The decoration methods we use are as follows:
Vinyl Print
This is a very popular printing method as it is possible to create extremely bold vibrant designs. Using a specialised cutting machine garment vinyl is cut into the required shapes. The excess vinyl surrounding the shape is then weeded out and the design pressed onto the garment using a heavy duty heat press. There is a wide choice of vinyl textures and colours to choose from. It maintains it’s colour vibrancy after pressing and provided it is cared for properly it is also very durable. Using a specialist printer garment vinyl can also be printed on which enables full colour photo quality designs to be used as opposed to solid block colour vinyl. It is best used for large block colour designs as it is not possible to cut out accurately very fine detail and small lettering. Whilst colour layering is possible too many presses degrades the vinyl so we normally limit this to 3 colours only or advise that a vinyl print is used instead.
Care: Wash inside out at temperatures no more than 40 degrees less if the garment requires it. Iron inside out and do not expose to direct heat or tumble dry.
Embroidery
Coloured embroidery threads and specialised machines are used to make stitches in the garment creating designs that have been pre-programmed into the machines. Image files are converted into blocks of coloured stitches to replicate the design in the image. The embroidery machines then read these files to stitch out the design directly onto the garment. It produces a very high quality finish that looks professional and is extremely durable so is extremely popular for workwear. As the digitisation has to be created manually a one off set up fee normally applies and colours are limited to 10.
Care: Wash as per the garment instructions.
Heat Transfer
This printing method produces a similar finish to vinyl but has the added benefit of being able to print photographs and complex detailed designs similar to DGT. Your image is printed onto specialised garment transfer paper. It is then transferred onto your garment using a heavy duty heat press. It works best with vectors and high quality 300 DPI images and produces a slightly softer finish to that of vinyl.
Care: As with vinyl wash inside out at temperatures no more than 40 degrees less if the garment requires it. Iron inside out and do not expose to direct heat or tumble dry.
Sublimation
This method of printing has been around for a long time and is still just as popular. It uses heat to transfer ink in a gas like state into the surface of the product creating the design. First of all your design is printed on a specialist transfer paper and is transferred to the product using high heat and pressure. The ink turns into a gas like state and is infused into the product’s surface as opposed to sitting on top like with traditional transfers. It is used on polyester type fabrics and specially designed products that have been pre-treated with a specialist coating that will accept the ink transfer. The finish is very high quality and extremely durable.
Care: Wash as per the product instructions.
InkJet, EcoSolvent and Laser Printing
Many of our paper products and banners will require one of these methods of printing. In particular we use our white toner printer for many applications that involve printing onto dark clothing, coloured paper and hard surfaces such as slate and coloured ceramics whilst our Inkjet printer is best suited for business cards and photo quality cards and our EcoSolvent printer for vinyl printing and banners.
Where a decoration choice is available for some products your design may not be suitable for your preferred method should this be the case we will contact you to advise you which method would produce the best results for you.
