I t is more than apparent that garment designers are working late nights designing new styles with new fabric fi nishes to serve and expand their client bases.

The combinations of fabric content, treatments, fi nishes and dyeing techniques are seemingly endless and create opportunities for you to upsell your customer on more fashionable apparel. And once they fall in love with these unique garments, it will result in repeat orders.

In this installment of the Impressions Tech Tips Newsletter, we will review the optimum printing techniques for embellishing the new suede fabric from Next Level Apparel (style 6410). Although suede typically is associated with leather, it is applied here as a reference to the exceptionally soft hand the fabric surface possesses.

The new suede fabric is a 32-singles (threads per inch) 145 grams/4.3-ounce, 60% cotton/40% polyester fabric. This will make for a lighter weight, tightly knit fabric with a soft and smooth fi nish — great for screen printing. As a comparison, a standard T-shirt fabric is constructed with an 18-singles, 156 grams/5.5 ounces.

This new fabric is easily printable, with a little attention paid to the fi ber hair on the garment’s soft surface. It also is this soft surface that gives this specifi c fabric its suede look and feel. When a design is printed and the fi bers stand on end and can be seen through the image, it is known as fi brillation and is easily preventable. With this thought in mind, the key to producing a smooth and soft hand on this fabric is ensuring the fi ber hair is properly matted down in a smooth and even fashion.

The following steps will explain a simple in-line process for controlling fi brillation and the print’s hand, all with minimal effect on production time. The result will be beautifully printed suede garments that are as easily printable as regular 100% cotton T-shirts.

Step 1: Mesh selection is important to this project. Due to the thinner yarn and lightweight nature of the fabric, minimize your ink fi lm to contribute to the soft hand of the print. In this case, we will use a 156 mesh for the underbase. The goal is to achieve a bright print on a dark garment while maintaining a soft hand on the fabric’s surface. The colors for the graphic will be printed through 230-mesh screens and the second highlight white will be printed through a 156-mesh screen.

Printing on Suede Fabric Learn the simple tips to printing on these fashionable garments. by Rick Davis, Contributing Writer

Presenting Next Level Apparel’s Premium Fitted Sueded Crew, style 6410. The Sueded Crew is a 60% combed ring-spun cotton/40% polyester, 32 singles; 145g/4.3-ounce fabric laundered with a unique brushed characteristic for an unbelievably soft, sueded feel. This style will be offered in 16 colors and will become available in spring/summer of 2014.

In this scenario, we will employ an in-line tool that will produce the same effect of heat pressing the finished print without dealing with the issue after production.

The Roller Squeegee has been on the market for the past several years, and you can use this tool along with other parameters to maximize your print on suede. We will be explaining the setup of this process with the screen sequence, starting with screen prep.

Step 2: The screen being used as the Roller Squeegee/pressing screen will be coated and exposed with no image. Once you have exposed the non-imaged screen, block out the remaining edges. There is no need to apply tape to the inside of the screen, as no ink will be added. The Roller Squeegee simply presses the blank, Teflon-sheeted screen onto the underbase with no need for ink or lubricant in the ink side of the screen.

The Teflon sheet that comes with the Roller Squeegee is applied to the print side of the screen with spray adhesive. The sheet’s smooth surface presses out fibrillation or any uneven surfaces in the ink film. The sheet is applied with both spray adhesive and tape on the edges to ensure it is properly secured to the print side of the screen.

The screen should be stretched to the recommended tension for the mesh in the screen. A medium to finer mesh count (160-230) is ideal and will only make adhering the Teflon sheet to the screen that much easier.

Step 3: Once the Teflon sheet is adhered to the print side of the screen, place the screen on a flat surface with a large wood or metal plate on the ink side. Allow it to sit overnight to secure a tight bond between the Teflon sheet and the screen.

Step 4: Set up the press with the roller screen in the post flash printing head following the underbase screen. The following sequence shows how the press should be set up:1. Underbase White2. Flash3. Roller Squeegee/Screen4. Color…5. Color…6. Color…7. Color…8. Flash…9. Highlight White

The reasoning for this specific sequence is simple. The Roller Squeegee needs to be used after the flash because

the white underbase is still hot and can be smoothed out prior to the ink having a chance to cool down.

You also have the option to use a second roller following a second flash, although the initial pressing of the first underbase should suffice to produce a smooth and soft print. When used in production, the effects of the Teflon sheet on the printed underbase will leave the printed surface with the appearance of a heat transfer.

Step 5: Install the Roller Squeegee as you would a regular squeegee.

Step 6: Determine the proper pressure required to produce a smooth and even finish on the post-flashed underbase. Typically, a medium pressure setting is sufficient, as the ink film will be soft and pliable immediately after emerging from the flash unit. The Roller Squeegee will matte down uneven surfaces.

Step 7: Determine the results. The finished print should have a smooth and even finish with a soft hand. When the print emerges from being pressed by the roller screen, the ink surface should be smooth and soft to the touch. This allows the remaining colors to print evenly onto the underbase without the issue of fiber hair to impede the soft hand of the print.

The remainder of the process can use standard printing procedures. In this case, we used a 70-durometer squeegee in the underbase white screen and 80-durometer squeegees in the other screens.

Step-by-Step

FINAL THOUGHTSDo not change any parameters with regard to flashing procedures as long as the print emerges from the flash unit dry to the touch. Increasing flash time or temperature could result in overheating the underbase, which could cause intercoat adhesion issues between the underbase and the overprinted colors. It also could promote the ink reaching the re-melt point, which would be detrimental to the ink film.

Ink selection is the final consideration. Since we are printing on a 60/40 cotton/poly blend, use a bleed-resistant white ink to combat any potential synthetic dye migration or sublimation. In addition, use white ink that also has good matte-down characteristics. Although we

are using the Roller Squeegee, you still will want the added benefits of the high-performance white ink to help maximize the finished print’s quality. The colors of the graphic for this project were printed wet-on-wet, then hit with a second flash prior to printing the highlight white.

The last graphic shown in the step-by-step portion of this newsletter shows the finished print. It is a lightweight print on a lightweight fabric possessing a soft hand and drape ability. The Next Level Fitted Sueded Crew finished garments offer an excellent platform for any graphics when properly executed. Although standard printing methods will work on this fabric, using the proper tools will maximize the quality of the finished print.

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1 Here you see the fabric surface and the nap of the yarn producing the soft fabric surface. Be sure to control fibrillation when printing on this fabric.

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2 The in-line Roller Squeegee by Action Engineering is used to matte down the flashed underbase.

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3 The Teflon sheet is applied to the print side of the screen.

Screens and printing facility courtesy of Personali-Tees, Winter Park, Fla. Artwork courtesy of Senior Houndsabound Inc.

Rick Davis is the southeastern regional sales manager for the Triangle Ink Co. He is a 35-year veteran of the textile screen printing and apparel manufacturing industries. His background includes plant design, management and troubleshooting, and he also is a member of the Academy of Screen Printing Technology. For more information or to comment on this article, email Rick at rickd5050@yahoo.com.

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4Install the Roller Squeegee as you would a regular squeegee.

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6 Determine the results. The finished print should have a smooth and even finish with a soft hand.

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5 Determine the proper pressure required (medium usually suffices) for a smooth and even finish on the post-flashed underbase.

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7Printing on fashion garments such as Next Level Apparel’s style 6410 is as simple as printing on 100% cotton tees if you follow the correct procedures.