Pondering the printing process

Fabric Graphics | September 2010

By Maura Keller

Jason Bartusick, president of Media One, says that those companies that are striving to determine the best printing processes for their market applications need to establish whether they want indoor or outdoor durability. Depending on that, they need to answer a few questions:

• Do they have any existing equipment that would work for this new market?
• Do they currently do transfer?
• Do they do solvent printing?
• Do they do direct dye-sub printing?

“If they need the products to be fire retardant, solvent is out,” Bartusick says. “For dye sub, for the optimal quality, that is the best way to go. If they are going to do indoor, they can use dye-sub ink or they need to use high-energy dispersed dye ink. If they start doing outdoor, they need penetration, which means they need to do direct dye sub. But in the end, direct to fabric is the best. It offers outdoor durability, double-sided penetration, and better color and less labor versus the transfer market.”

Maura Keller is an author and freelance writer based in Plymouth, Minn.

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