Dye migration happens when dyes in specific fabrics are activated when they’re exposed to the heat. During the printing process, the ink can often bleed through lettering and the screen printed or heat transferred designs.
When printing/decorating on polyester, dye migration can be a problem. It can happen on any shade of color. However, the darker or brighter the color, the more likely it is to occur. The problem is that both plastisol and water based inks must be cured at 320-330 degrees to prevent the ink from washing out when laundered, but when polyester fibers reach 280 degrees the dye from the fabric can begin to bleed into the ink. What’s worse, is that dye migration can occur even weeks after printing so it won’t immediately be visible.
The level of dye migration that can occur can also be drastic. This means that most of the time when dye migration occurs, it isn't a big deal to most consumers. However, the look of the final product is subjective if and when dye migration does occur.
At Pendergrass Promos Inc, we take all the necessary steps we can during the dye process to create a final product that is less likely to experience dye migration by using high quality dyes and utilizing a white under base when necessary. Because of the steps we take, dye migration rarely occurs when we are decorating your polyester apparel. That being said, dye migration may still occur and it is not 100% preventable no matter what steps are taken. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the client to assume the risk of dye migration when printing on polyester material.