Transfer printing on cotton

[Wenni]

Hi,
My father develop a new technique which enables us to make transfer printting not only on chemical fibres but also on natural materials such as cotton and ramie. Basically, it can achieve picture quality. The level of fastness can achieve 4.
We are wondering if anyone knows if this technology already exist in the market.
Thanks so much.
W~

 

[MikeHalloran]

Hanes T-shirts now have 'label free' labels printed on them. Is that similar?



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Wenni]

I think that is pigment printing. If you touch the surface, it is uneven because of the extra pigment/material attached to the fabric; or it feels like a piece of soft plastic attached to the surface, which is not breathable, and it affects the softness of the fabric. This method can be used on smaller areas on a t shirt but not suitable for clothes which have a lot of details/pattern.
Traditional cotton printing is complicated and it cannot print patterns/picture on cotton with great details. Transfer printing is widely used in the industry, but it can only be used on chemical fibres but not on nature fibres such as cotton, wool, ramie, etc.
Our method is easy and has must less pollution during manufacture; it basically transfers printing (pattern/picture) from thermal transfer paper to the fabric. The active dye on the paper has chemical reaction with cotton, it dose not change the softness of the fabric, and the product is totally breathable.
We believe no one in China has similar products, but I am not sure about other countries.
Thanks~

Wenni

 

[MikeHalloran]

No, you can't feel the label on a Hanes T-shirt. The colors are bright and resist laundering just fine, but they are not _on_ the fabric so much as _in_ it. You really need to touch one.


Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Wenni]

After doing some research, I found this. I think this is what you were talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YfywZS1Ozzk

We guess it might be screen printing, it seems that there are no transfer printing paper involved. However, labels are easy to print, it is small and it dosen't have too much details on it. There are only two colors on Hanes label, red and white. Howevern if you want to print, for examp a photo with a real person, on a cotton tshirt, it is impossible to achieve with screen printing.

I checked with the factory today, a technician told me that the pigment printing method nowadays is pretty advanced, sometimes you cannot even tell the difference between a screenprinting and a pigment printing, you don't feel the difference when you touch it, however, tshirt with pigment printing is much less breathable.

Please let me know if you wanna share something else. Thanks so much!

 

[Wenni]

Sorry. My mistake. I mixed up with another video. It is indeed pad printing. Again, pad printing cannot achieve photo quality.