Our Guide to Sublimation Printing – What it is & How it Works

When printing, you always want to make sure your designs really leave a mark. One of the most effective ways to ensure that is with a printing process which is both vibrant and long lasting.

Sublimation printing is one of the most effective ways to achieve this kind of finish. Whether you’re using metal, plastic, fabric, ceramic, or even glass, a sublimation printer provides a versatile way for you to place your brand name, logo, slogan, or any other kind of visual design onto a material.

But how does sublimation printing work? And what are the main considerations you need to make when deciding if it’s the right fit for you? In this guide, we’ll tackle exactly that. From understanding the sublimation process as a whole, to working out which printer is the best for your needs, read on to discover more about sublimation printers and how they operate.

What is the process of sublimation printing?

Sublimation printing is a digital process, which uses a combination of heat and pressure to create a durable and long-lasting transfer that will stick to a wide variety of different materials. From start to finish, the entire sublimation printing process can be thought of like this:

1. Design creation – You create or find the perfect design that you want to add to a material.
2. Printing – A sublimation printer takes the design and transfers it, using special ink, onto a transfer paper.
3. Heating – A heat press is used to transfer the design from the paper onto your chosen surface.
4. Pressure transfer – While being heated, the ink turns into a gas. This gas penetrates the material, creating a permanent bond.
5. The finished product – After it’s been given time to cool, the final product should see your design left as a high-quality finish on your chosen material.

This is a tried and tested method which ensures the highest quality of print, so long as you’re using a high-quality sublimation printer.

The pros and cons of sublimation printing

Just as with any printing option, sublimation printing has considerations which you need to keep in mind when deciding if it’s the right fit for your needs. Read this section carefully to work out whether it’s the right approach for you to take.

The pros of sublimation printing

• Durability. Because of the adhesive nature of sublimation ink – which bonds with the fibres of your chosen surface – designs which are printed in this way tend to last for much longer than any other. This means that even when repeatedly washed or cleaned, the design won’t fade away over time. This also means that prints retain a vibrant and colourful nature throughout their entire lifespan.

• Versatility. The beauty of a sublimation print is that it can be applied to almost any surface. That gives you the freedom to add a design to anything from a piece of crockery to a window. While it’s most used to apply prints to T-shirts and other soft fabrics, you can broaden your horizons much further.

• Quick and efficient. Because the process only requires a digital element (rather than a physical screen or plate), it’s generally a much quicker type of printing system than more traditional methods. It also requires much less manual labour.

Are there drawbacks of sublimation printing?

• White creasing. If you’re sublimating on a surface that has existing creases, folds, or seams, there’s a chance that some areas won’t bond properly. This can leave white streaks where the ink hasn’t set.

• Base colour limitations. For sublimation printing to have the greatest impact, it’s best for it to be done on a white or very light surface. If you print on darker colours, the vibrancy of your finished product will be much dimmer. That’s because there’s no white ink in sublimation, meaning the base colour can’t be lightened at all.

• Limited to certain materials. Sublimation works on a number of surfaces and materials, but it isn’t the best approach for everything. For example, leather, cotton, and silk are not the best at bonding with the ink.

What is a sublimation printer?

In order to carry out the wider sublimation printing process, you’ll (unsurprisingly) need a sublimation printer. These high-tech pieces of hardware use heat as their primary means of printing, with the ink vaporised, before permeating onto the surface of your desired printing base.

What makes them even more different to normal printers is the fact that the ink they used is never in a liquid form. It starts off as a solid dye, before being converted to a gas and then back to solid again on the finished product.

This chemical level of bonding and fibre penetration is what allows sublimation printing to achieve such a vibrant and colourful finish – which also lasts a lot longer than most other traditional printing methods.

What can sublimation printing be used for?

One of the biggest benefits of using a sublimation printer is the versatility they provide. The unique way in which they print means that a wide variety of surfaces and materials can be successfully printed on. Any of the following substances can be printed onto using this technique:

• Ceramic
• Glass
• Aluminium
• Polyester

With that in mind, the possibilities are somewhat endless. Polyester fibre surfaces are considered to be the best for sublimation printing, which is why it’s become the most common way to leave a design on a T-shirt or tote bag.

Can I use sublimation ink in a normal printer?

It’s not recommended to use sublimation ink in a normal printer. There are a few reasons for this, varying from the costs associated, to the quality of the finished print. Firstly, the nature of the sublimation process means that when you try to print on regular paper, the vibrancy of the colour will be lost. This happens because the heating process will make the ink appear washed out on a surface where it’s not able to properly permeate and adhere.

There can also be bleeding between colours, where ink has been allowed to absorb into the paper itself. When sublimating, a special kind of paper is used as part of the transfer process. This paper stops excess ink from absorbing into the surface you’re printing on, only allowing the gas form to do so. Printing in a regular printer means the ink will also be absorbed by the clean sheet of paper, leading to boundaries blurring and lines appearing less crisp.

What’s more, sublimation ink tends to be more expensive, owing to its specialised purpose. Saving it for its intended use, where it’s going to have its greatest results, is a smart financial choice.

What are the best sublimation printers of 2025?

If you’ve decided you want to use sublimation printing to personalise an item or piece of clothing, you’re in luck – there are plenty of amazing units currently available. Here are some of the best sublimation printers to try in 2025 and beyond:

• Epson SureColor SC-F100. Offering both speed and precision, this model offers perfect printing results for items such as sportswear, soft signage, home décor or fashion textiles. It comes with a 4.3” touchscreen and cloud connectivity as standard.

• SureColor SC-F500. This SureColor model is one of the best decisions you can make if you’re someone who worries about resource management concerns. Detailed reports are provided by the printer’s accounting tool, which is able to track consumption and profitability. It has also been designed to reduce dust absorption and nozzle clogging.

• Epson SureColor SC-F6400. This unit comes with a four-colour Ultrachrome® DS system, as well as nozzle verification tech to help avoid clogging and reduce printing downtime. This makes the Epson SC-F6400 the perfect choice for anyone looking for long and uninterrupted production periods.

• Epson SureColor SC-F9500. Perfect for mid-sized production houses, this printer is the master of both speed and precision. Non-stop hot-swap ink packs mean that production can continue for as long as the printer is on, while Epson Cloud PORT means that remote diagnostics can be carried out if the machine starts to falter.

Are you interested in learning more about your printing options? If you’d like to discover how sublimation printing could be the perfect solution for you, or even just want to know more about other printing options available, make sure to reach out to a member of our friendly team today.