The best ORTHOGONAL/SHUTTLE woven fabric for sublimation printing is made primarily of POLYESTER because this fabric offers the best resistance to the high temperatures needed for dye-sublimation printing.
Nevertheless, in view of the “thermal shock” in dye-sublimation printing, it is important to use a fabric with a densely woven structure.
In this case, CANVAS guarantees less shrinkage and is therefore an excellent choice.
| WEAVE OF A PONGEE DEN FABRIC SEEN UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 70/70 DEN | WEAVE OF A FABRIC SEEN UNDER THE MICROSCOPE 300/300 DEN |
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Should the market demand other weaves, it is essential to carry out tests on the fabrics to identify the optimum percentage of physiological shrinkage for the fibre and so increase the size of the design on paper (or fabric for direct-to-textile printing) so it will have the correct dimensions on the fabric after printing.
This is one of the most difficult steps to control and standardise especially, as it involves the FINISHING phase, which could lead to unpredictable movement of the fabric, as well as the tolerance of the yarn and the weave.
It is wise to consider each production batch as if it were the very first one.
Consequently, it is important to conduct pre-production tests to prevent an unfortunate outcome for the end product.