Get creative with Dye Sublimation printing:

Chris Rheeston
Aug 8, 2017 · 5 min read

All over printing, or Dye Sublimation as it’s also known, is one of the most creative printing techniques available. This is because it allows you to make the most of the entire garment which you’re printing on and it allows your designs to be stand out, vibrant and it allows you to use fun colours and different effects. Sublimation printing is more commonly used in printed fashion clothing lines and it can also be used to liven up printed sportswear. However, in reality, Dye Sublimation is a dynamic way of printing on a whole host of products and should be be made good use of by brands and businesses when printing their promotional merchandise and personalised workwear. We’re going to take you through all of the many product options and things that you can do using sublimation printing.

WHAT IS SUBLIMATION PRINTING?:

Dye sublimation allows you to print your design onto your chosen garment by using a special transfer paper. First, you need to have all of your designs ‘print ready’, which is then printed onto the transfer paper using a specialised printer. Once the design is ready, it is carefully positioned on the garment and fixed with a heat press. The colours used in the design should be dark as you want them to contrast with the colour of the garment. This printing technique allows for full-colour designs to be printed very quickly and is also a fantastic option for personalised sports clothing due to it’s vibrant colours and soft finish.

PROMOTIONAL MERCHANDISING AND SUBLIMATION PRINTING:

Personalised sublimation T-Shirts:

Want your promotional merchandise to have a ‘WOW’ factor? Sublimation T-Shirts are the answer. Thanks to this excellent printing technique, we can guarantee that your printed T-Shirts will come out looking fresh thanks to the vibrant, unique effect sublimation printing offers. It’s a given that when at corporate events such as networking events, you need to offer promotional merchandise that the attendees are going to want to pick up — Something that is going to get their attention and draw them over to your stall. Sublimation T-Shirts are the key. Not only will they attract potential clients at events, but they also serve as fantastic publicity material outside of the event when worn by the recipient.

Personalised mugs:

Printed T-Shirts are not the only product that you can produce using this technique. In fact, you can do so much more with dye sublimation than you think. Personalised mugs, for example, are one product which look fantastic when an all over print and this allows you to create really interesting designs that cover the entirety of the mug. As a promotional product, mugs are something that no one has had enough of, and if you offer a mug which has been customised using sublimation printing, they’re bound to fly off the event stall.

If you want to create something which is even more impressive, get yourself some heat sensitive colour changing mugs. Also created using sublimation printing, these personalised mugs are super fun and will be gratefully received by all customers and clients. Appearing to be a plain mug with one block colour, when it contains a hot drink, the colour then slowly fades, revealing the design that was originally hidden below. They could just be what your latest marketing campaign is missing!

Personalised wristbands:

Personalised wristbands are becoming very popular amongst companies, brands and charities as they allow you to get a very large quantity of promotional merchandise printed at a very low cost. The great thing about branded wristbands is that if they are attractive enough, and the recipients like them enough to wear them on a daily basis, your promotional merchandise will have an extremely high visibility and reach a much wider audience than other promotional products such as printed business cards. Furthermore, if you get your personalised wristbands printed with dye sublimation, they will be even more alluring. This can be done on fabric wristbands, making this the perfect product and printing technique for festival and music event organisers.

Sportswear personalised with sublimation printing:

At Garment Printing, we work with a range of well known brands such as American Apparel, Adidas and Nike, all of which produce high-quality, fashionable sportswear which we can then personalise with sublimation printing, amongst other techniques. If you are considering getting a line of personalised sports or fitness wear printed for a club,school sports team or gym, don’t overlook sublimation as an option. In fact, make this your first choice. If you have attractive running gear or personalised sports clothing that you feel good in, you’re more likely to use it for what it was made for and get fit. Amercian Apparel leggings that have been printed using dye sublimation will have you looking trendy which you’re working out. A sublimated Adidas polo shirt will have you looking like a pro when on a golf course and a personalised Nike hoodie will have heads turning on the race track.

Sublimation printed products our brands are offering:

Russell has a collection of brightly coloured 65% polyester, 35% cotton T-Shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts and jogging bottoms which can all be printed on using dye sublimation. Usually, you’d be recommended to use a white, 100% polyester garment, but with this stylish, marl coloured collection by Russell it is now possible on polyester blends. The trick is to create a design with significantly darker colours than the garment, ensuring that it will stand out against the contrasting background colour.

B&C Collection have a fantastic range of ultra soft polyester mix T-Shirts that can e used with sublimation printing to give the garment an interesting vintage look. Or, if you’re looking for a bolder, brighter result, they offer a super soft white, 100% polyester T-Shirt that allows you to produce photographic quality prints and unleash your creativity.

Eco-friendly all over printing options:

The great thing about dye sublimation printing is that the print can be reused a number of times, saving the amount of ink used in the printing process. Also, due to the fact that the ink is transferred directly from the paper onto the garment, no ink is lost or washed down the sink, therefore removing the risk of water pollution.

However, there is a downside. As Sublimation Printing gets the best results when it’s used on synthetic materials, such as polyester, although the printing technique is eco-friendly the product it is used on is not. But don’t fear! There is another option.

Continental Clothing offers a bespoke printing service on larger, bulk orders, making it an interesting option for companies or brands who want to print unique products for fashion resale and promotional merchandise purposes. Usually, when people think of all over printing they think of dye sublimation. However, as we’ve just mentioned, this is only available with the use of synthetic fabrics. If you’re looking for a 100% eco-friendly printing technique and product, consider using this bespoke service. Continental allows you to chose the eco-friendly fabric that you like, it then dyes the entire roll before screen printing your design over the fabric, for an all over print effect. After the printing process is completed, the fabric is cut and sewn into your desired garment, producing a 100% eco-friendly, totally unique product.

This is a printing technique to have fun with! And, as mentioned above, there are so many different products to experiment on.

Chris Rheeston

Written by

Marketing manager and content writer for Garmentprinting.co.uk. Writing on stories relating to the printing and fashion industry. Views expressed are my own.