What is dye migration and what causes it?
Dye migration is the movement of dye from a dyed fabric like t-shirt to another material (heat transfer logo) in contact with the dyed material. It often happens on polyester and poly/cotton blend fabric and other garments when the garments heats on transfer logos, causing the dye in the garment to sublimate.
The color of the fabric “bleeds” through the ink or transfer that was applied to the garment.
Because of pursuing the healthy life of mordern people ,the growing popularity of athleisure and performance wear in the sporting goods industry,the garments containing materials that present a challenge to the apparel decorating community more and more.
In regards to printing , heat transfer printing is most popular and easy wayt to add the logos on the clothing, so the need to avoid dye migration to be required. 100% polyester, moisture wicking apparels are the needs of people, which adds trouble to the printing mix because of the active dyes materials used during that specific dying the fabric, expecially the black fabrics. That means, when you use the screen printing heat transfer logo , the apparel dyes tend to “migrate” through the finished logo that was added to the garment, like the black dots.
For example, the white numbers on the black fabric end up being grey instead of white.
This is known as dye migration
How avoid dye migration?
Getting some solutions to prevent and pretest for dye migration can be crucial to achieve a
good quality print for clothing. The dye migration may not be visible immediately after heat transfer process, and it will become visible within several days after the decorating process occurs.
Dye migration is a big issue, but there are several ways that it can be handled so that it doesn’t happen, or so that it is not noticeable.
1. Back the design with an antimigration layer.
The most regular and effective way to prevent the bleeding in the ink is to back the design with an extra antimigration layer, preferably a black color.
The double layer and the dark color may not entirely “block” the dye migration from happening, but the bleeding will not be visible to the eye because of the darker color being used, especially when used on a lighter color of apparel.
Colors such as black, navy, or dark green for example, are great backing colors that help conceal the dye migration. This can be used as an extra process of the making heat transfer logos
If you are confused on what we mean as a backing color, we are referring to the order of colors printed during the screen printing process.
- Here it is the backside with antimigration layer added
- Here it is the backside without antimigration layer added, the backside is white.
Effect after heat transfer
2. Use Heat Transfer Vinyl to Prevent.
Effect after heat transfer
3. Use 3D silicone to make the logo thick to prevent the dye sublimation.
Even with transfers that have a dye-blocker or change to quality of the heat transfer , there are times that dye migration can’t be avoided.
When you start to make clothing heat transfer logos, it is necessary to make the test befor bulk production.
Even though testing may not be an actual answer to prevent dye migration, it will prevent you from giving your customer a bad batch of decorated apparel.
It is always good to test beforehand so you don’t ruin a large run of clothing and get an unhappy customer.
We offer samples of all of our heat transfer types that you can use to test your specific apparel and colors that you are printing your design on in free.