SFX Inks: Looking Back to Move Forward

In the revolving door of apparel decoration, everything old is new again. Stand out from your competition by innovating your ink and printing applications. January 27, 2012
By Ed Branigan, Contributing Writer

Turning the norm on its head and creating embellishments that are new and fresh require only a little ingenuity. This design shows SFX inks used with a bit of foil for a retail-inspired design that completely reinvents the use of the inks.

In the garment embellishment business, anyone who has ever stood in front of a roomful of merchandisers and designers has heard the same question: “What’s new?” The pressure on their end is understandable. To convince large retail companies or licensed brands to use their services, they must show their abilities to design and execute sleek or cutting-edge printing techniques and embellishments. There’s a constant push for novelty and those who can stay ahead of the curve can be very profitable.

On the other side of the coin are the people or companies that provide the ideas and the techniques — the printing companies and the research and development (R&D) departments that service the need. I’ve spent many years working in the world of screen printing R&D, and I can tell you that the pressure on this end is equally valid: How, in the absence of a groundbreaking ink or product in a given year, do you provide customers with the fodder they need to stand apart? It’s easy when the ink manufacturers develop a new product and drop it into your lap. High-density (HD) ink or the cracking inks that provide the ultimate in vintage simulation are good examples; the work is done for you. Often, a simple strike-off showing the ink’s effect, along with an application spec sheet, is all that’s needed for a good designer to run with it.

However, what’s the solution when there’s no earth-shattering new ink on the market and the deadline for next season’s development samples is looming? We have a saying among ourselves in the R&D printing world: “Every couple of years, our old tricks become new tricks.” There’s a revolving door in garment embellishment and print application that manifests itself in various ways.

A simple example is glow-in-the-dark colors. The technology has been around for many years, but these colors are very much a seasonal fad. They’re here now but may be gone by next season. In other words, “the light will go out.” However, if you wait just a few years, glow-in-the-dark inks may be the hot item again as if they had only recently been invented. High-density ink is another such trend that appears, disappears and reappears. There’s no pun intended here; the interest in inks that can be felt and crafted is high one year, but the following year, inks that have no hand at all are the fad.

Simply rehashing the same print samples is not the answer — although that does work sometimes. I know, because I’ve done it. I’ve had print samples rejected by designers and merchandisers from some major retail brands one year, then shown the same sample to the same people a year later and had it enthusiastically approved.

What is critical is not only finding new ways to embellish garments, but also developing print applications that use the same ink products in new and interesting ways. In the T-shirt printing world, there have been several technological waves since the early 1970s, when mass merchandising was born. This includes machine and ink technology developments. The cyclical nature of these developments means the screen printer who can innovate ink and screen printing applications during the lulls between the technological breakthroughs will stand out and rise to the top.

SFX Then and Now
Puff inks are widely considered to be the original special effects inks. They’ve been around since the 1970s, and anyone who’s had even minimal exposure to T-shirt printing is familiar with them. Regular puff ink today basically has the same ingredients that puff inks had in those halcyon days: ink with a blowing agent added. The basic application procedure also has remained the same for many years: Use an 86 or 110 mesh, print puffs last and, if that’s not possible, add a flash in between. This technique still holds true if the finished look required is a traditional puff.

We’ve come a long way since then, with many important changes and innovations in the ink technology arena. The development of metallic, glitter, HD, texturing, and cracking inks and reducers — as well as newer and more versatile blowing agents for the puff inks — have given printers an enormous range of application that wasn’t previously available. One of the biggest changes that has occurred is the shift in attitude, particularly that of the consumer and designer.

There was a time when all was uniform. Standard print applications dictated that every print should match every other print in quality and opacity. Think of the Tommy Hilfiger flag and logo. If ink was going to be applied to the shirt, you had to be able to see it. The list of “mistakes” that rendered a shirt as rejected was clear: shirt fabric showing through, off-placement design, ink cracking, etc. There were the standard placements — full chest, back, neck, sleeve and hem — from which no one dared to deviate.

That all has changed now, as every shirt needs to be an original. There is no standard placement anymore. In fact, off-placement is the new standard, with faded, washed-out colors accompanying them. We can go so far as to say that a screen printed “special effect” is anything that deviates from the old standard.

Take the vintage effect that has been a very popular trend for the past few years and shows no signs of abating. The whole idea is to take a shirt — and the print on it  — and manipulate them to look like they’ve been worn and washed for many years. The fabric and ink are faded and cracked. There are multiple wash programs available that can render a jersey cotton T-shirt washed out and worn at the edges, basically making it indistinguishable from a really old shirt.

The vintage ink look can be achieved in various ways. One is to use one of the newer cracking inks mentioned earlier. The more chemically abrasive wash programs also can break down the print, leaving it worn and cracked. One of the simplest ways to achieve this look is to add an extender base or reducer to plastisol ink, which will reduce the opacity and make it appear washed out. Another option is to take regular plastisol, reduce it and print it from inside the shirt, pushing the ink out to the front for more muted tones.

When you consider that extender bases and reducers have been around for as long as plastisol inks, a good argument could be made for elevating these additives to the list of the original “special effects” inks alongside the puffs. The basic application method of all three of these is very similar — with one crucial exception: Before, there was a set ratio for mixing. In the case of the puff additive, it was 15% by weight. The extenders and reducers ranged from 5% to 10% for the former, with 1% to 3% for the latter. The point was that you were not trying to change the look of the finished print in terms of its color saturation, but soften it or raise it. The exception appeared when consumers’ and designers’ attitudes changed.

Originality Flourishes
We’ve established that there is no standard placement anymore in the garment decoration discipline, but there also is no standard “look.” Some customers want slightly faded prints, while others prefer prints that are heavily faded. Some care about retaining color saturation, while others care only that the print looks washed out. So while the application method is unchanged in the sense that the additives are included in the equation, what has changed is the ratio — which all depends upon the look that the designer or customer wants.

Take the example of discharge inks. Discharging technology has been around for a long time — more than 100 years, in fact. It’s been used for T-shirt printing since the 1970s as well, but was limited due to the caustic nature of the discharging agent and the odor.

The basic goal was to discharge 100% of the dye from a dark shirt to give it a soft hand, whether using the discharge alone or as an underbase for plastisol. There’s a set ratio between the discharging agent and the base that was used to achieve the effect, with anything less considered a reject.

Two ways that this ratio was upset in recent times indicate not only a change in attitude, but also a change in how a longstanding ink system like discharge can be reinvented from an application standpoint. The first option is to put less discharging agent into the mix; zincformaldehydesulfate (ZFS) typically is added to the base at a 5% to 6% range. This will give a maximum result on a dischargeable garment. To achieve a washed-out or vintage look, add only 2% to 4% of ZFS. Depending on the color and makeup of the garment (and whether it is dischargeable), a variety of finishes and looks is possible.

Another more recent application method is to spray water onto the discharge print while it is still wet. This will accomplish two things: It will wash out the color of the discharge itself (especially if it is tinted) and, secondly, add a halo effect around the print’s edge. The halo effect can be achieved even if the discharge ink is used as an underbase for plastisol.

Older 'New' Inks
The examples used here — puff additives, reducers and discharge — have been available for a long time and still are widely used. Printers’ and designers’ ability to think outside the box in terms of application has given these inks a versatility that wasn’t necessarily recognized in the beginning. No one would have thought of printing a puff or discharge through anything but a low mesh count. That doesn’t hold true now.

Some of the more recognizable special effects inks, such as HD, metallics or gels, may seem like they only recently arrived on the scene, but this is not the case. HD ink was first developed in the early 1990s, making it nearly 20 years old. And metallics and gels actually are a little older.

Asking how much more can be done without repeating ourselves is a valid question. Finding an original application idea with an aging ink population can be daunting. But if we apply the same notion of turning the ratios around that we did with the puff and discharge inks, it can open new channels and ideas for the curious. Consider HD inks being used to make a texture and a simulated stitching effect, or a combination of HD and puff inks being used to simulate stitching.

HD ink typically is printed through a lower mesh count using a capillary film. With skill and practice, extremely precise 3-D prints can be achieved. What if we use the same ink but don’t care if the edges are crisp and square? Or try adding a small amount of suede additive to the HD ink, print it through the same low mesh with capillary film and see what happens. We also can create a raised metallic effect by simply printing metallic ink on top of HD ink, or by adding a crinkled foil application to get a raised, vintage foil look.

Metallic inks, like HD and puff, also had a straightforward application standard: Use low mesh, print last or flash. The advent of true metallic inks, as opposed to shimmers, can point the way forward. Here, screen printers are not confined to low mesh counts, but can now print halftones, tint it to make colors and even use it as an underbase to create visually striking prints that were never seen before using direct print on textiles.

The point here is about turning the norm on its head to create an embellishment that’s new and fresh. It helps that the very people we are trying to serve — designers and customers — are receptive to non-traditional print applications. The standard print specs supplied by ink manufacturers for their products can be abandoned in many cases if the print just looks cool.

Commonly held beliefs regarding procedures for screen printing set up and application also can be abandoned. To achieve a clean, crisp and smooth print, the pallet always needs to be kept clean and even. We change the pallet paper periodically to ensure this happens. Everyone knows the irritation of dealing with lint stuck to the pallet adhesive after a long print run and how it can affect print quality. But now we can turn this to our advantage.

We can texture our pallet using paper or fluorescent light box coverings, or even foil from our kitchens, to create amazing textured and raised prints using the same inks we’ve been using for quite some time. Add some foil or flock to the mix and we have completely reinvented not only the ink, but also typical screen printing application and embellishment.

A little-known fact is that some of the very first embellishments applied to T-shirts were by done by the military in the 1940s, when different army bases and units would apply their names and numbers using flock. Seventy years later and flocking has become a staple in the higher end of fashion graphics for T-shirts. This speaks volumes. It says that the only thing that gets old is our thinking, and while our newer ideas may seem to age, after awhile they can become fresh again if we only use our imagination.

Ed Branigan is the print applications manager at International Coatings and has extensive experience in screen printing inks and technology. For more information, visit iccink.com and read the company’s blog at internationalcoatingsblog.com.



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