Guide for Digital Printing on Fabric - Blog
About ten years ago, digital printing was a luxury, and many international textile businesses could only afford screen printing, or let's call it "semi-digital printing", which is another form of screen printing that offers more color options. But now, besides traditional screen printing, digital printing on textiles is on the rise and is playing a key role in the global textile market, as it will reach 10 to 15% of the total fabric volume by.
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No matter if you are new to digitally printed fabrics, if you are a seller or a business person, this guide for digital printing on fabric should help you understand it better, saving you valuable time in the future.
What is digital printing and what are its advantages?
Digital printing, as the name suggests, uses digital technology. This process transforms your image into a CAD format (Computer Aided Design). This format guides the computer to operate micro-piezoelectric inkjet heads that spray specific dye onto the fabric to create your desired pattern.
Advantages of digital printing:
It democratizes fabric printing, which once required minimum orders of thousands of meters, making custom fabrics accessible to everyone.
No color limitations: unlike screen printing, which is restricted to a maximum of 10-12 colors, digital printing allows for an endless array of colors.
Unlimited repeat size: theoretically, any file that a computer can open can be printed.
High resolution: this leads to clear and crisp patterns on the fabric.
Vibrant colors: digital printing ensures bright and accurate color representation.
Super fast sampling: digital designs allow quick modifications at no extra cost.
No set-up cost and low sampling cost.
Printing on demand as per your needs.
Reduced stock risk: only produce the fabric amount you need, minimizing excess.
Eco-friendly: less waste, pollution, and energy consumption.
Digital textile printing is a game-changer, meeting the fast-paced market demands with rapid turnaround times. We offer a wide range of fabrics for printing, so why not give us a try?
Which fabrics are suitable for digital printing?
Every fabric listed on our site is suitable for printing, even though some might be more challenging to work with.
Digital textile printing works for both woven and knitted fabrics. However, the quality of printing may vary depending on the fabric type.
Polyester Fabrics
Polyester has been a popular choice in the garment industry due to its synthetic fibers derived from petroleum, which makes it versatile for:
For digital polyester printing, we use disperse ink/sublimation ink, making polyester an ideal fabric for printing.
Cotton Fabrics
Cotton is the most widely used natural fabric in printing, thanks to its texture, high moisture control, comfort, durability, and breathability. We use reactive ink for printing on cotton, which ensures better color fastness and penetration.
Linen/Ramie Fabrics
Linen and ramie are natural fibers known for their exceptional breathability, often referred to as "natural air conditioners." Linen is an excellent choice for summer garments.
Mixed/Blended Fabrics
Mixed or blended fabrics consist of more than one yarn, such as poly/cotton, viscose/cotton, and silk/cotton. Printing on these fabrics can be challenging due to their varied reactions to different inks, but many are still suitable for digital printing.
Wool and Silk
Wool and silk are luxury fabrics that demand the highest printing quality. While reactive and acid inks work on both, reactive ink provides better color fastness while acid ink offers more vibrant colors.
Viscose, Tencel, Modal, Rayon, Lyocell
These man-made fabrics are widely used in the fashion industry, especially for high-street brands like H&M and Zara. Printing on them is similar to printing on cotton, where reactive inks are used.
Polyamide Fabrics
Polyamide fabrics, including nylon, are commonly used in sportswear, swimwear, and resistance fabrics like coats and jackets. We use acid inks for printing on polyamide fabrics.
How Digital Printing on Fabric Works
There are two primary methods for printing on fabrics:
Direct ink-jet printing
Sublimation digital printing
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How Does Direct Ink-Jet Printing on Fabrics Work?
Step 1:
You'll need to provide a digital image file. We accept JPG, PNG, PDF, PDF, and TIF files up to 300MB on our website. If your file is larger, share it via WeTransfer or similar services.
Step 2:
We coat the PFP (prepared for printing) fabric to make it absorb the ink better.
Step 3:
The fabric is placed on a sticky transfer belt where printing heads move to print the design onto the fabric.
Step 4:
We steam the fabric to set the color and wash it to remove extra coating. Finally, we heat the fabric to prevent shrinkage.
Step 5:
We package and ship your custom fabric.
How Does Sublimation Digital Printing Work?
Step 1:
Similar to the previous method, we'll need a digital file from you.
Step 2:
We print your design on coated paper, which will serve as a medium to transfer the design to the fabric.
Step 3:
We heat-apply the paper to the fabric, transferring the design.
Step 4:
We package and ship your custom fabric.
What Does the Future Hold When Digital Print Fabric Meets the Digital Age?
The evolution of the global marketplace presents vast opportunities for the textile industry. Digital printing technology, now a mature concept, combined with the Internet, allows anyone worldwide to create custom fabrics with a few clicks. We aim to make this process as seamless as possible for you.
Opportunities for our users:
If you are a designer, you can earn passive income by uploading your designs and becoming a seller.
We manage everything from templating to shipping.
Thousands of designs are available on our marketplace; feel free to browse and save your favorites!
We offer free shipping for orders with less than 25 yards of fabric.
Fast turnaround times: around 5-7 days for samples and 10 days for bulk orders.
You only need a tablet or a computer to use our website.
Getting custom fabrics produced has never been easier or more affordable. Just pick a design, and we'll take care of the rest!
Custom Satin Fabric Printing
What's the best resolution to print in?
We print at 200dpi, a good combination of quality and file weight. Ideally, your image should be scaled to 100% at 200dpi to prevent resizing and interpolation. Our design interface will indicate the image quality using a color-coded system and messages to signal if the resolution is too low or of good quality.
How will my image scale?
Our system automatically scales your design to fit the chosen fabric dimensions. You can view and edit the design dimensions under the 'Images & Text Tools' tab.
Which color model should I choose? RGB or CMYK?
We recommend providing images in the RGB color space, specifically using the sRGB image profile, for the best color results.
Maximum dimensions
For most fabrics, there is no length limit, although the preview window maxes out at 10 yards. If you need more, order in multiples to benefit from automatic volume discounts. Maximum print width is listed on individual fabric pages or within our design interface.
Do I need to incorporate white space within my design if I want a border or some cutting space?
Yes, incorporating extra space or borders into your purchased fabric size is advisable. We cut squarely around fabric samples, leaving about 0.2 inches of white space. Cutting precisely on the line incurs an additional fee.
What is crocking and why might it occur?
Crocking, or fading along creases, occurs mainly with natural fabrics and intensive colors, often after washing or heavy use. Minimize it by opting for cool hand washes instead of machine washes. Poly fabrics are a more durable alternative.
Why do my colors appear lighter on organic fabrics?
Organic fabrics lack the coatings that non-organic ones have, causing inks to absorb into the fibers and reduce color strength slightly (by approx. 40%). For stronger colors, we recommend non-organic natural fabrics.
Do you print on fabric a customer supplies?
Unfortunately, no. We test our fabrics to ensure the best results. However, we can print sublimation transfer paper which you can then use on your own fabrics with a heat press.
Should I save my file as a TIFF or JPEG?
For multi-colored or very detailed files, we recommend using TIFF format (flattened). For simpler designs, JPEG is fine.
What is the situation with material shrinkage?
Material shrinkage can occur, typically between 2-8%. It varies between fabrics and print runs, so plan for this in your dimensions.
Can I print on both sides of the fabric?
No, we do not offer double-sided printing as many fabrics are semi-transparent or show through.
Can I order labels in another fabric? Would you cut them as you do with the normal fabric labels?
No, we currently use the same satin fabric for all labels and do not cut other fabrics into label format.
How is your fabric printing eco-friendly?
Our fabrics are printed using water-based inks, avoiding harmful chemicals and solvents. We also avoid excess waste by folding fabrics instead of using tubes, saving resources and reducing our carbon footprint.
Why are there slight color differences between my orders?
Despite our efforts to improve color profiles, slight variations may occur between print runs due to the natural differences in fabrics and print adjustments. These variations are minimal but can be more noticeable between different fabric types.
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