Monarch Print - Promotional Merchandise - Printing Processes

Efficient, versatile and quality printing methods have been pursued since printing technology was first established. Over time, many improvements and adjustments have been made and dozens of printing methods have been created with uses spanning art, science and business.

At Monarch Print we use a variety of professional printing processes to be able to provide the best quality results for your promotional products.

As with any technical industry, there is a lot of specific jargon that goes hand in hand with printing. Understanding this language is important when choosing your promo products so you can be confident in the final results. Whether you are learning what is being offered to you or trying to explain it to your team or manager, this list below will explain all the processing we offer.

Sublimation

Sublimation, also known as dye-sublimation, is a process that uses heat to transfer a design into the surface of a material. We use sublimation for our desk top products, plastic and ceramic mugs, however, it can also be uses on synthetic fabrics like polyester. When heat is applied, the dye becomes a gas and permeates the surface. This results in the dye infusing with the surface of the product and is, therefore, less vulnerable to fading, distorting or peeling over time.

Heat Transfer Paper

Heat transfer paper comes in many shapes and forms but generally used to apply designs to fabrics. In most cases, anywhere an image contains areas of white, the existing surface colour will show though. The print colours will generally also be affected by what is behind it, so it is important to bear in mind your choice of product. For this reason, we only use heat transfer paper for our teddy’s white t-shirts and the natural cotton bags. The image is mirrored on the paper and printed face down using heat to transfer the image. The amount of heat, pressure and time will depend on the product, type of paper and type of printer, so if you are using this yourself you will need to check these details from the paper manufacturer.

Transflex Vinyl

A highly opaque, plastic transfer material that, when heated, forms a secure, long-lasting bond with cotton and polyesters. Durable and suitable for washing, this method is great for printing onto clothing and coloured surfaces. It is also available in a wide range of colours including neon and metallic. One draw back for this method is it requires weeding after cutting. This means all the pieces of vinyl that are not part of the design need to be removed and this process can take a long time for particularly intricate designs. Really only suitable for low quantity runs or very basic designs.

Lithographic printing.  

A high-quality printing method with a photo realistic finish. Suitable for a wide range of surfaces, including paper, cards, plastics and fabrics. Known for being excellent for tonal designs and t-shirts artwork. We use this method for large volume orders that are going on to coloured garments or soft toy paw printing.

Screen Prints

Polytrans and Nylotrans are both types of Screen printing. They have a crisp, block-colour finish that are highly opaque. Usually deployed for single print colour logos. They are extremely popular for promotional products and are ideal for our coloured soft toy garments. These may require a Keyline around the edge of the image for intricate designs.  This is a thin border traced around the outside of the artwork to avoid dye migration. This can be either matched to the base colour of the products surface or translucent to make it less obvious.

Digital Transfer Print

A Digital transfer print is a way of producing a full-colour design which is too complex to be a screen print and is also going to be transferred to a coloured fabric background.  It is suitable for both natural and synthetic fabrics and is applied with heat. The drawback to digital prints is that empty spaces between letters for example has to also be printed, (usually to the colour of the substrate its going on.) It would be ideal for a photo for example, but text would be joined together as 1 transfer. This can look unprofessional if used incorrectly. They wash well without fading.