15 Printing Techniques to Bring Your Designs to Life – How Many Do You Know?

Whether you're a clothing or luggage designer, mastering various fabric printing techniques is crucial. Here are 14 common printing methods every textile fashion practitioner should know:

1. Rubber Paste Printing

• Advantages: Widely used, vibrant colors, high fidelity, cost-effective, capable of large-area multi-color printing, strong coverage.
• Disadvantages: Sticky in hot weather, hard texture.
• Materials: Suitable for printing on various dark and textured fabrics.

2. Reflective Printing

• Advantages: Enhances safety with high visibility under light, ideal for night-time wear.
• Disadvantages: Prone to cracking, not durable in washing.
• Materials: Used in highway signs, advertisements, uniforms, and safety gear.

3. Photochromic Printing

• Advantages: Colors change instantly under UV light due to high-tech UV-sensitive microcapsules.
• Disadvantages: Prone to cracking, not durable in washing.
• Materials: Used in cultural shirts, children's clothing, and posters

4. Thick Plate Printing

• Advantages: Achieves very neat, three-dimensional effects.
• Disadvantages: High cost.
• Materials: Suitable for various knitted fabrics

5. Flocking Printing

• Advantages: Soft texture, good warmth, specific process adheres fibers to fabric surface.
• Disadvantages: Can shed fibers and show lint with increased washing.
• Materials: Suitable for warm fabrics and labels

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6. Transfer Printing

• Advantages: Fine patterns, rich layers, high artistry, strong three-dimensional effect. Can print photographic and painting-style designs; vibrant colors.
• Disadvantages: Consumes a lot of transfer paper, requires washing after printing, which produces wastewater.
• Materials: Suitable for synthetic and natural fiber fabrics

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7. Digital Printing

• Advantages: Fast response, good proofing effect, high customer acceptance, widely used.
• Disadvantages: Slow printing speed, high ink cost.
• Materials: Used for gift packaging, decorative items, and more

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8. Penetration Printing

• Advantages: Soft texture, widely used, patterns on both sides.
• Disadvantages: Colors are not very bright.
• Materials: Generally used for blankets

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9. Ink Printing

• Advantages: Clear patterns, bright colors, soft texture, more attractive than rubber paste printing.
• Disadvantages: More expensive than rubber paste printing.
• Materials: Requires loose and light fabrics

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10. Foam Printing

• Advantages: Strong three-dimensional effect, raised printing surface, expands.
• Disadvantages: Difficult to control color fastness in the printed area.
• Materials: Widely used on cotton, nylon fabrics

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11. Burn-out Printing

• Advantages: Semi-transparent texture, embossed patterns, natural design, unique style, vibrant colors.
• Disadvantages: Cannot be used on cotton fabrics.
• Materials: Typically uses rayon, real silk, and polyester-cotton core-spun yarn

12. Silicone Printing

• Advantages: Soft, viscous, non-sticky, durable, strong color fastness.
• Disadvantages: More expensive than rubber paste printing.
• Materials: Suitable for all types of fiber fabrics

13. Pigment Printing

• Advantages: Bright and vivid colors, good light stability, provides fullness, dryness, and softness, excellent wash fastness, good fabric breathability.
• Disadvantages: Printed area feels slightly harder and possibly thicker than unprinted areas.
• Materials: Suitable for all types of fiber fabrics

14. Discharge Printing

• Advantages: Soft texture.
• Disadvantages: Requires washing to remove odor, difficult to control color, prone to discoloration.
• Materials: Suitable for all types of fiber fabrics.

15. Water-Based Printing

• Advantages: Widely used, strong pattern adhesion, soft texture, affordable.
• Disadvantages: Weak coverage, colors are not very bright.
• Materials: Suitable for light-colored fabric

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