Out on the field, it's hard to miss the vibrant and distinct sports uniforms worn by athletes. But how are these personalized sports uniforms created?
A top-notch sports uniform encompasses its style, design, and printing process. While designers play a key role in determining the style and design, the printing process is equally crucial. Presently, there are various personalized printing techniques, including heat transfers, heat transfer printing, and digital direct printing.
How is Heat Transfer Carried Out?
Heat transfer is a clothing printing process that involves printing a pattern onto a PET film coated with a release agent. The printed film is then used to apply heat and pressure to the surface of the garment or fabric. This results in the pattern transferring onto the garment, after which the waste film can be removed, completing the heat transfer process. This technique is commonly referred to as thermal transfer heat transfer.
This method is versatile and can be used on a wide range of fabrics and garments, although different printing processes may be necessary depending on the material. However, when dealing with high-elastic stretch fabric, the selection of the appropriate adhesive coating is crucial to ensure that the transferred pattern does not crack and deteriorate with use.
Heat transfer printing offers a high-quality and reliable way to add intricate designs onto a vast range of clothing and fabrics.
Sportswear heat transfer can be categorized into two types: gelatin heat transfer and inkjet heat transfer.
Gelatin heat transfer is suitable for large scale production and requires a large four-color printing machine. The plate making fee and start-up fee can be relatively high, making it suitable for producing at least 500 copies. Proofing fees can also be expensive, usually in the several hundred yuan range. This transfer method involves printing the design and coating it with adhesive.
Inkjet heat transfer, on the other hand, requires a special transfer paper and an inkjet printer. It can produce single pieces and is suitable for small family workshops. Proofing fees are very cheap, usually costing only a few dozen yuan. However, it is not recommended for dark clothing.
Gelatin heat transfer has several advantages, such as the ability to print high-precision photos, 3D game animations, and colorful complex designs, closely mirroring computer designs. The transfer results are full-layered and delicate, achieving a near-perfect representation of the design.
However, there are certain disadvantages of gelatin heat transfer. The feel of the transfer on the clothing is not perfect, often feeling like a piece of plastic film close to the skin. When the design is too large, the clothing can feel stuffy and uncomfortable to wear. This method is more suitable for small designs.
In conclusion, both gelatin and inkjet heat transfers have their own advantages and disadvantages. It is important to choose the correct transfer method based on the specific needs of the product.
How is thermal transfer done?
Thermal transfer processing uses a thermal transfer machine to transfer the exquisite pattern on the transfer film to the surface of the product in one process (heating and pressurizing). After forming, the ink layer and the surface of the product are integrated, which is realistic and beautiful, greatly improving the grade of the product. However, due to the high technical content of this process, many materials need to be imported. Usually, there are Chinese domestic inks, Korean inks, and Italian inks.
Domestic inks are relatively cheap and are the choice of many clothing manufacturers. The color is no different from ordinary clothing, but it is easy to fade after multiple washings.
Korean inks are of medium price. Most factories choose this kind of moderate ink in order to provide customers with better products. However, it has a disadvantage that Korean inks are easy to cause nozzle blockage. If the printer fails, the factory must be equipped with a maintenance staff to take care of it. Once the printer fails, the maintenance process will cause the factory process to stagnate, greatly reducing production efficiency.
Italian ink is the most expensive ink. The color it prints is very beautiful and meets the requirements of high-end sportswear. At the same time, it does not have the previously mentioned situation of blocking the printer nozzle. Now many factories will also use Italian ink, which not only improves product quality, but also improves factory production efficiency.
Digital thermal transfer production process:
Step 1. Create high-resolution images; vector graphics are required;
Step 2. Print the pattern on thermal transfer paper using a thermal transfer printer, hundreds of meters per hour;
Step 3. Use high-temperature hot stamping machines and other machines to print the pattern on clothing fabrics. The operation is simple, the pattern is formed in one go, and no color overprinting is required;
Common sportswear transfer technologies are film transfer and sublimation transfer.
(1) Sublimation Transfer: This technology is primarily applicable to sportswear made of polyester fabric, such as quick-drying sportswear and comfortable athletic wear. White clothes are most suitable for this process, as the printed pattern is white while the rest of the clothes can be other colors, such as colored sleeves. When digital sublimation is applied to colored clothes, the ink and colored fibers blend, resulting in a different pattern color than the original fabric. It is not recommended to use colored fabrics with this process.
(2) Film Transfer: This technology is commonly used for clothes with a high cotton content. All colors can be transferred by film, but dark garments require the use of expensive "special transfer paper for dark clothes." The adhesive used in this process is heavier and the quality is less stable, making it unsuitable for sportswear printing.
How to do digital direct printing?
Digital direct-injection machine breaks through the bottleneck of digital printing technology and realizes the real meaning of one-sheet printing, no plate making, and full-color image completion at one time. The extremely low printing cost and high-quality printing effect are more economical and convenient than the traditional printing system. The extremely small system investment, digital operation mode and limited space occupation make the system have a greater market prospect. It is the best supplement to traditional printing and a replacement product for traditional printing machines.
Digital direct-injection machine has very little investment, extremely low printing cost, optional printing size, high printing quality, small space occupation, few operators and extremely low operating costs, and a large selection of printing material types and thicknesses, which has great investment advantages. Coupled with professional digital printing inks, it can achieve saturated and bright colors, wide color gamut, and good transition, far exceeding the traditional printing effect. Compared with expensive foreign digital quick printing machines, it has less investment and quick results. Digital direct-injection machine can print, and the extra-long and thickened platform can make the printed items 400-1800mm wide, 1-2.5m long, and 0-20cm thick. The parameters produced by different manufacturers are different.
How much have you learned from the above introduction to various printing methods? I hope these can be helpful to everyone.
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