$200,000 boo boo

[inkman996]

Yep $200K manufacturing failure.

The story. These shorts were manufactured in Portugal with recycled fishing nets. The manufacturer printed the panels before sewing the shorts. The material is 100% nylon, they guaranteed the two color print with a statement that they test washed each color 80 times. Well as you can see below the print is only lasting 1 wash, the second wash everything falls off. The customer is a long time costumer of ours, they manufacturer very expensive swim wear all over the world, these shorts alone retail $150. They are located here in CT and have always used us for smaller orders and specialty stuff. Now they want us to help with this issue.

The Portuguese company is supposedly testing things at their facility, they are printing HSA over the existing print hoping that works. But we all know that will fail, the original print is still going to come off. And the customer is not interested in a band aid. Their plan with us is to have the entire stock brought to an industrial laundry company, have them wash the shorts till all the ink has come off. Then have us do what ever we can come up with to replace the logo, some what larger than the original to cover the old adhesive marks. The Portuguese manufacturer will be responsible for all costs incurred.

I believe I have two options.

Direct print or Transfer.

I do not want to do direct print, it is two ply 100% nylon. With a two color logo. These things will shift shrink etc with flashing and applying a second color. In fact I will refuse to go that route, the original manufacturer had the pleasure of printing them before being sewn.

Transfers is the only option I believe. Two choices, the supra color transfers for nylon, but I don't think the client will like the look of them. They really want to true plastisol print look. Then their is custom plastisol transfers for nylon. We have three heat presses and will need everyone one for a long time, but money is not an issue, time is kind of an issue, but we can run two shifts.

What ever we do it will be thoroughly tested, aggressive detergent, hot and cold temps, salt water etc.

Before I go any further any advice? Any recommendations on a transfer supplier other than Transfer Xpress that may have a better product?

[LuckyFlyinROUSH]

Having tried to line up over old prints before...I suggest taking whatever time you think it will take...then double it.

[Homer]

putting myself in this spot, I think very first thing I would do - which I'm sure you will too- have them sign some sort of a contract, "not my responsibility if these over prints fail, change color after washing, spontaneously combust, stop saving the whales...whatever."

1) I'd talk them into a shape that would cover without alignment being an issue, like a solid circle or a heavy outline.
2)Test every transfer product I can get my hands on. We used to use some EcoSol stuff back in the day that would stick to nylon, but it looked and smelled like a shower curtain. Check with Supacolor, That would be my first stop.
3) start shopping for a new Lambo for the price Id be charging to get involved in this mess..

[3Deep]

3) start shopping for a new Lambo for the price Id be charging to get involved in this mess..

Yep this all day to get into this mess for sure!!!!

This a long shot and most likely more of a headache to do, but how about printing inside the the old print making it the shadow outline of sort, it might even work with transfers, unless after washing there is no shadow left then forget this 

[inkman996]

putting myself in this spot, I think very first thing I would do - which I'm sure you will too- have them sign some sort of a contract, "not my responsibility if these over prints fail, change color after washing, spontaneously combust, stop saving the whales...whatever."

1) I'd talk them into a shape that would cover without alignment being an issue, like a solid circle or a heavy outline.
2)Test every transfer product I can get my hands on. We used to use some EcoSol stuff back in the day that would stick to nylon, but it looked and smelled like a shower curtain. Check with Supacolor, That would be my first stop.
3) start shopping for a new Lambo for the price Id be charging to get involved in this mess..

The owner is putting all the ducks in line concerning this. We will have an approval set up that once they approve what ever sample they approve after how ever they wash it, then we are not liable after the fact. They know this, they are wicked cool and know this is a pain in the ass for us and know we will be charging accordingly.

The logo going back on them is the exact same logo, but we will be increasing the size and adding a larger outline.

I had several samples on hand, some from Stahls, Transfer Xpress, Apex Supra. None of the digital printed samples stuck,had to peel cold just to get them to stick but with a thumbnail they peeled right off. The screen printed transfers for rip stop nylon stuck perfectly but they still have to pass the wash tests.

[ericheartsu]

personally i'd hire a very high end ink / printing consultant. Like Coudray, Grieves, or even Danny to figure out how to screen print this. There are tons of nylon inks, waterbased or plastisol that will allow you to print these. Even if you have to buy specialty pallets.

Transfers are the quickest solution, but if you only have 3 heat presses, i'd invest in more of them.

[inkman996]

personally i'd hire a very high end ink / printing consultant. Like Coudray, Grieves, or even Danny to figure out how to screen print this. There are tons of nylon inks, waterbased or plastisol that will allow you to print these. Even if you have to buy specialty pallets.

Transfers are the quickest solution, but if you only have 3 heat presses, i'd invest in more of them.

We do not have time to work with ink consultants and do all that testing. And I am just way to wary dealing with 2 ply nylon no matter what type of hold down platen is available. A flash will be in that equation no avoiding it. With three heat presses, two are semi automatics and plenty of labor to run two shifts we can get them done that way, not to mention we have two platens for the air machines that will allow doing two up. Just finding the appropriate transfer is going to be the major hurdle.

[TCT]

Pretty Sure Transfer Express has a transfer made for Nylon.

[BP]

I would make the new logo a little bigger to help with line up. I have done this in the past.


good luck!

[BRGtshirts]

I would reach out to Unimark for speciality transfers. TBH I’ve never used them but they’ve been on my radar radar for a long time as a possible speciality/high end company. http://unimarkusa.com


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[blue moon]

I would leave as is and sell as disappearing ink!
or wash the snot out of them and sell as distressed. the design does not look that bad after washing, sorta tone on tone. the only issue is if they produced catalogs with different images. if on the web, just change.

pierre

[Sbrem]

I can speak for the Supacolor nylon transfers as I did a 100 drawstring nylon backpacks with a very colorful yoga mandala design. However, I was using an old Knight 6 x 8  press, air operated, with a heated lower platen as well. After a conversation with Supacolor on the phone, we ended up with 80 psi, 290° top platen, 200 bottom platen. They came out great, and very importantly, have had no complaints. As a thought, maybe you could screen print the design, have a very high res photo of the print, and use that for the transfer art instead of the original file?


Steve

[GraphicDisorder]

Just make sure whatever agreement your making with liability on this is crystal clear or id run away.

[Croft]

how about a cadcut 1 colour design , that looks pretty straight forward and could be covered , with the clear carrier sheets it would make lining it up "easier" , you could cut yourself or have Stahls do it. That fabric looks a lot like a fabric used a lot in the 90's and we wouldn't touch it for the same reason designs would come off or crack and come off.

[zanegun08]

Transfers all day, even with lasers trying to line this up and print with HSA inks on a two ply garment would be a burden.

I think you'd pay a premium with Supacolor, as this has to be at least 1300 + pieces correct?

I'd get a sample from APEX which is closer to you anyhow, https://www.apextransfers.com/ultra-ink.php which can do gang sheets and they'll individual cut them for you as well.  Come on clear PET so easy to line up over the existing mark

I also suggest http://www.bestrims.com.hk/index.php or Qingyi https://heatransfer.en.alibaba.com/product/60723727558-807576297/QingYi_custom_offset_heat_transfer_sticker_for_clothing.html?spm=a2700.shop_plgr.41413.11.67543fa6qrHkNK or https://cstarintl.com these are all from China and will be lower cost but your timeline may not allow.

From SUPA at 4" x 4" you'd be looking at $1+ for 1000+ and Apex would be around .75 cents for the same thing, less as you do more, I like the feel of the Apex Transfer over SUPA.  I think Transfer Express would be much more expensive than both than all these options here.

It's a fix, just do a rolling delivery and save the garments, the original manufacturer should be paying you for it anyhow, saving them from having to redo the whole thing, shipping, time, ect.  I wouldn't buy more equipment to achieve this, just figure out how many a single person can produce per hour on 2 presses and give them a realistic timeline, don't make their problem your problem, be the solution.