Can we direct printing on polyester fabric?

You cannot do a DTG print on polyester?
The truth is that some polyester is printable and the future is bright.

Yes, DTG printing is best suited for 100% cotton and blends with high cotton content. But, successfully embellishing white polyester garments on a DTG printer has been done for quite some time. It’s as simple as applying polyester pretreatment and decorating with a CMYK image. The result looks like a sublimation print.

Color garments have been more of a challenge, but not impossible. Dye migration can occur at a DTG print’s common curing temperature. This happens when the polyester fabric’s dye is released into the ink. White ink on a red shirt will result in a pink image. Screen printers have resolved this issue with low-cure-temperature inks.

With DTG — just as with cotton garments — some dark-polyester products print better than others. Printing a dark-polyester garment requires applying a light coat of polyester pretreatment, drying and repeating. The shirt can then be printed like normal. After printing, it should be heat set at 265˚F for 45 seconds, cooled and cured twice. This technique may vary with specific garments and ink systems, so experimentation is mandatory.

This multistep process is a bit tedious, but it tells us that polyester printing with a DTG printing machine is not only possible, but also is being done today. The process will become simpler and more commonplace in the near future.