Conventional vs Direct Dye Sublimation

Textiles seemed to jump out as the substrate of choice during the past year. Naturally, the increased popularity of these printable materials has inspired debate, particularly in regard to conventional vs. direct-print dye sublimation. Dye sublimation is quite unlike any other wide-format inkjet printing process. It produces colors that are wildly vibrant and can retain great detail.

The conventional digital dye-sublimation process involves using a digital printer to produce an image in reverse on a coated transfer paper. Heat is then used to transfer the image from the paper onto the final substrate, which can be a polyester fabric or other polyester or polyester-coated material. The sublimation inks may be aqueous, solvent-based, or oil-based, and the inks are generally provided as a four-color process plus additional colors to increase the gamut.

Direct-to-fabric printing may be a more cost-effective process that results in better ink bleed-through on the fabric; however, using transfer paper yields better image quality, especially in terms of detail and edge definition. Transferred graphics provide true, photo-realistic fidelity because the fabric doesn’t have the same fluid uptake as paper. But a direct solution makes sense for flags and other applications that call for saturating the fabric to achieve bold colors on two sides.

The cost of equipment, image saturation and quality, consumables costs (ink and fabric), and labor/versatility are among the considerations to keep in mind when deciding whether to go with conventional or direct dye sublimation. Some printing devices require the use of a heat press, while others feature their own onboard heating devices that eliminate the need for human intervention. A printer and heat-transfer device are minimum requirements for getting into the conventional dye-sub game, and costs grow exponentially for both as they get wider. The same price concept applies to direct dye-sub, where again you can buy an inline or all-in-one system.