Printing on clothing other than t-shirts---like swimwear

[BoydRiver]

HI All,
I just come back from holiday (vacation) and obviously spending a week in the sun everyone was wearing swimming costume and tubes/vests and sunny type of clothing and of course printed towels.
There was a lot of this clothing, especially the knee length swim wear people wear these days that had lots of artwork printed on them, even if it was only the simple calvin kline type print on the waistband.

This got me to wondering how this type of textile was printed, assuming that the prints are placed on the garment after manufacture.

Is anyone printing beach wear/towels please and if so, how is it done? Is it simply the same way as I am learning on the forum?
These garments feel the same as the cloth they are on and get abused with sea water and pool chlorine but never seem to fade or wash out.
I would love some tuition on this issue if it's available.
Regards
Tony

PS I hope this forum category is OK, we don't yet have any for non textile or other textile printing.

[Catspit Productions]

I think most polyester swimwear that is printed all over is done by sublimation before the garment is assembled. Even if it’s 100% cotton or a mix thereof it would be done preassembly. The key to deciding whether it was done before the garment was assembled or after is by looking at how the design meets at the seams or edges.

Most garment products that have designs that wrap around the entire garment will have been printed before assembly in one of 2 ways. The entire bolts of fabric the product is made from is printed or sublimated and then cut into panels or parts to make the garments. The other way is to print or sublimate the fabric after it has been cut into the panels but before the actual stitching occurs.

But most swimwear is polyester based so that it will dry faster after swimming. Therefore a majority of it is sublimated. When sublimation or screen printing is done correctly it will withstand salt or pool water very well. But chlorinated water will fade most any bathing suit over time.

The use of specially formulated inks and dyes may also be used with swimwear. Towels will be printed with mostly water based inks to penetrate the unsmooth surface.

That’s about as much as I know about it

[BoydRiver]

Thanks, that was very informative.
If anyone else has anything further to add I would love to read it.