Dr. Petry / News / Garment Printing with Laser or Transfer Printing

Garment Printing with Laser or Transfer Printing

Modern industrial garment laundries are often using state-of-the-art technology such as garment printing with laser or transfer printing. By means of laser treatment one can create partial bleaching effects on dyed ready-made garments and clothing items. Thus, fancy vintage effects can be produced. Also, the classical transfer printing process can be modified in order to transfer printing designs from the printing paper to garments.

Garment Printing Is Not the Same as Direct Printing on Garments

Garment printing not only means “Direct to Garment Printing” (DTG), but also implies other modern printing techniques. In the DTG printing process, printing patterns are directly printed on t-shirts or garments using screen printing or ink jet technology. In the following news article we introduce two new, innovative printing methods, which can be used for creating fashionable printing designs on garments: colored laser printing and modified transfer printing.

Fancy Effects Achieved By Garment Printing

Progressive garment laundries are no longer only washing jeans trousers on drum washing machines. Innovative companies are rather focusing on advanced technologies for creating modern, fancy effects. Besides industrial washer extractors they are using for example electronically controlled tumble driers, ironing presses, clothes steamers, tunnel finishers, drying ovens, laminating machines, transfer presses, laser devices and spray cabins. With the three last-mentioned devices you can create garment printing designs on ready-made clothing pieces, similar to classical screen or ink jet printing on open-width fabrics.

Colored Laser Prints and Vintage Effects

In garment printing modern software-controlled laser units can be utilized for realizing creative designs on clothing items. The laser energy is used to destroy dyestuffs, pigments or the textile fabric itself. This way vintage and aged look effects can be created in order to imitate natural aging. Alternatively, the laser can be applied to locally fix a binder – and thus also color pigments – and to achieve colored laser print effects.

PERIPRET LP Binder and PERICOLOR Pigments for Laser Prints

For such colored laser printing effects a binder, for example our polymer compound PERIPRET LP, is mixed with PERICOLOR color pigments and applied on the garment with a dip-extraction process, a spray gun or a brush. Afterwards the garments are tumble- or air-dried before getting lasered. The PERIPRET LP binder as well as the pigments are fixed only on the lasered areas. Wherever the garments were not laser-treated, the applied laser printing paste can be washed off nearly completely in the final post-washing step.

Transfer Prints on Garments

In traditional transfer printing disperse dyes are transferred on a transfer calender by sublimation from a release paper to polyester piece fabrics. In order to fix the disperse dyestuff in the transfer printing method also on cellulosic garments, a special binder, which has the same dyeing behavior like polyester fibers, needs to be applied on the goods.

Textile Auxiliaries for Transfer Printing

For transfer printing on textile fabrics made of cellulosic fibers we can offer PERIPRET TPG. The product is applied by a dip-extract process or by spraying on the ready-made garments. Then the fabric pieces are dried. Afterwards the printing design can be transferred on a transfer press from a special transfer paper to the textiles. With a final finishing, for example with our silicone softener PERISOFT NANO, the textiles receive a pleasantly soft, smooth, voluminous handle.

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