How to make your clothes brighter (top)

Editor's note: When we choose clothes, the visual effect of clothes is often the first factor we need to consider. Apparel manufacturers want to add their own special decorative materials if they want their clothes to stand out from the market. This article will tell you how to use metal foil materials to print shiny designs on clothing.

If you want to add special effects to your clothing, bronzing is a good choice. Metal foils are cheaper than other materials with special effects such as high-density, high-contrast materials or luminescent inks. The application of metal foil is very simple, and it is more bright than luminescent inks. Most importantly, it can attract people's attention beyond a very long distance.

Although there are so many advantages, bronzing has not received much recognition from consumers and screen printers. Because some consumers think that the bronzing pattern on the clothing will fall off or darken (tear) after the first wash. This situation is likely to be caused by inferior bronzing clothing that appeared in the tourism market in previous years. Metal foil materials that were previously used for printing are not as durable as today's materials, and they can quickly break or lose luster - especially if the printing method is used improperly. The new foil material has a thin layer of reflective material that is more flexible and durable than previous materials and will not change even after multiple washes. In addition, the screen printing plant is best to use a thermal transfer printer for printing, because it can better manage the variable factors and help to print stable and high-quality hot stamping patterns on clothing.

Next, I will bring you several design ideas using this special effect, and will tell you in detail how to achieve these effects in the production process. When considering the use of metal foil material, the most important thing is to think clearly, how to use this kind of reflective material to express the special meaning of the pattern, and pay attention to its shortcomings. The advantages of this material are many: Compared to special inks and transfer images, its cost is lower, the application process is simple, and it can produce eye-catching very bright patterns. Its disadvantages are that it requires additional processing (at least twice as much as the standard clothing printing process). In the case of poor adhesion, it is prone to breakage and waste, and at the same time, it requires a printing house. With special equipment and extra labor to ensure the stability of the printing effect.

Basic gilding on T-shirts

Take the letters "Chicago" in Figure 1 as an example. I first designed the original in CorelDraw, trying to get the ink dispersed in a small area to prevent the foil from extending a long distance. This is the first lesson I learned during the gilding process: Do not try to keep the foil in the pattern for a long distance. In the design process, let it cover as small as possible. Otherwise, you have to face the risk of image cracking or degraded reflection.

Next, the pattern was printed on the film and exposed at 80 lines/inch resolution. Rutland's silver light gel ink is very suitable for this design, and after testing, I found that high viscosity (very sticky) ink is better than some multi-functional inks. Because in the printing process, the more viscous ink is more easily combined with the metal foil.

Figure 1

Simple patterns, high-viscosity inks, and shiny metal foils create an attractive textile print for you.

For this pattern, I used Crown Royal's silver foil and set the temperature of the pneumatic Hix thermal printer at 330°F. At a pressure of 35 psi, the ideal stamping time is 12 seconds. The production process for this pattern is very simple: I just print on a T-shirt, dry it in an air dryer, then take the clothes to a thermal transfer printer and place the foil on the printed pattern (light side up ), bronzing, and then remove the metal foil after the clothes have cooled down. The use of metal foil in this pattern can simulate the visual effects of crystals without causing a heavy feeling. If you tilt the pattern on your clothes, they will be like small mirrors, reflecting the bright light.

Add a rainbow metal foil on the color printing pattern
The best way to highlight a color pattern is to add a rainbow of metal foil to the printed image. This foil is transparent, but it reflects the light of the rainbow. Figure 2 is the second proof we designed with the “Chicago” pattern. It uses this bronzing method to make the pattern look so different. This metal foil is more difficult to control than a standard opaque metal foil because it loses its luster when the temperature is too high, or it melts onto the print when heat is not released properly.

The foil we use is also from Crown Royal. Before embossing, it looks like it is coated with a smooth layer of rainbow oil on the foil. When the temperature and pressure of the Hix press were set to 300°F and 25 psi, respectively, I got the best printing results. Imprinting time is 8 seconds. Pneumatic presses are very useful for this type of processing because it automatically decompresses at the right time. If the temperature of the foil is too high, it will lose some of its luster and will penetrate into the pattern, affecting the design of the entire pattern. People still need to work hard to let the foil release more heat, even if it is handled properly (transparent foil can be stripped off).

Figure two rainbow metal foil

The use of rainbow foil can make the color pattern look more powerful. In order to get the desired results, the parameters of the thermal transfer printer must be strictly controlled.