Dye Sub

The process of Dye Sub Printing occurs on 100% polyester garments and produces a very vivid and eye catching color spectrum.  Many of today’s professional, college and even some high school football, basketball and lacrosse uniforms are printed using the dye sub printing method.

When printing with dye sub, your substrate (T-Shirt, Jersey etc …) must start out completely white and must be made out of 100% polyester, or at the very least a high polyester content, with cousins of polyester present for the balance of the fabric (Rayon, Nylon etc …)  Cotton and dye sub don’t mix and result in muted colors.

Dye Sub

Dye sub inks are opaque, in order to create every color in the spectrum with CMYK the ink base needs to be opaque so that the printer can layer inks and create different colors.  As a result, the base garment must be white to start.  The white fabric is dyed with the design.  In sublimation printing, there is no white ink, white in the design is the absence of dyes.  If you were to attempt to dye sub on a black garment, you would not see any image.

Professional dye sub companies produce some amazing results on pre and post sewn garments.  Most of the industry dye sublimates fabric while it is still on the roll and then those rolls of dye sub material are then cut and sewn into the finished garment.

However, recently garment decorating companies have been using dye sub on already finished garments and getting spectacular results.  Polyester (performance, moisture wicking) t-shirts can be dye sublimated on the front and back with acceptable results.

Dye sub on pre-sewn garments won’t yield perfect results, examples are that creases and folds usually near the arm pits and seams will result in white t-shirt showing through, but if the artist designs the t-shirt art properly, the results can look quite amazing.

If you are searching for a dye sub partner to help you with dye sublimated t-shirts, please consider giving us a call (908) 806-8337 or email us.

Dye Sub