streetwear Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding and Japanese street fashion. Eventually h ...

fashion, an all over print (also known as all-over-print) is a

print Printing is the process for reproducing text and images using a master form or template Print or printing may also refer to: Publishing * Canvas print, the result of an image printed onto canvas which is often stretched, or gallery-wrapped, o ...

composed of a design that is repeated across the entire surface of a garment. The image is on both the front and back. Often, such prints are

screen printed Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh a ...

. Other processes include dye-diffusion of the fabric itself and printed t-shirts.

History

Modern all over printing was facilitated by the invention of sublimation printing in 1957 (not to be confused with commercial sublimation on cellulose in 1929, as the substrate is polyethylene terephthalate (PET)). Rather, the commercial process was developed by Noel de Plasse in Lainere de Roubaix, France.

Technique

The process is similar to the process of dye-diffusion: a graphic is printed onto a sheet of high-release paper and then transferred onto fabric using high heat and pressure. Heat converts the solid dye particles into a gas through

sublimation Sublimation or sublimate may refer to: * ''Sublimation'' (album), by Canvas Solaris, 2004 * Sublimation (phase transition), directly from the solid to the gas phase * Sublimation (psychology), a mature type of defense mechanism * Sublimate of mer ...

. The liquid phase is skipped due to the instantaneous nature of the physical change. This immediacy bonds the released chemicals to the polyester fibers. Unlike screen printing and direct-to-garment digital printing, the process of printing sees dye absorbed directly into the fabric. The design is printed on 100% polyester material. Often, this printing is done onto white fabric, as this base colour allows for the best applicability.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of dye-sublimation over other methods of textile printing: * Pictures do not peel off fabric, unlike typical screen printing. * Dye does not mount on fabric. * The intensity of colour is often unmatched due to the direct permeation of dye. * No need to half-print screens or cut fabric. * The continuous nature of the print allows all of the medium to be a canvas. Disadvantages: * Speed is reduced due to continuous nature of printing. Chemical technology in Printing and Imaging Systems, ed. J A G Drake, 1993, pp. 73–85 * Possibility of white creases and irregular printing per-batch.Sublimation Printer for Heat Transfer
/ref> * Some dyes work better than others.

References

Hip hop fashion {{Textile-stub