the opportunity to create custom
apparel for local sports teams, schools or companies.

Multi-Use Equipment
Leveraging specific heat-transfer equipment, commercial and
industrial dye-sublimation printers can create transferable output for
a wide variety of items, including porcelain, glass and textile-based
products that can be sold as custom gifts during the holiday season.
Create customized interior items - cutting boards, glassware and
wine tote bags - that can be purchased all year.
With the addition of a direct-to-garment (DTG) printer, decorators can increase revenue by offering personalization on apparel
orders. Create garments for retailers on a dye-sublimation printer,
P.30

By adding industrial
dye-sublimation printers,
print-shop owners can
produce small-run, unique,
fashionable clothing to meet
consumer demand.

I M P R E S S I O N S M A G . C O M SEPTEMBER 2020

28-31_IMP_0920_Fashion_Demands.indd 30

8/19/20 10:47 AM

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Impressions - September 2020

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