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Are you a small business or entrepreneur looking to add some more color and excitement to your product offering? Sublimation print on demand is an attractive option for creating eye-catching designs that can help improve sales – but how do you make the most of it?
In this comprehensive guide, we will show you step-by-step how printing all over items such as apparel and accessories with sublimation can boost your bottom line. We’ll walk through the basics of this creative printing method, from which fabrics work best to where to find wholesale supplies at an affordable cost. You’ll also get top tips from successful sellers on making sure every item looks its best.
So, whether you’re just getting started in customizing products for sale or already have a sizable inventory ready to go – let’s dive into our ultimate guide for optimizing profits when selling with sublimation print!
What is sublimation printing?
Sublimation printing is a digital printing method that utilizes heat to transfer dye onto the material surface. Being a very versatile printing technique, sublimation can be used on various materials like fabrics, ceramics, metals, and so on.
Here’s how sublimation printing works:
First, the dye that brings colors to the surface is printed onto a transfer paper.
Then, the ink on the sublimation paper is transferred to the material using heat pressure. During this process, solid ink particles turn into gaseous form under heat pressure, making ink easily infiltrate into the material.
Benefits of sublimation printing
This printing technique has a wide range of applications and advantages – That’s why many people choose this printing method for their products, especially customizable ones. Here’s why:
Durable and long-lasting: For sublimated prints, instead of sitting on the material surface, the ink is actually embedded and infiltrated and becomes a part of the material, making it hard to fade away. Even after many washes, it is unlikely that you see the print peel off or tone down.
Precise, vibrant, and colorful print: Using light-color material as the base, this printing technique is able to bring out the best of your designs. Each detail is shown with precision in terms of both shapes and colors. Basically, other printing techniques can’t match sublimation when it comes to printing quality.
Versatile application: Sublimation is widely applied to different materials, textures, and products, from apparel to home decoration and many other regular day-to-day products. More than that, with sublimation, you can print a larger area and even cover the entire material surface. That’s why sublimated products are also known as All-over print.
With all the peaks that it brings, sublimation printing presents a world of possibilities for your business.
Disadvantages of sublimation
Due to the use of high heat, not all materials can handle the procedure. Cotton, for example, is a material that is not applicable for sublimation printing. Instead, you will see more of polyesters, polyester blends, and polymer-coated materials in sublimation printing.
Why choose sublimation for your print-on-demand business?
The market for sublimation print on demand products is expanding at a noticeable speed and is expected to reach $10.67 billion in market value in 2030. It is a green light for you to explore and experiment this highly potential market.
Highly customizable
This is how sublimation takes the print on demand products to the next level. With sublimation, you can customize nearly every part of the products, and not restrain to just a small printing area just like other common printing techniques like DTG and screen printing.
There is more room for you to unleash your creativity and create visually stunning designs that stand out from the rest.
Applicable for many products
Sublimation can be used on different materials and products, including clothing, home decoration, accessories, and more.
For the most common print-on-demand category – clothing, the possibilities are endless. As sublimation can be cut and sewn, there is no need to rely on the existing blank products and limit your options to a few common products like classic t-shirts, tank tops, or hoodies.
With this printing technique, print-on-demand providers can make literally any type of clothing, for example, bomber jackets, sweatpants, pajamas, polo shirts, baseball jerseys, etc.
Diverse your catalog with sublimation print-on-demand products!
Check out Merchize’s list of sublimation all-over print products and start selling now!
Less competitive and more profitable
Obviously, sublimated products are not as ubiquitous as other traditional DTG products. Not many printing companies have the facilities and human resources to make all-over print products. That’s why there are fewer all-over print products available in the market. It also means less competition and more opportunities to gain profits.
Combined with unique designs, you can totally put your sublimated products at premium pricing and increase the profit margin. This way, you can earn more from each product sold.
At Merchize, we have early adopted sublimation techniques into manufacture. At the moment, we have developed a professional procedure for making all-over print and sublimated products that meet the high standards of customers.
- High quality: Our print-on-demand sublimated products are made with advanced technology and skilled employees. Each product is printed, cut, and sew carefully and goes through quality scrutiny so that products are delivered to customers with the best quality.
- Various materials: At Merchize, we select various materials for our all-over print products. Depending on the preference for each product, we will choose the materials that fit it most.
For example, we use nylon fabric for bomber jackets to ensure the best durability and resilience against the weather. While for products that require comfort like pajamas, we use the polyester blend for better comfort, softness, and breathability. With sportswear, we make use of bird eye pique fabric/mesh fabric to ensure the highest level of comfort and stretchability to fit physical activity.
- Affordable pricing: After years of research and improvement, our facility is optimized to cut down the cost of manufacturing. We can deliver the best quality products at an affordable price. With a good base cost, you can get better profit margins, and save more for other marketing activities.
- Wide range of sublimation products: Merchize put a strong emphasis on finding new opportunities for print-on-demand sellers. We have released a wide range of all-over print products in different categories. Our all-over print catalog covers from basic items like t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, and pillows to unique items like bomber jackets, leggings, pajamas, polo, Hawaii, baseball jersey, and bucket hats.
How All-over Print Products are made at Merchize’s factory
How to start selling all-over print products
Selling print-on-demand all-over print products is no different than selling regular print-on-demand products. The process goes down to the same five stages:
Product and niche research
The goal is to find potential niches and products. At this stage, you will want to ask:
- What niches have high demand and low competition?
- What products fit the niches best?
- What keywords people are using to search for products in this niche?
- What design styles and ideas are popular in this niche?
- What quality do customers expect when buying the products?
Find suppliers
After finding the right products and niches, you are set to find the suppliers that fit your expectations. Here, you will have to consider some factors
- Base cost
- Production time
- Product quality
- Other additional services (Do you want to build a brand? Or what platforms are you selling on?)
Create eye-catching designs
What makes all-over print products edge over other regular items out in the market is obviously the designs.
With sublimation printing, you can create products with visually stunning designs that spread all over the fabric. You have more space to add details and visual elements to create impactful designs.
Order product samples
To avoid unwanted customer complaints, you should order product samples to check if the products are up to your requirements before bringing the products into the market. When it comes to all-over print, there might be a few solid concerns regarding the material and printing quality.
At Merchize, to make it convenient for print-on-demand sellers to check product quality, we offer special discounts for sample items. These sample discounts are available for all products in our catalog!
How to create stunning designs with sublimation
Create strong and vibrant designs
With a full canvas in your hand, you can create the most mind-blowing designs without minding the limit of a small printing area box.
All-over print products with strong visuals and vibrant designs always sell like hot cake. Unleash your creativity, make the most stunning products, and skyrocket your sales!
Make full use of all the printing areas
To take full advantage of sublimation printing, you should make your designs cover the entire printing area.
Don’t just waste all potential by making some simple designs that cover a part of the whole printing area. You can do better than that!
Use your winning DTG designs
If you are already gained success with traditional DTG products, you can extend your winning streak by transferring these successful designs into all-over print ones.
You can create a pattern using your DTG designs, or add striking backgrounds that enhance the designs and easily capture customers’ eyes. This way, you can ensure a chance of gaining similar success, or even more.
Some great niche ideas for all-over print designs:
If you have no clue where to start making impressive all-over print designs, here are some popular design styles that have earned tremendous success in the market.
- Painting
- Spiritual
- Space
Conclusion
In conclusion, sublimation printing can be a great way to make more money with an all-over print print-on-demand business. It provides many advantages, like being highly customizable and applicable for many products, making it less competitive and more profitable. While this method of printing does have a few drawbacks as well, these are usually more than compensated for by the long-term financial gains of using sublimation.
To get started with selling all-over print products with sublimation, you’ll need to make sure you do thorough product and niche research, find reliable suppliers and create eye-catching designs derived from your existing DTG designs. When it comes to creating stunning designs with sublimation though, having strong and vibrant mockup images is key! You’ll also want to make full use of the available printing area when creating your designs as well.
So contact Merchize now to start selling Sublimation Print on demand products, Merchize helps businesses stay ahead of the competition by providing them with resources on trends, advice for optimizing strategies and more so be sure to visit us at Merchize today!
