Sublimation Printing: The Ultimate Guide

Mastering Sublimation Printing: Your Comprehensive Guide

Sublimation printing is arguably one of the most popular decoration methods in the promotional product industry. The ink transfer used in the sublimated process can make any logo or creative design look crisp and vibrant. For the most part, sublimation can be an affordable and accessible option. However, it does tend to be more expensive than popular decoration methods like silkscreen or embroidery.

So, is sublimation printing worth it?

In this article, we’ll discuss how sublimation printing works and what it is so you can decide if this is the best decoration method for your next project.

Here’s everything you need to know:

What is Sublimation Printing?

Sublimation printing is a type of decoration method that is used to add ink to fabric. A sublimation expert essentially takes your design and transfers it to the fabric using ink and heat. This decoration method is commonly used for full-color designs on apparel, towels, and other fabric-based items.:

How Does Sublimation Printing Work?

Once you pick the promotional item you like and send your design in to be added to the product, the process is relatively easy for a professional printer.
Here’s how the process works:

• Your design is printed on a special type of paper
• The printer uses heat to get the ink to turn into a gas
• When combined with the fabric, the print is transferred immediately

Sublimation printing creates a full-color, permanent design. It's a high-quality decoration method to consider. It's also more resistant to cracking and peeling, so it can withstand several washes in the washer and dryer.

Benefits of Sublimation Printing

There are many benefits to choosing sublimated printing over other decoration methods. Some of the reasons include:

More Affordable For Multi-Color Designs

If your logo has more than two colors, you might as well go with sublimation over silkscreen. With silkscreen printing, you’ll have to pay an additional setup fee and add-on for every color you include. With sublimation, you can include as many colors as you want. This is an affordable way to showcase creative concepts and multi-color logos.

Edge-to-Edge Imprints

One of the disadvantages of silkscreen or embroidery is you must stick with a specific imprint area. This is because of the way the machines are set up and don’t have anything to do with the items themselves. Sublimation printing allows for an edge-to-edge imprint. So you have a chance to showcase a creative design or a large logo on the product.

Vibrant Results

Full-color sublimation provides vibrant, next-level results. It’s a high-quality decoration method for super-detailed creative concepts and achieving a crisp, high-quality design.

Eco-Friendly

Sublimated printing is also an eco-friendly alternative to other decoration methods. This concept doesn't have any water waste. It also doesn't use harmful inks or dyes.

Top Five Sublimated Items at Bagmasters

At Bagmasters, we sublimated more than just t-shirts, hoodies, and apparel items. We also have a collection of promo items you can consider to take your giveaways to the text level. Some of our most popular options include:

A sublimated fanny pack is perfect for fundraisers, 5Ks, outdoor events, and raffle items. It’s a high-quality swag item for outdoorsy people who need a place to put their belongings while at the gym, on a hike, or on a run. With our sublimated fanny pack, you can achieve a bright, edge-to-edge design, ensuring all eyes are on your brand, no matter the occasion.

Looking for something different? A sublimated scrunchie is perfect for step and repeat designs and bold designs. This is a great giveaway that your competitors probably haven’t thought of and will make a great addition to your branded merchandise collection.

Sublimated beach towels are a popular promotional product for events, new hire kits, corporate gifts, and summer activities. Towels have a higher perceived value than regular promotional products, so you can feel confident your sublimated towel will leave a lasting impression on your target audience.

Sublimated blankets are one of the most popular choices we offer. These items are perfect for creative concepts and full-color creative designs. Sublimated blankets also make great corporate gifts, raffle items, and employee appreciation gifts.

A bandana is a great promo product for university campuses, work retreats, and more. This is a unique and playful giveaway item your target audience probably doesn't already have. Sublimated bandanas are great for step and repeat designs, creative concepts, or simple, multi-color designs.

Take Your Sublimation Printing to the Next Level With Bagmasters

At Bagmasters, we proudly print all our items in our facility. Since we do it all ourselves, we can provide next-level customer service and high-quality results. Whether you’re looking for t-shirts, towels, or a small giveaway for an upcoming event, we’re here to help.

Shop our sublimated promotional products today to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions About Sublimation

High-quality sublimation printing is harder to find than you might think. To ensure you receive a high-quality, crisp design, you’ll want to ensure you work with a quality printer and have the skills and expertise to handle the job.

It depends on your design and the item you plan to add it to. If you’re printing on a dark shirt, heat transfer vinyl is a more suitable printing solution. However, sublimation is ideal for white or light-colored shirts and items.

Heat transfer is the process of transferring a design from paper to fabric material. It uses specific materials to transfer the ink to the item and provides a high-quality finish. Sublimation has a similar finish to heat transfer. However, sublimation uses sublimated ink to add a high-resolution design to a product or fabric.

Sublimation works best on white or light-colored fabric. If you plan to sublimate a black T-shirt, your printer must start with a white base. It's best to do a heat transfer vinyl or a sublimation vinyl technique if you plan to print on a black t-shirt.