As a qualified designer, you must master various printing processes related to clothing, so that you can flexibly apply them to various styles and fabrics and enhance the depth of your design!
The printing process involves too many aspects. I will choose a highly practical type here, simplify the complex, explain the profound in a simple way, and illustrate it with actual cases~
Press In terms of technology, there are the following common ones~
1. Transfer printing
One of the most common printing
(English: tropical print) first The pigment is printed on paper using a printing method to make transfer printing paper, and then the color is transferred to the fabric through high temperature (heating and pressure on the back of the paper).
Thermal transfer printing paper:
Generally used for chemical fiber fabrics, characterized by bright colors, delicate layers, realistic patterns, and strong artistry, but This process is currently only applicable to a few synthetic fibers such as polyester.
The transfer printing process is simple, the investment is small, and the production is flexible. It is relatively common in the market.
2. Digital direct printing
One of the most common printing
Digital direct printing is mainly used for silk and Cotton fabric printing; reactive dyes, also known as reactive dyes. It is a type of dye that reacts chemically with fibers during dyeing.
At present, it is mainly used on woven and knitted fabrics such as cotton, linen, silk, etc. or fabrics with higher content of the above ingredients.
It can also print single pictures or pieces of cloth.
Printing fabric:
Extended comparison: Which one is better, digital direct printing or thermal transfer printing?
Thermal transfer printing mainly prints polyester fiber. The printing effect of 100% polyester fiber is very good, but if it contains a little cotton, white spots will be exposed. If it contains a lot of cotton, it will It will be a mess.
Cotton fabrics are still suitable for digital direct printing machines. T-shirt digital direct printing machines are designed for cotton. There is nothing wrong with being good at this area. Some people have said that now there is a Cotton transfer paper. If you use this kind of transfer paper, thermal transfer can also print cotton T. Yes, it can be printed, but you have to make sure that the clothes are not dirty when worn all the time and never washed with water. Otherwise, it will be the same. A puddle fell.
So, both printing machines are good. If you are printing jerseys or quick-drying clothes, choose thermal transfer printing. If you are printing cotton T, choose a digital direct printing machine.
Note that digital direct printing is much more expensive than thermal transfer printing!
Extended comparison: Which one is better, digital direct printing or heat transfer?
Cost: Digital direct printing is greater than heat transfer.
The feel is different: if you like a glue-free feel, you can try digital direct printing; if you want a glue-free feel, you can try heat transfer printing.
The toner of digital direct injection penetrates directly into the clothes, while heat transfer uses hot melt glue to bond the clothes.
Heat stamping:
Digital direct printing is generally a modified printer. Thermal transfer printing is divided into sublimation transfer and transfer heat stamping.
If you use transfer printing to make the breathability, the air permeability will be much worse.
3. Discharge printing
White/color discharging
It is to remove the color of the fabric itself. Make it look like the clothes have been washed.
The color of the clothes seems to have been washed away a lot, and it is mottled~~ In fact, this is discharge printing. The principle of discharge printing is to pull out the color of the fibers of the fabric tissue and change it. It becomes another lighter color, which has a stronger washing effect. It is a cool printing! !
Discharge printing (discharge printing) uses dyes that are not resistant to discharge agents to dye the ground color. After drying, use color dye printing paste containing discharge agents or both containing discharge resistant agents to print. During processing, the ground color dyes in the printing area are destroyed and faded, forming white patterns on the color ground or colored patterns caused by dyeing with floral dyes. Also known as white pulling or color pulling.
4. Reduce printing
Also called burn-out printing or burnout printing
This process uses interlacing Or due to the difference in chemical corrosion resistance of different fibers in the blended fabric, a burning agent is applied through the printing method to partially remove one of the fibers on the fabric, leaving the other fibers to form a translucent pattern.
5. Shrink printing
Also called embossed printing.
The printing method is used to locally apply chemicals that can make the fibers expand or shrink on the fabric. Through appropriate treatment, the differences in expansion or shrinkage of the fibers in the printed parts and the fibers in the non-printed parts are achieved, thereby obtaining a surface with good texture. Products with regular concave and convex patterns.
For example, pure cotton printed seersucker uses caustic soda as the bulking agent.
6. Water slurry
One of the most common printing
The so-called water slurry is a water-based slurry that is printed on It doesn’t have a strong hand feel on clothes, and its covering power isn’t strong either. It’s only suitable for printing on light-colored fabrics, and the price is relatively low.
But there is a big disadvantage of water slurry. The color of water slurry is lighter than the color of cloth. If the fabric color is darker, the water slurry will not be able to cover it at all.
The watermark can only be printed shallowly but not deeply!
For high-end watermark effects, the color saturation of general watermarks cannot be so high~
But it also has an advantage, because it will not affect the original texture of the fabric, and it also It is very breathable, so it is more suitable for large-area printing patterns.
7. Glue printing
One of the most common printing
The emergence and wide application of glue in After water slurry, due to its very good coverage,…For more sports and leisure models, the patterns generally use numbers, letters, geometric patterns, lines, etc. The lines should not be too small.
Application Case of Hot Stamping Combination
17. Crack
Printing paste containing special components that shrink when exposed to heat and harden and crack. material.
It is directly printed on the T-shirt fabric through the screen and then dried to naturally form a special effect of texture cracks like a turtle’s back.
It can be combined with a variety of printing techniques and can also be suitable for various types of patterns.
Summary:
According to the printing process, it can be roughly divided into:
Transfer printing
Digital direct printing
Watermark
Offset printing
Discharge printing
Reduction printing
Shrink printing
The printing effect is richer and can be roughly divided into:
(The following types of unpopular ones are uncommon and subject to production constraints, just understand them)
Thick plate
Stone
Foam
Nylon
Bead planting
Glue
Gel
Ink
Flocking
Gold foil
Crack
Pressed velvet
Gold and silver powder
Luminous
Heat sensitive discoloration
Water discoloration
Photosensitive discoloration
……
Write Final words:
Of course, today’s pattern expressions are diverse.
Designers who are good at playing with patterns often use different printing techniques to combine them, or even combine printing with embroidery, or even combine them with the special clothing techniques I shared before, using printing + embroidery + The combination of special craftsmanship expresses patterns and perfectly enhances the depth of the design.
Playing with patterns is a very interesting thing because of its endless possibilities!
