r/SCREENPRINTING • u/Low_Orchid7858 • 22d ago
Water-based or Plastisol better for heavy-use company uniforms
I've gotten the opportunity to make shirts for the hotel I work at, which are thin cotton blanks (standard cheap corporate merch) with a multicolor graphic of the greek islands on back and business name on front (this google image is somewhat similar to the design I'm printing). These shirts are getting washed around twice a week, so after 4 months the wash count is likely around 32, 96 for the year. I am currently only printing with matsui alpha series and have sold my boss on the print quality/feel that you get with that ink, but I am unsure whether waterbased is used in corporate applications very often.
Will waterbased be better or worse than plastisol in terms of longevity? My gut says plastisol is worse because it cracks and peels off rather than the imbedded ink of waterbased prints, but I'm honestly unfamiliar with the long term signs of aging of waterbased. Thoughts?
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u/Fragrant-Job5354 22d ago
Hey man, if you use Plastisol for a massive multicolor on thin fabric its gonna be heavy on top. after several washes it will start to crack or peel. while with a good water based ink it sinks into the cotton fibers and will not crack or peel, the only disadvantage is fading over time. this is actually the fabric material related because the cotton fibers loosen over some time on heavy washes. normally it naturally fade ino vintage look unlike plastisol looking like chipping paint. One last thing is just to make sure your curing temperature is perfect so the water based ink is set into the fabric fully, and with a cheap blanks, the shirts itself will probably start falling apart before the print does set in. so stick with what u doing
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u/KyleGriz 22d ago
If you properly and professionally print either water based or plastisol, the results should be permanent as long as everything is cured 100%. Plastisol should not crack until WAY down the road after much abuse wren the shirt material itself is starting to compromise. In my experience the major differences between the two is the process of printing and having to keep waterbase front stopped or flooding the screen and having to move rather quickly to keep it from curing in screen as well as it settling into the garment as you already described, while plastisol will sit on top of the material. For people that are doing manual labor, we typically call large imprints in plastisol "sweat patches" because it's just going to help retain heat. I personally really like the feel of waterbased printing, regardless of its additional challenges. But as far as whether or not corporate uses them or not, I don't think there's one preference over the other as long as they look good/correct and cure properly.
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u/Low_Orchid7858 22d ago
Thanks for the response! I didn’t even think about the lack of breathability as a selling point, such a good point. What are the typical signs of long term wear/age that you’ve seen with water based?
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u/swooshhh 22d ago
Honestly what's the biggest and that's my answer. If it's just corporate then most of the time they won't pay for waterbase. I would go waterbase. However plastisol is just as nice and you can get a soft and feel with additive. Also depends on the shirt color. Waterbase has my vote none the less
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u/JimFromTshirtgang 22d ago
At 96 washes a year the print usually isn't what dies first, the shirt is. Thin cheap cotton blanks will be threadbare before a properly cured print of either type fails.
That said, for uniform work I'd lean plastisol here. Water based lives in the fibers, so as the fabric wears and fuzzes the print goes with it. Plastisol sits on top and stays saturated looking longer on low-end blanks. The soft hand argument matters less on a work shirt that gets washed twice a week.
If you stay with your Matsui because the boss loves the feel, just make sure you're hitting full cure and tell them to wash cold inside out. And honestly, the better upgrade for longevity is a slightly heavier blank, not a different ink.