Ink rubbing off printed polyester - any suggestions?

[tizzbee]

Any suggestions greatly appreciated as our printers are telling us this isn't possible:
we are using two kinds of polyester fabric (85per cent poly, 15 per cent spandex), have been using the same fabric for two years and suddenly we are having issues with black ink rubbing off the printed fabric.
we are getting the fabric printed at three different printers, and the black ink issuers happening from garments pruned at two of the printers. Same fabric, different inks, different printers, different presses....

[Andrew]

Very strange. I've seen ink transfer after printing when a sublimated sits on another item that can take the ink and this can happen under moderate heat. This only happens over a sustained period. As for "rubbing off", this does sound impossible. It would have to be sitting on the surface and not bound into the fabric which is not the way sublimation works. It could be a synthetic coating on the material which allows ink transfer to happen when printing but holds a certain amount on the coated surface. It must be down to the fabric as can't see anyway of it happening otherwise. Have you tried an old batch of fabric or an alternative supply of polyester/spandex? Even on a 100% cotton tee I haven't seen ink brush off..... just wash out.

[WorthDoingRight]

It does sound like there could be a surface coating on the fabric that somehow stopped the dye impregnating the polyester or alternatively are you sure that they used sublimation dyes to print in the first place? I remember reading somewhere recently about issues with surface coatings used I believe on items from a 'high street' retailer that caused issues.

[pisquee]

Try washing a garment and seeing how much ink/dye comes out and how much stays in

[Earl Smith]

I had this problem once. I remembered printing the job and remembered seeing the press temperature was a little under 190c. It pressed and looked good but the job came back as washed out. Now I make sure that the press stays over 198 every time I sublimate press with it. 195 seems to be the curing temp.
Maybe thats the problem...

[tizzbee]

Thanks Andrew, and yes it is strange - the fabric is the only constant, but there are two brands involved. We tried other fabrics, and they didn't leave any residue. Only our fabrics. But we have been using these two fabrics (from different suppliers) for three years and no ostensible issues with ribbing off until now. We may have to get an analysis of the fabrics to see if the composition is what the manufacturers claim...

and to pisquee, nothing comes off with washing. It was first noticed by our cutting staff, cutting out printed panels. If you rub the fabric, it leaves black ink residue on fingers. That does leave me to wonder if it is actually ink residue ... It's black, could it be burnt spandex?

[tizzbee]

I will check the temps, thank you