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The design is printed onto transfer paper with a special dye, then pressed onto the fabric at high heat. The dye turns straight from solid to gas, passes into the fibre, and sets there as the material cools. It is a dyeing process, not a printing one — nothing is deposited on the surface.
It only works on synthetics, chiefly polyester, and only on pale fabric. You cannot sublimate onto a dark ground, and you cannot sublimate white: white on a sublimated garment is simply the fabric showing through where no dye went.
Sublimation has inherent variation and it is worth knowing this before you inspect a garment:
None of these are faults, and a maker will not treat them as such. They are the trade for a print that never cracks.
The real failure mode is fading, and it comes from sunlight rather than washing. A sublimated dress left in a car window or dried outdoors on bright days will lose saturation, most visibly in reds and oranges. Chlorine will also strip it. Neither is reversible.
Sublimation is the most forgiving decoration you will encounter — cold hand wash, dry flat and out of direct sun is more than enough. The usual caution applies if the garment also carries stones or vinyl, in which case follow the rules for those. See Garment Care.
Run a finger over the edge of the design. If you cannot feel where the colour starts and stops, it is sublimated. If there is a detectable edge or a slight stiffness, you are looking at vinyl or a screen print.
