If you are looking for a custom wrestling singlet, you no doubt have seen things about screen printing and sublimation. But which one is best? Usually, screen printing is much cheaper; in the end, however, we have found that sublimation is the best shot. But why? And what exactly is dye sublimation? Hopefully this will help you out!

Lets start with how screen printing works. I don’t know about you, but this was the way that most of the singlets I’ve seen have been. You’ll notice these ones after a while because the crack and peel. The way the process works is they first make a screen. This screen lets the ink through in some areas, while blocking it in others; it’s nearly 100% customizable, which makes it an awesome choice for making customized sports jerseys and customized wrestling singlets. The ink is put on top of the screen and spread over it using a roller or a squeegee, spreading it out over the entire surface. The piece of cloth that you want designed sits underneath the screen and takes on the design cut into the screen. Usually the process is repeated for each primary color in layers; once for black, another for red, another for blue and another for yellow. Doing it this way allows each color to be in the design and you can actually blend the three by allowing certain amounts through different screen. After the image has been put onto the material, it is put into an oven to bake the image on. Sounds pretty simple, right?

Here are the drawbacks to screen printing. First and foremost, after time, it ends up cracking and peeling. You will be able to notice this especially when using polyester or lycra, such as in customized wrestling singlets. This is because much of the ink isn’t absorbed by the material and is more like
baked on. For that same reason, when you run your hand over a screen printed shirt or wrestling singlet, you’ll be able to feel it. This friction causes the cracking and the peeling to happen even sooner and faster than if it just sat there.

On the flip side, you have dye sublimation. But what exactly is that?

The basic dye sublimation process uses special heat-sensitive dyes to print virtually any image onto a specially prepared “transfer” paper. The paper is then placed on the pre-cut fabric pattern and both are placed into a heat press. When the heating cycle is completed, the image on the paper has been transferred to the item and has actually reformed into or underneath the surface. Run your finger across the surface of a sublimated garment and you will feel nothing.

The reason for this is that sublimation is always done on a polyester, polymer, or polymer-coated item, in the case of team uniforms. At high temperatures, the solid dye converts into a gas without ever becoming a liquid. The same high temperature opens the pores of the polyester fabric and allows the gas to enter. When the temperature drops, the pores close and the gas reverts to a solid state and it’s now part of the fabric.

This is why dye sublimation can’t be done on natural materials, such as 100% cotton. Natural fibers and non-coated materials which have no “pores” to open cannot accept the gas vapor. The dye particles are designed to bond with polyester, and ignore everything else. It is like trying to mix oil and water with most natural materials.

Two-Piece wrestling uniforms

All this in simple-mans terms: dye sublimation won’t crack or peel off after time while screen printing will. Check out some of the dye sublimation uniforms that Brute puts out!