Screen Printing:


Printing on Tri-Blended Apparel

Follow these tips to get vibrant, soft-hand results on tricky fabrics that contain varying amounts of polyester, cotton and rayon.

By Rick Davis, Contributing Writer


American Apparel’s unisex Tri-Blend short-sleeve track shirt is constructed from a unique blend of 50% polyester/25% ring-spun combed cotton/25% rayon, featuring a vintage-like drape while offering both comfort and durability.

August 27, 2013

The ever-changing nature of apparel fashion trends has forced apparel manufacturers to consider new and different fabric constructions to meet changing demands from consumers. Fabrics have diversified, moving away from conventional cotton and cotton/poly fabrics to those that are lighter and feature more stretch, such as tri-blends.

Due to the light fabric weight, it is more important than ever to minimize the ink film of the embellishment in order to maintain a soft hand.

In this Impressions Tech Tips Newsletter, we will look at four of the different fabric configurations, and the different embellishment processes to which they lend themselves. American Apparel introduced its first tri-blend fabric in 2006, with a 50% cotton/25% polyester/25% rayon construction. The general fabric has a tight knit, its weight varies based on the garment style and it exhibits minimal shrinkage.