ImagesMagUK_January_2022

www.images-magazine.com 26 images JANUARY 2022 Industry experts provide insight and guidance in all areas of digital garment and textile printing Digital helpdesk Brian Alexander, product marketing manager at Exile Technologies (USA), reveals what causes DTG pretreatment stains and how to remove them Brian Alexander should be applied. For example, a garment that contains polyester is more likely to stain as opposed to a cotton one. In addition, thinner garments usually require less pretreatment than thicker materials. If you are working with red garments, you’ll want to use more pretreat than you would on white ones and less than on black garments. Make sure that the pretreatment spray you’re using has a high-volume, low-pressure sprayer. It helps if you are using a quality pretreatment machine as well. Mix the pretreatment with distilled water using a 2:1 ratio and apply an even coat so the garment is wet but not soaked with the liquid. Spray evenly and brush in the fluid by using smooth, even strokes. Similarly, you could squeegee in one direction in order to get an even coverage as well as to flatten the fibres of the garment that can cause spotting. High heat and pressure stains High heat can result in bleaching and can ruin your garment. If bleaching stains are an issue, your temperature T he purpose of pretreatment is to act as a bonding agent, and it is especially necessary when using white ink on dark garments. Pretreat serves as a barrier, ensuring that the ink will print onto the garment rather than seep its way into the material, and can help you to print high-quality designs for your products. However, when using pretreatment there is a risk of the solution causing staining to the fabric and ruining the visual appeal of the finished garment. To avoid this try adopting the following techniques. Simple steam fix A simple option to lessen minor pretreatment stains on certain garments is to manually steam the garment. This can be quite effective and is a quick fix to help reduce pretreatment stains from ruining your overall product. Simply plug in your steamer and use it like you would any other article of clothing that needs additional steaming. Pretreatment overload If you are applying too much pretreatment, issues within your designs can occur. If after heat pressing the garment you see spotting in your designs or stains in the fabric you most likely applied too much pretreat. This is more likely to occur with the use of a hand sprayer rather than with automated pretreatment equipment. A hand sprayer can sometimes make it difficult to judge whether or not you are evenly applying the right amount of treatment to each garment. The colour, fabric, and what design you are printing on the garment will determine how much pretreatment