Why you shouldn't use sublimated rugby jerseys

When rugby jerseys are sublimated, designs, team colours, numbers and other things are heat printed into the jersey. This is the thin layer you might find on sports jerseys you have. As it ages it does not peel off and stays part of the jersey, but sublimation can only be done on polyester jerseys and that is a problem. More about that later.

How do sublimated rugby shirts work? 

Sublimated rugby shirts work by heat printing the dyes into the polyester fiber. This means the dye remains there as a permanent part of the shirt. So sublimated rugby shirts are the ones we use for our playing kits.

Because the sublimation works by printing the dyes into the polyester fiber the shirts need to be made of polyester, but as you might know rugby has a long history of using cotton fabrics. Cotton rugby jerseys can’t use sublimation because they are limited by the way the threads are woven. That’s why you see that most old jerseys only have horizontal stripes. 

What is sublimation printing?

Sublimation printing is a method of applying a design to fabric using heat. Unlike traditional printing methods, where ink or another material is placed on top of the fabric, sublimation uses special dyes that become part of the fabric itself. The design is first printed onto transfer paper using sublimation dyes. The paper is then placed against the fabric and heated to a very high temperature. Under the heat, the dye changes from a solid directly into a gas and enters the fibres of the fabric. As it cools, the dye becomes solid again and remains inside the fibres.

This is what makes sublimation particularly useful for sportswear. Because the design is not sitting as a separate layer on top of the jersey, there is no thick patch of ink or plastic for the wearer to feel. It also means that the design does not normally crack or peel away in the same way that some surface-printed designs can. The colours and patterns become a permanent part of the material.

There is, however, an important limitation to sublimation printing: it works with synthetic fibres, particularly polyester. The structure of polyester allows the dye to bond with the fibres when heat is applied. Natural fibres such as cotton do not accept sublimation dyes in the same way, which is why modern sublimated rugby jerseys are almost always made from polyester.

But as time has passed we have come to know more about the effects of polyester. Polyester is made through crude oil and the production process is very wasteful. After we have used our polyester sportswear they amount to waste all around the world. Cotton on the other hand is a natural material and it decomposes. So there are some problems with using polyester sublimated rugby jerseys.

Why should you want cotton rugby jerseys

As we already quickly mentioned cotton rugby jerseys are not as wasteful during production as they are made from a natural material. Sublimated rugby jerseys basically become plastic waste after their use which is really hard to get rid off and also really hard to recycle. 

Cotton jerseys actually also have a history in recycling. For instance what canterbury did with their uglies range. They used all the excess fabric to combine them into new jerseys thus reducing waste. Polyester also sheds microplastics on your skins which also has a small impact on your health which cotton does not have as it is a natural material.

Cotton jerseys are limited in design though. As mentioned earlier, the weave only makes it possible to make designs with horizontal lines. But limitations only enhance creativity. That’s why the most creative jersey designs came about. That’s why we created our own designer, so you can tinker with the horizontal lines and create the design you like.

Comfort

The reason why sublimated rugby shirts started taking over from cotton rugby shirts is because they are better at wicking moisture. Cotton jerseys can become very heavy when wet and that is just less comfortable. That is why polyester is still the #1 material choice for sports until this day.

But there is one missing element. One of the most famous rugby jersey brands called ‘Canterbury of New Zealand’ experimented with different weaving methods and they found a way of making cotton rugby shirts where they wick moisture perfectly and the fabric feels very soft. That makes it very comfortable to wear for sports and it also was really strong so they could use it for rugby. Unfortunately the downsides of polyester were still unknown and since it was cheaper to make this material fell out of use. Until now. 

We have reintroduced this 100% cotton material for our own sports jerseys so you can order them now without all the downsides of polyester.

conclusion

All in all the polyester material of sublimated rugby jerseys has a negative impact on the environment. It also has a negative impact on you through microplastics. Therefore cotton rugby jerseys designed by yourself are the solution. Go check out our designer now and make the jersey that you have always wanted.