Waterbase printing is our comfort zone, and we’ve been know to talk down about plastisol ink. Regardless, we do need to use plastisol for some types of fabric. Recently, our clients have begun asking us to print on performance fabrics which are known for their moisture wicking properties. These garments are made of 100% polyester, so we need to resort to plastisol since water based inks will look washed out on this sort of garment.
Luckily, Tim over at Screen Printers Resource set us up with the new line of Rutland “Endurance Inks” which are specifically formulated to print on these sheer 100% polyester fabrics. We are glad that we tried these out because they work quite well.
First we print a clear barrier underbase down, flash it and then lay the top colors on next. This ink cures at 290 degrees so we are able to run our dryer faster and avoid any dye migration issues.
Just like that, we have printing technical garments down pat!
The post Screen Printing on Performance Fabrics appeared first on Forward Printing.