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What is the difference between Reveal S and direct-to-garment printing?

With DTG printers, the shirt must be aligned on the DTG’s platen to be printed. Once printed, the shirt must be carefully removed and placed in your heat press. Generally, DTG inks are pressed for about 35 to 45 seconds to cure the ink. I estimate the round-trip time for a typical DTG shirt is about three minutes.

With the Reveal S paper, you only need to print the transfer and press. Transfer time is typically 20 to 25 seconds, which is about how long it takes to print the transfer.

After the first print, it is likely that the heat pressing will be the limiting factor for throughput. Allowing set-up time to load the press, we can still achieve at least a three-times increase in throughput along with a significant decrease in labor.

With DTG, your material costs are just ink and the garment used. With the Reveal S process, it’s the paper, sublimation ink, and your garment.

My cost estimates show the cost of both production methods to be about the same.

-David Gross, Condé

Condé Systems president

David Gross

David Gross is the president of Condé Systems, Inc. For over 30 years, he has developed and built the Mobile, Alabama based company into the premier source for printers, substrates, and consumables serving the sublimation and digital heat transfer industries. David's goal has always been to provide business owners the superior guidance and resources needed to be successful at these exciting and profitable decorating technologies. Gross regularly contributed articles to A&E magazine as part of his “Road to Sublimation Success” series and continues to contribute to GRAPHICS PRO. He has co-authored several books including RTSS: Harnessing the Power of Sublimation for Outstanding Profits, RTSS: Cashing In On The ChromaLuxe Revolution, The Sublimation Journal, and others. He can be reached by email at dgross@conde.com.

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Charlie Fox

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