HOW DO I GET STARTED?
If you navigate across to our “Design your own page” you can get working on your designs. You will need to submit an enquiry through our quote page for full rates.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUBLIMATION & SCREEN PRINTING?
During sublimation the ink becomes a gas, absorbing and becoming part of the fabric. This is totally different from screen printing, where the ink is deposited on the surface of the fabric, suffocating the technical fabric’s characteristic ability to breathe. Sublimation, on the other hand, allows the garment to maintain its technical characteristics, continuing to breathe and wick moisture away from the body.
Sublimation allows you to sublimate over the entire garment and is not limited to blocks of prints as in screen printing.
WHAT IS SUBLIMATION?
Sublimation is the process of printing man-made fabrics.
A special paper is digitally printed with the design and then then the paper is heat pressed into the fabric. This heat then causes the ink to turn into a coloured gas. It is this gas which penetrates the fibers of the fabric and dyes the fabric to that colour. The result is even better than the dyed yarn. The printed fabric has no ink on the surface or layer, which means that you cannot even feel the print.
The fabric’s ability to hold colours can range from soft vivid, without losing any clarity. Sublimation enables virtually any design to be produced with a colour and clarity not previously possible. Sublimation is by far the most impressive and detailed way to customize your sports, corporate or promotional clothing, allowing for endless design possibilities without added expense. ANYTHING’S POSSIBLE!!! If you can draw it, it can be done!
Sublimation allows us to manufacture a variety of different garments with the exact same exciting designs introducing an unmatched level of unity in your team or company. Sublimated clothing has a lower carbon footprint than cotton fabrics and they last way longer than any screen printing or any other form of printing.
DOES DYE SUBLIMATION OFFER GOOD VALUE FOR MONEY?
In some situations, dye sublimation can be cheaper than our cut and sew garments. If you are a club wanting to add sponsors, badges, logos, names and numbers then all of this can be put onto your garment with no additional set-up or application charges. It will be time consuming, problematic and the result would be inferior to sublimation.
HOW LONG WILL SUBLIMATION LAST?
Sublimation printing will last the life span of the fabric. It cannot be washed out as it becomes part of the fabric during the process.
I UNDERSTAND YOU COVER MOST SPORTS, BUT WHAT HAPPENS IF I CAN'T SEE MY SPORT?
If we don’t have a section for your sport you can email and we can provide you with a size chart. It can go the other way around and you provide us with a size chart and we develop the garment for you.
HOW MANY DESIGNS ARE THERE FOR ME TO CHOOSE?
With dye sublimation there are absolutely no limits. Unlike cut and sew products dye sublimation offers a completely blank canvas. Simply select the garment you wish to order and let your imagination run free.
I'M NOT VERY GOOD AT DESIGN WORK, CAN YOU HELP?
Yes absolutely, we have a team of highly experienced designers who will put some visuals together for you. You just need to give us a basic idea of what you are looking for.
DO YOU CHARGE FOR ARTWORK?
No we don’t, this is all free and part of the Cheetah service.
MY COMPANY LOGOS AND COLOURS NEED MATCH OUR CURRENT ARTWORK, CAN YOU ENSURE IT'S THE SAME?
Yes, of course, we can, if you have the pantone colours we will ensure these are used and 100% match your corporate logo and colours.
CAN I ADD NUMBERS, CRESTS & LOGOS TO MY KITS
Yes, you can add unlimited logos, numbers and crests when designing your garment. This is one of the beauties of sublimation. Anything you want to incorporate into your design is added during development. Unlike printing and embroidery there are no set up charges or application fees.
WHERE CAN I PLACE MY LOGOS
The flexibility of Dye Sublimation allows you to do anything with freedom with regard to logo location. It can be standard chest or back logos or something a little different such as on the collar or sleeves of garments. Anything is a possibility as long as it is on the garment.
AM I LIMITED TO A CERTAIN NUMBER OF COLOURS I CAN USE?
No, We use Pantone colour matching services. There are 1755 colour shades in Pantone solid coated. These can be used without any trouble. If you have any special colour, that can be matched with a physical sample.
ARE THERE ANY DESIGN LIMITATIONS
There are a couple of limitations customers should be aware of when creating the design.
Crossing the seams. Due to the sublimation and sewing processes most designs that go directly across the seams cannot be done or are strongly discouraged. This is because during both the sublimation and sewing process the exact location of the sublimation images has a slight variance from piece to piece, and from size to size, which does not allow designs to match up 100% from front to back or sleeve to body, etc. In addition, one-size design is used for all apparel sizes, which means how a design falls on the seams of a small will be different than how it falls on an XL.
Artwork is sized to one size garment, and then used on all sizes. As a result, if your design goes right to the seam, where it falls, in relation to the seam, it will vary from size to size.
WHY IS COTTON NOT OFFERED IN YOUR SUBLIMATION RANGE?
Sublimation can only be done on man-made fabrics like polyester, nylon, lycra etc. Because of this, all garments offered by us are made of man-made fabrics. All garments are made of 100% Polyester or a blend of technical fabrics that provide excellent wicking and breath-ability. The new man-made fabrics are made so that they can drain sweat away from the body and disperse it. This results in a fabric that is cool during summer and warm in winter.
CAN I HAVE A MOCK-UP SAMPLE MADE BEFORE I ORDER A BULK LOAD?
We will be happy to supply samples for sizing or colour match purposes. We charge for each sample which is non-refundable including any postage/carriage costs.
HOW DO I GO ABOUT PAYING AND WHAT ARE THE TERMS?
We require full payment before we can begin work on your garments. Once you sign off on the visuals you will be sent an invoice and can pay via card or bank transfer.
HOW LONG WILL MY ORDER TAKE?
3-4 weeks. We can fast track the order to arrive 1-2 weeks from sign off, however this will cost extra as we need to fast track it.
WHAT HAPPENS IF MY ORDER ARRIVES AND SOMETHING IS WRONG?
If a problem or miss-communication happens you should contact us to discuss it. Most problems are minor and we very rarely have any issues. We do spend lots of time on the design stage and have a quality assurance team checking every single garment made. However if the problem is major and you are not happy we may request that you return the goods and we will re-produce your garments for you. Your satisfaction is very important to us and we will take all reasonable actions to ensure a solution is provided immediately. We do however guarantee quality and reasonable customer satisfaction.