Sublimation, embroidery, screen print or heat transfer?
The same club design can be produced four different ways, and the cheapest method for a thousand pieces is rarely the cheapest for thirty. This guide explains what each method is actually good at, so the choice is a decision rather than a guess.
Full sublimation
Dye is printed onto transfer paper and then pressed into the fabric under heat, where it becomes part of the fibre rather than a layer sitting on top of it.
- What it gives you: unlimited colours, gradients and photographic detail, with no per-colour setup cost. Nothing to crack or peel, because there is no film to fail.
- Where it is the obvious answer: polyester teamwear with full-surface artwork, complex graphics, or designs with many colours.
- The limitation: it needs a polyester-rich fabric. Cotton blends cannot be sublimited.
Embroidery
A digitised file drives a machine that stitches the design in thread.
- What it gives you: a raised, tactile mark that reads as a feature of the garment rather than a printed graphic. It outlasts the garment in normal wear.
- Where it is the obvious answer: club crests and monograms on jackets, polos and heavier fabrics; corporate and staff programmes where the mark should look premium.
- The limitation: very fine detail and small text have to be simplified to stay legible in thread. A one-off digitising cost applies, which is why it gets cheaper per piece as quantity rises.
Screen printing
Ink is pushed through a mesh stencil, one pass per colour.
- What it gives you: the lowest cost per piece for large runs of bold, high-contrast graphics.
- Where it is the obvious answer: a design using a limited number of solid colours, at a volume where the setup cost is well spread.
- The limitation: each colour needs its own screen, so setup cost multiplies with colour count. Photographic detail and smooth gradients are not suitable.
Heat transfer
Printed film is pressed onto the garment, giving crisp edges and fine detail on fabric that cannot be sublimited.
- What it gives you: full-colour detail including photographic artwork, on almost any fabric, at any quantity. The workhorse method for player names, squad numbers and sponsor marks.
- Where it is the obvious answer: personalisation, small quantities, and any design with detail that screen printing cannot hold.
- The limitation: pressed too heavily, the film can be felt on the surface. Our heat-transfer ink has been independently tested for colour fastness — see the SGS report on our quality page.
Choosing between them
| Your situation | Usually the right method |
|---|---|
| Detailed or multi-colour artwork on polyester | Full sublimation |
| Bold graphics, limited colour count, large quantity | Screen printing |
| Club crest on a jacket or polo | Embroidery |
| Player names, squad numbers, sponsor marks | Heat transfer |
| Small quantity with full-colour detail | Sublimation or heat transfer |
| Cotton-blend garment | Screen print, transfer or embroidery — not sublimation |
Mixed methods on one programme are normal and often optimal: a sublimated jersey with a heat-transferred squad number, or a plain jacket with an embroidered crest. Tell us the design and the quantity and we will recommend the combination that costs least for the result you want.
Send your artwork, quantity and size breakdown — a free digital mock-up comes back with the quotation.
Request a quote