Impressions - Digital Decorator - Fall 2015 - 35

Sublimated glitter flake

Pretreatment helps to expand the fabrics,
but in context it's not a solution beyond
T-shirts, sweat shirts, canvas products
and the like. Having said this, America
(even corporate America) is still in love
with the T-shirt. There are plenty of opportunities to return an investment on DTG
printers with a solid strategy.

SUBLIMATION
Sublimation is another surging technology. Having been around for many
years, this process is experiencing new
fast growth primarily due to blank apparel
progression. Cut-and-sew factories are
paving the way for sublimation to be fashion forward in athletics and street culture.
Depending on the brand, cut-and-sew
sublimation may be a viable choice, but
more often than not a typical desktop sublimation application will suffice (13˝ x 19˝
prints and smaller).
Specifically for high-polyester content
textiles and polymer-coated hard goods,
sublimation excels on white and very light
colors when it comes to maintaining the
integrity of logo colors. The good news is
that apparel manufacturers offer a wide
range of sublimation-ready soft goods
that can withstand the high heat required
A SUPPLEMENT TO IMPRESSIONS

and produce results. Sublimation on
apparel literally has no feel and the chemistry allows the ink to become one with
the fiber, making it scratch resistant and
highly durable.
When hard goods are explored, sales
opportunities increase. Promotional products, awards, recognition and corporate
gifts all are possible. The short list of sublimation-ready products includes phone
cases, plaques, mugs, mousepads, tiles,
ornaments, wall hangings, cutting boards,
guitar picks, aluminum license plates,
travel cups, water bottles and more.

SUBLIMATED APPLIQUÉ
Sublimation doesn't stop at its direct
application to a garment or hard goods.
Its application to appliqué-like products
makes it completely unique. Sublimated
twill- and polyester-based fabrics coated
with adhesive present unique logo reproduction opportunities, and blending two
technologies together helps to deliver the
best of both worlds. A higher perceived
value in a sewn appliqué as well as the
execution of a higher color count logo
with minimal embroidery machine time.
Digital appliqué transfers also recently
have begun to permeate glitter. If a brand

Sublimated twill

is looking for an extra pop or bling factor
in its logo application, consider sublimating white glitter heat-transfer fi lm.

DIGITAL TRANSFERS
As a decorator explores the possibilities
presented by digital transfer techniques,
another technology sits on the docket. Hybrid
transfers help to combine a digital print face
with the benefits found in screen-printed
transfers. While the technology is brandnew, the promise of high-color count with
economies of scale resulting in a cost reduction at increased quantities is encouraging.
With a proper understanding of capabilities, we can begin to explore the universe of logos.

STYLE
As logos come in and out of the door
of our shops they can be categorized into
four primary design styles: letter marks,
which feature a prominent letter-based
FALL 2015  35

Impressions - Digital Decorator - Fall 2015

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