PROUD
PREFERRED
DECORATOR OF
DYE SUBLIMATION
Here's how it works:
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Design Creation: Customers can either provide their own design or work with our talented team to create a custom design for their apparel. We ensure that the design is digitally prepared and optimized for the dye sublimation process.
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Printing: The design is printed onto a special transfer paper using dye-sublimation ink. This ink is unique because it has the ability to convert from a solid to a gas without going through a liquid phase, a process known as sublimation. This allows the ink to penetrate the fibers of the material being printed on.
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Transfer: The printed transfer paper is then placed onto the surface of the material to be printed, typically polyester fabric. The paper and material are then passed through a heat press machine at a high temperature (usually around 400°F or 200°C). The heat causes the dye particles to sublimate, turning into a gas and bonding with the polyester fibers of the material.
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Cooling: After the transfer process is complete, the material is allowed to cool down. This helps to ensure that the dye has fully penetrated the fibers and has created a permanent bond with the material.
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Finishing: Once cooled, the material is inspected for quality and any necessary finishing touches are made. This may include trimming excess transfer paper or performing any post-printing treatments to enhance durability or color vibrancy.
The result is a vibrant, high-quality print that is durable, fade-resistant, and has a smooth finish. Dye sublimation allows for full-color designs with intricate details to be printed onto a wide range of apparel and promotional items, making it a popular choice for custom clothing and merchandise.
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At McKee's Tees Plus, we take pride in using the latest dye sublimation technology to bring our customers' designs to life with precision and quality.
Can you sublimate on black shirts? Can you sublimate on colored shirts? The short answer, yes. You absolutely can, but your results will vary greatly. Sublimation is a dye process and doesn't print white. I mean, if you think about it, there really isn't a way to dye something white anyway. You can bleach it, but thats totally different. So if you want to use a darker shirt, or a black shirt, technically it WILL dye it, but you wont see it very well, if at all. The best way I have found to explain it to my customers is this: Picture the dyes in your design are Crayola Markers, and the shirt is construction paper. If you colored on black paper with markers, nothing will show up. If you color on yellow paper with a pink marker it will look orange. And so on.
Can you sublimate on 50% polyester shirts? The percentage of polyester plays a huge factor as well. The chemical properties of the dyes require you to have polyester in the shirt. The higher percentage of polyester, the more vivid the colors will be. Basically, if you use a shirt that is only 50% polyester, only HALF of the dye will transfer. Sometimes it doesn't look too bad, but if any extra color did transfer onto the shirt, the remainder of that HALF will wash out the first time you wash the shirt. Only half of the ink will be permanent.
In an attempt to give you all a visual, We have put together a graphic with a simple color wheel to show you how different colors will work on different shirts and different polyester counts. This is only an estimate of course, but should give you pretty good idea of how it will turn out. Especially after you wash it for the first time.
PAST WORK
