Last week, we looked at Textile Printing 101, and as we had discussed, dye-sublimation printing has become the go-to technology for digitally printed fabrics. However, it’s not suitable for every fabric, nor is it suitable only for textile printing. Let’s have a closer look at dye-sublimation printing.

Some of us may remember when dye-sublimation printers started appearing on the market in the 1980s. They became somewhat popular in the 1990s for color proofing, and small dye-sub photoprinters were sold (or at least marketed) as accessories for the first generations of digital cameras. However, these were not really dye-sublimation printers, as the dye didn’t really sublimate (see below), although the understanding at the time was that they did. In retrospect, these were more correctly called dye-diffusion printers. In today’s printers used for textile printing—among other things—the dyes do indeed sublimate.

(For a somewhat discursive history of dye-sub and textile printing, check out one of my recent posts over at The Digital Nirvana.)