Dye, not ink
Sublimation: colour that is part of the fabric, not on top of it
Every other decoration method puts something onto a finished garment. Sublimation does the opposite: the design is printed onto transfer paper, laid against raw polyester, and taken to around 200°C, at which point the dye turns to gas and bonds with the fibre itself. The panel is then cut and sewn into a garment.
That order of operations — print first, sew second — is what makes the method both more capable and more demanding than the alternatives.
What it lets a design do
Because the colour is in the fibre, there is no cost to complexity. A gradient costs what a flat colour costs. An all-over pattern costs what a plain panel costs. Photographic detail, fades that run across a seam, sponsor marks in full colour — none of these carry a per-colour charge the way screen printing does.
It also means the garment weighs and breathes exactly as the undecorated fabric would. A large pressed graphic across a chest panel is a sheet of vinyl that does not let air through; the same graphic sublimated is not there in any physical sense at all.
The limit is the fabric. Sublimation bonds with polyester and will not hold on cotton, so a design that has to sit on a cotton garment needs a different method — which is where our page on screen printing for cotton team wear picks up.
From file to finished panel
- 01
Artwork laid out to the pattern
Not to a rectangle. The design is positioned on the actual cut pieces so a stripe meets itself at the side seam.
- 02
Printed to transfer paper
In reverse, in dye-sublimation inks that mean nothing until they are heated.
- 03
Pressed at heat
Paper and fabric together under pressure. The dye becomes gas and enters the fibre; the paper comes away blank.
- 04
Cut and sewn
Only now does it become a garment. This is why a sublimated kit has no undecorated seams to give it away.
The numbers behind the process
Five figures that decide whether a design will sublimate well.
- Temperature
- Around 200°C. Below it the dye does not fully gas; above it the fabric takes damage before the colour improves.
- Fibre
- Polyester, and the higher the better. A 65/35 poly-cotton takes roughly two thirds of the colour and reads muted — occasionally what a retro design wants, usually a disappointment.
- Base cloth
- White. Sublimation adds dye and cannot remove it, so every colour on the garment is printed and white in a design is the fabric showing through.
- Artwork resolution
- 150 dpi at final print size, which for a chest panel means a file far larger than anything designed for a screen.
- Colour cost
- None. A six-colour design costs what a one-colour design costs — the single largest commercial difference from screen printing.
- Wash life
- The life of the fabric. Colour and fibre are the same thing, so there is nothing to crack, peel or wash off.
What it cannot do, said plainly
It cannot go lighter than the cloth. Every design has to be built on the assumption that white is the absence of print rather than a colour you add, and a design conceived the other way round has to be rethought — we say so at mockup rather than after production.
It cannot hold on cotton. The bond forms with polyester, so a cotton garment needs a different method entirely; where a program wants a cotton hand, the answer is usually ink pushed through a stencilled mesh.
It cannot be changed afterwards. A name added later has to be pressed or stitched on, which is why rosters are confirmed before production and why a proof sheet goes back for checking rather than being assumed correct.
And it cannot rescue a small file. Enlarging a 400-pixel logo to chest width produces bigger pixels, not more detail, which is why we redraw raster artwork to vector as part of the mockup rather than printing what was sent.
When it is the right choice
Four situations where nothing else comes close.
A design with more than two colours
Every added colour is free here and a separate setup everywhere else. A gradient, a pattern or a photographic panel costs what a plain panel costs.
A garment worn and washed constantly
Practice kit above all. Nothing sits on the surface, so nothing lifts however many times it goes through a machine.
A design that crosses a seam
Panels are printed flat and then cut and sewn, so a stripe or a fade can run across a side seam and actually meet.
Anything worn against skin
Base layers and compression, where a pressed logo is something a player feels for ninety minutes.
Straight answers
Will a sublimated jersey fade?
It fades only as fast as the fabric itself does, because the colour and the fibre are the same thing. What actually damages it is heat — a hot tumble dryer will shorten the life of the fabric long before the print gives up.
Can you sublimate onto cotton?
No. The bond forms with polyester. Poly-cotton blends take it partially and come out muted, which is occasionally the look a retro design wants but is usually a disappointment.
Is there an extra charge for more colours?
There is not, and this is the main commercial difference from screen printing. A six-colour sublimated design costs the same as a one-colour one.
Can a sublimated garment be altered afterwards?
The garment can be altered; the print cannot. A name added later has to be pressed or stitched on, which is why rosters are confirmed before production rather than after.
Does a sublimated jersey fade in the sun?
Slowly, and at the rate the fabric itself fades — the dye and the fibre are the same thing. What actually shortens a garment's life is heat: a hot tumble dryer damages the polyester long before the colour gives up.
Can you sublimate white lettering?
Only by leaving it unprinted. White in a sublimated design is the base cloth showing through, which means the garment must start white and every other colour on it is dye. A design conceived the other way round has to be rebuilt.
Is there a size limit on the design?
The panel is the limit, and panels are printed before the garment is assembled — so a design can cover a whole front, run across a side seam, or wrap a sleeve without any of the joins a decorated blank would have.
Can you sublimate onto a coloured garment?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding about the process. Dye is added to white cloth; it cannot lighten or overwrite an existing colour.
How long does the transfer paper stage take?
It is not the slow part. Printing and pressing panels is quick; cutting and sewing the garment afterwards is what fills the production window.
Will the print feel different from the fabric?
No. There is nothing on the surface to feel, which is why it is the only method we will use on anything worn against skin.
The other methods
Not sure which method your design needs?
Send the artwork and the garment you have in mind. We will tell you which method suits it, including when the answer is the cheaper one — and if you would rather work it out visually first, the step-by-step kit design tool asks the same questions in order.