Combat Dye Migration with Elasti Prints®

One of the most common problems in garment decoration is fighting dye migration caused by the garment color bleeding through the ink printed on the garment. To fight this problem, it’s important to understand the type of fabric that is used to construct the garment. As an example, 100% cotton is a natural (absorbent) material and is dyed with water-based dyes that penetrate the fiber and are less prone to migrate or bleed into the ink when heat printed on the fabric. 100% polyester fabrics on the other hand are made with synthetic fibers that are dyed with petroleum-based dyes that activate or sublime at temperatures starting at 360ºF and above.

Understanding the fabric that you’re decorating is the first step to controlling dye migration during the heat printing process. Since synthetic fabrics begin to bleed or sublime at temperatures of 360ºF and above, it’s important to choose transfers that can be heat printed at temperatures lower that 360ºF like our Elasti Prints® that can be transferred at the low temperature of 275ºF. Note: For team numbering on heat sensitive and stretchable fabrics, we offer Elasti Prints® numbers available in 4”, 6”, 8” and 10”.

 

screen printed number transfers

Avalon number style in Elasti Prints screen printed number transfers

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