The Surface You Print On Makes A Difference. Part 2

Posted on by

Happy Holidays. May you all have the Best Holiday Season.

 The Surface You Print On Makes A Difference. Part 2 Polyester.

Welcome To Cora’s Corner, where every month I am going to help you with your artwork issues. This month’s discussion is; Garment surfaces Part 2.

Again as in cotton, not all surfaces are created equal. Labels on the garments might say the same thing like polyester. However, each of those garments can be vastly different. What are those differences you ask? Here’s a small sample of things that can affect the surface of that polyester garment.PERFORMANCE FABRICS and MOISTURE WICKING POLYESTER: Completely opposite from any kind of cotton shirt some shirts are made from 100% Polyester. And some of those polyester shirts are moisture wicking PERFORMANCE fabrics. There are dozens of marketing buzz-terms to describe these special fabrics, including Clima-cool, Cool-max, Dri-fit, Dri-mesh, Rapid-Dry, Pima-Cool and dozens more. But the underlying feature is that all of these fabrics are actually high-tech weaves of special polyester threads, layered to allow moisture to be removed from your skin and dry quickly. The process of wicking moisture keeps you cooler and does not show perspiration stains. These shirts present a special problem for screen printers. The fabrics are made to wick moisture away, therefore the regular screen printing inks do not like to stay on and the colors like to bleed. The screen printer needs to use performance inks made for the polyester fabrics. These inks are harder to use and need to be backed on dark colors. Drying (setting) the inks also present problems. The fabric is more heat sensitive than cotton fabrics.

COMPRESSION FABRICS: Compression fabrics which are extremely tight fitting garments became well-known from UnderArmour™ commercials. Is UnderArmour™ moisture wicking? Yes, but uses compression fabrics to hold the polyester very tight to your skin, similar to spandex. Moisture wicking not only keeps you cooler in the summer, but warmer in the winter. It’s all about the elimination of moisture from your skin. UnderArmour™ is the most notable brand name, but many other companies offer similar compression style fabrics including Champion Athletic Wear or Sport-Tek or Badger Athletic Wear. Besides the same problems printing as the performance fabrics mentioned earlier, these fabrics have stretching issues. The ink has to be able to print on polyester and be able to expand.

 MESH AND OTHER TEXTURED FABRICS: Athletic mesh fabrics have the added feature of holes in the fabric. This was original done to give some breathability to the garment. Not only does the screen printer need to keep the ink on the garment, prevent bleeding, but now the ink goes thru holes and prints on the boards. Many printers solve the last problem with putting newspaper on the boards and changing them after every print. Others have the design vinyl cut and heat press the design on the garment.

Who knows what future fabrics are coming. Let’s just hope that we can keep up. Next month, I’ll discuss the other fabrics that are added to cotton and polyester. Fabrics like spandex, rayon and bamboo.

Happy Holidays. Until next year.

Cora Kromer
cora@qdigitizing.com