Digital Printing Fabric

To help you start the process, let's explain the technology involved

• People use this versatile method for reproducing detailed images and patterns, photographs and complicated designs. Additionally, it is most advantageous when designs have multiple colours and the required meter or run rate is lower.
• The base fabric we use is usually white, ecru or Ivory. These shades will give the best reproduction of the design. Coloured fabrics can be digitally printed. However, like your desktop printer, one only adds the colour on top, and this may affect the overall effect.

Inks used in digital printing

• Digital fabric printers print fabric with a number of inks. These range from the 4 process colours, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black (CMYK) to between 8 and 12 colours. Additional colour channels add to the fabric printer's overall 'gamut' or colour space. This expands the range of colours that the machine is able to reproduce.
• The wider the gamut, the greater the ability to reproduce fine tones, hit specific spot colours or outlying bright colours. Some printers may use Orange, Blue, Green, Red etc to improve the strength of certain shades.
• They might use light colours such as Light Magento or Light Cyan to improve skin tone gradients. And then they could use greys and blacks to help with Black tones. Some machines even allow one to add fluorescent colour channels. However, currently metallic colours cannot be printed digitally.
• This type of fabric printing digitally reproduces any design or image you want to create. It lets you use as many colours and tones as you wish, at any scale. Software called a 'RIP' converts the digital images to colours for each ink channel.

The 2 fabric print methods to use digitally

• There are two main types of digital fabric printing – direct-to-fabric and sublimation printing using transfer paper. When designs are printed via either of these methods, we use similar machinery. Sometimes they even use the same machines that have had slight modifications.
• The results are superb high-quality designs that don't take long to print.
• Remember this when you need to order smaller runs of exceptional quality custom digital printed materials. And don't forget this when you have quick turnaround times.

How sustainable is this fabric print method?

• The digital process is known for its sustainability. It uses water-based inks that are eco-friendly and don't contain chemicals.
• This is one of the single most important advantages of this method. It reduces waste compared to other printing processes.
• Usually, printed fabrics only becomes economical when the runs are high. But this isn't the case with the digital process.
• You can print your design on exactly the amount of fabric you need. And as you're already printing using this type of ink, this method is very sustainable. Additionally, as you are printing the design you need, there is no compromise on design. You can also buy mass-produced fabrics.

Screen Printing (Flatbed and Rotary)
As mentioned, much of the world's fabric printing production has traditionally been done on flatbed or rotary screen printers. If you've purchased fabrics at large retail stores it's likely that the fabric was printed overseas on a screen printer. Screen printers utilize either flat screens or a rotating cylindrical screen to essentially transfer the patterns onto the fabric with various colors of ink. Each color used in the design requires its own screen.

There are various types of inks and technologies used in screen printing. Water-Based Pigment printing is the most popular type because it works on all types of fabrics and blends while also being a more eco-friendly and repeatable process. Other processes utilize reactive dye printing for cotton and cellulosic fabrics, disperse printing for polyesters, and acid printing for nylons and silks.

Pros of Screen Printing:

• Screen printing, particularly rotary printing, is a fast printing method that can produce large quantities of fabric quickly and efficiently.
• Able to produce vibrant colors
• Works on a wide variety of fabrics
• If over 1,000 yards, screen printing may be the better option.

Reactive Dye Digital Fabric Printing
Reactive dye and acid dye digital printing utilizes digital ink-jet style printers to print designs on fabric. A reactive coating is applied to the fabrics, creating a reaction that helps the reactive or acid dyes bond to the fabric. This process requires the printer, a steaming unit, a washer unit, and a drying oven. Through the process of steaming, washing, and drying a chemical reaction between the coating and the dye creates a long-lasting bond with the fabric.

Reactive dyes work well on all cellulose fibers such as cotton, linen, rayon, hemp, bamboo, and many other natural fiber fabrics. Acid dyes tend to work best on protein fibers like silk, wool, and nylon.

To use the reactive method of printing, a printer will need permits from AQMD (Air Quality Management Department) because the process discharges dyes and chemicals into the sewer through the washing process. Due to its complexity, reactive dye printing requires a good knowledge of the process and an awareness of its limitations.

One of these limitations is that this method is not completely repeatable due to the nature of the process. Since it relies on natural fibers that can change from batch to batch to print and create the bond, you will likely see small color changes from one print run to the next with the same design. For this reason, reactive dye printing is best for one-off printing runs.

Pros of Reactive Dye Printing:

• Able to produce vibrant color.
• Works well on a wide variety of natural fiber fabrics.
• Dye Sublimation Digital Fabric Printing.

Dye sublimation fabric printing is a popular fabric printing method that has enabled many small print shops to open for custom fabric printing. It is not a direct to fabric printing method, but rather prints the design onto a special transfer paper using a sublimation ink. The design is then transferred onto the fabric from the paper using heat and pressure to bond the ink to the fabric. The heat and pressure causes the sublimation ink to transform into a gas and permeate the fibers of the fabric, creating a permanent, high-quality image.

While this is a very good printing method it does have its limitations and downsides. This process works only with synthetic fabrics like polyesters and will not work with natural fiber fabrics. Obviously these types of fabrics are not as green and healthy as natural fibers, causing many conscious shoppers to start steering away from synthetic fabric bases as more awareness has been raised in recent years. Dye sublimation also has some environmental concerns since it requires the ongoing usage and disposal of the transfer paper.

Pros of Dye Sublimation:

• Simple process with options for low-cost smaller printer setups to empower small businesses.
• Quality, high-detail prints.
• Digital process allows for quick turnaround time.
• Repeatable process with consistent colors between print runs.