Screen Printing Tip of the Week: Printing on Lycra Spandex

Summer has just begun, but the sweet fragrance of Autumn leaves & Football Season is not too far away!  Are you getting ready to run a screen printing job for your local High School or Community Little League Football Team?  Printing on any Sports, Performance, or Athletic gear can sure be tricky!  Here are some pointers from Kieth Stevens as published in Impressions Magazines that are sure to keep you from fumbling! There are many new fabrics on the market today that incorporate both polyester and Lycra spandex. Printing on these fabrics can be a challenge, so here are a couple of tips: 1. Plastisol inks are usually stretchy by nature, but adding a little bit of stretch additive can greatly improve the stretchability, especially for performance and athletic fabrics, which often contain a high percentage of Lycra spandex. Adding excessive amounts of a stretch additive, however, could reduce the opacity of the ink, so it is important to add only about 1%-5%. 2. There also are new inks on the market, such as International Coatings’ 7100 Performance Pro™ , which have been specifically formulated for these next-generation performance fabrics. These inks have great stretchability and allow for lower curing temperatures (275°F). The ability to cure at lower temperatures helps to control any potential dye migration issues. Kieth Stevens is the Western regional sales manager for International Coatings. He has been teaching screen printing for more than 10 years and is a regular contributor to International Coatings’ blogs. For more ink tips and information, visit iccink.com and read the company’s blog at 
internationalcoatingsblog.com.- See more at: http://impressions.issshows.com/screen-printing-news/Screen-Printing-Tip--5788.shtml#sthash.NeKy2fSu.dpuf International Coatings manufactures a complete line of phthalate-compliant screen printing inks, including a wide variety of whites, specialty inks, special effects inks, color matching systems, additives and reducers.  For more information on our products, please visit our website at www.iccink.com.     International Coatings:     The Intelligent Choice