Printing on Tea Towels - are they usable

[GoldRapt]

I was searching for i-sub today, they used to be in Luterworth, Leics but they either moved or went bust and someone bought them.

I found them in kettering and looking over their site I see they offer tea towels to dye sub on.

I wanted to ask if anyone is printing on tea towels, is it possible to print on 1005 cotton or if you have to use a cotton/poly blend and more importantly do images stand up to wash testing making them usable as tea towles.

Anyone printing on them please?

[Justin]

i-sub was split into several companies, one of them did go bust (owing the forum money btw) but they carried on in different guises.

If using dye sub you need 100% polyester or at least a high content, not very nice for a tea towel but it works.

There is a company that specialises in tea towels, always used to advertise in the P&P magazine. "We do what you hate to do" was their tagline or something like that!

[UK Printed Mugs]

We print hundreds of tea towels a year (sublimation) and buy direct from the UK manufacturer - Lantex. Phone up and talk to Tim and said Olly from UK Printed Mugs put you onto them:
https://www.lantex.co.uk/tea-towels
We buy in their small half panama tea towels (35cm x 50cm) which come pre-hemmed with a hanging loop and "Printed in the UK" label. Although you can print edge to edge it does mean on very dark designs then you will get some lighter parts at various points near the edge especially under the part where the hanging loop is attached. Often we would advice customers to supply artwork to keep inside the hemmed area or to stick to a white background.
If it helps we print at 190c for 100 seconds.

[GoldRapt]

Thanks, but are the tea towels you print actuall used to dry washing up please?

[UK Printed Mugs]

Ummm, yes. We sell these to tourism shops, gift shops and hundreds of individual artists through-out the UK and never once in ten years have we had any negative feedback. We also do the waffle tea towels which are softer but these are made in China and most people like the UK manufactured ones.

[GoldRapt]

Wasn't being disrespectful. waffle tea towels, ?

[UK Printed Mugs]

Waffle is a softer weave (microfibre) and Xpres sell them
https://www.xpres.co.uk/sublimation-kitchen-towel

[taz8130]

Yes, you can print on tea towels, but for best results, use a cotton/poly blend rather than 100% cotton. The images generally hold up well to washing if you follow proper sublimation techniques.