When you’ve fallen in love with a treasured clothing item, there’s nothing worse than seeing its crisp, vibrant custom print start to crack or fade after a few washes. Unfortunately, this can happen even to our most beloved custom garments, but what if we told you there were ways to extend the lifespan of your prints and preserve the quality of your favourite apparel?
In this AWDis guide, you’ll find everything you need to know to prevent your prints from cracking. From understanding why cracking happens to the best tips for restoring those garments thought to be damaged forever, we’ve got you covered.
Know Your Enemy: Why Do Prints Crack?
The first step to preventing cracking is understanding why it happens in the first place. It’s so frustrating to see quality garments ruined by this process, so let’s take a look at the technical reasons behind cracking.
Ultimately, cracking occurs when the print across a T-shirt, hoodie, or other garment becomes stressed, usually by heat. Washing garments at high temperatures can dry prints out, break down the bonds holding their inks together, and cause visible cracking. Heat is not the only culprit, as friction and harsh detergents can also wear away weakened prints.
Cracking doesn’t affect all prints equally. Those printed onto lower-quality fabrics will be subjected to greater stretch, increasing the chances of cracking, and under-cured prints are also more vulnerable. Ink should ideally be applied at high temperatures (around 160°C/320°F for plastisol) to fully fuse the molecules, and not doing so can leave prints, especially larger ones, at greater risk.
Prioritise Prevention: How to Protect Print on Clothes
With the basic causes of cracking covered, you might already have a few ideas for preventing it. At AWDis, we know several factors can contribute to wear and tear on custom prints, and we’ve got a few top tips for protecting those beloved logos and designs.
Choosing the Right Canvas
We understand better than anyone the power of customisation, and the first steps towards preventing cracking can be taken in the earliest stages of creating your custom apparel. When selecting your canvas, we strongly recommend choosing garments made from high-quality fabric to give the inks the very best chance of permeating and bonding.
Across our AWDis ranges, you’ll find garments made from 100% cotton, like our 100 Polo, which provide a flat, absorbent surface for prints to settle. High-quality materials like this reduce the likelihood of ink shifting over time, thereby reducing the risk of subsequent cracking.
Prioritising Aftercare
As mentioned earlier, machine washing custom apparel puts its prints at the greatest risk of cracking. In a busy world, handwashing clothes isn’t always a viable alternative, but there are a number of ways you can protect your prints and extend their lifespan:
- Avoid Harsh Chemicals: By avoiding products like bleach and fabric softeners, you can prevent inks from being broken down.
- Turn Down the Temperature: Always aim to wash your printed clothing at 30°C or lower. High heat causes garment fibres to stretch, which in turn stretches the ink, so avoiding this helps protect prints for longer.
- Wash Inside Out: By turning your custom apparel inside out, you can protect prints against the friction caused by zippers, buttons, and the machine drum scratching against their ink.
- Opt for Air Drying: Tumble dryers rely on high heat to dry clothes quickly, but this can cause fabrics to expand and inks to break down. By air drying, this damage can be prevented.
The Key to Restoration: How to Fix Cracked Print on Clothes
Prevention is vital for protecting custom prints, but what do you do if cracking has already occurred? Well, it might not be too late, as there are a few actionable steps you can take to try and rescue your favoured garments. Significant cracks might not be salvageable, but if you’ve noticed the first signs of slight cracking across your prints, you can try the following two methods.
Method #1: The Baking Paper Trick
If you’ve got a minor crack or your print is starting to lift slightly, this trick can sometimes help restore its original finish.
Simply place your garment on an ironing board and cover the cracked print with a sheet of baking paper (or parchment paper). Next, with a medium-hot iron (no steam), press over the covered area for about 10 to 15 seconds. This small application of heat remelts the ink, helping it fuse back together and remedy the slight cracking.
Method #2: The Fabric Paint/Ink Infill
For cracks that are a little bit larger, here is a more elaborate idea that can work wonders for bringing colour and style back to your prints.
Identify a high-quality flexible fabric paint that colour-matches your cracked print. With a fine-tip brush, delicately apply paint where necessary to bridge gaps caused by cracking. Once complete, use a heat press or iron to seal the paint in place.
Protect Your Prints With the Best-Quality Garments at AWDis
The first step towards giving your prints longevity is selecting the right canvas, and that’s exactly what we offer at AWDis. From our range of high-quality denim to our print-friendly polos, we have the perfect pieces for your needs. Check out our ranges and find the perfect customisable clothes for you. Got questions? Reach out – our team is always here to help!
