<< RETURN TO HOME PAGE >> VIEW OUR DYE SUB TRANSFER INFORMATION PAGE!   S&K has come up with a great solution to an age old printing problem, how to minimize the white lines when printing dark art on socks. We have developed our 'Dark Art Sock' which has dark threads sewn on the INSIDE of the sock so when the sock is stretched while worn the white lines are minimized giving the sock a more finished look. Our new 'Dark Art Sock' has one additional benefit, you do NOT need to stretch the sock over a form in order to press the artwork onto it, reducing labor time which helps to increase your revenue! Both socks were placed on the same 4" tube to show equal stretch and print quality. Our new 'Dark Art Socks' have been engineered to help reduce the visible 'white lines' that are seen on most printable socks on the market. The standard socks work fine for lighter prints, but once you try print dark art or a photograph, the lines are very visible. S&K has engineered a new sock, from the inside out, to help reduce the visible lines while worn. The socks have been stitched with black on the inside and a very light gray on the outside so when printed you still get the full rich color of your prints, but the dark threads are in the inside of the ribs of the sock to help minimize distortion of the artwork while worn. This is all done WITHOUT the use of an expensive and time consuming sock form to spread the sock during pressing. Our 'Dark Art Sock' has been designed with YOU in mind! DOWNLOAD SOCK FLYER For additional information about this, or any other product we offer please contact us at 1-800-764-8688 or you can send us an email at sales@skmfgprintshop.com. CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS AS A PDF DOWNLOAD THE LIGHT/DART ART SOCK TEMPLATES HERE INSTRUCTUCTIONS ON HOW TO PRESS A DYE SUBLIMATION TRANSFER ON A SOCK Preparing Your Artwork on the S&K Template In order to ensure that your printout will produce the best print for your sock we ask that you please download our sock template and open it in the appropriate design software. The template has been created to give you directions/instructions on how to lay your artwork out. View our Templates - Look under Printable Products Placement of Artwork When you place your artwork on the template you want to make sure that there are NO WHITE SPACES between your artwork as you may end up with white lines along the edge of your sock and it will cause the print to not wrap completely around when pressed. You will need to supply art for 2 complete socks ( you may have art 4 files in the template, 1 for each side of each sock ). The template has been designed to work perfectly with our line of socks. Preparing your Dye Sub for Pressing The Dye Sublimation prints that S&K provides, using our templates, has fold lines at the top and bottom of each print so you can cleanly fold the paper in order to be able to have artwork on BOTH sides of your sock. The prints are large enough to be able to press a pair of socks during one pressing to help reduce labor time and to increase revenue! Placing Your Socks for Pressing The Dye Sub sheets that will be printed using the S&K templates do not have any white lines which could cause visible seams on the finished sock. When the paper is folded over you should place the sock INTO the fold of the paper ( the edge of the sock should be in the fold of the paper ). When you fold the paper over make sure that the sock does not move! Ensure Alignment of Artwork When you fold the paper over the paper should have minimal overlap and should just cover the entire sock. Make sure that all of the sock is under the paper as any piece of the sock that is not under the paper will not have print on it. If you have artwork that will 'wrap' around the sock make sure that the artwork aligns itself ( as seen in the photo ). Placement of the 2nd Sock Place the 2nd sock in exactly the same method while making sure that you do not move the first one. You should watch to make sure that the 'tops' of both of the socks are aligned so the artwork is the same on both of socks when pressed. Closing the Paper With both socks layed out flat and in the crease of the paper carefully fold the Dye Sub paper closed ( fold it like a taco with the sock inside ). Watch your hands on the press since it is very hot, it will be about 400°F! Protecting Your Equipment To protect your equipment we highly recommend that you use a piece of craft paper between the Dye Sub paper and your press. The heating action of the press will release the dyes ( converting them to a 'gas' state ) and some of the ink 'may' bleed through the paper. The craft paper will absorb the 'stray ink' and protect it from getting on your press surface and transfering to the next pressed item. A little prepaation now will save time and frustration! Pressing your Socks With everything in place you are now able to press your socks. You will be pressing your socks at approximatly 400°F for 35-45 seconds ( the actual time and temp will vary depening on your equipment and the socks being pressed ). Once the press is done with the first side you will carefully open the press and flip the entire dye sub paper, with the socks inside, over. You will then press this side as well ( as the heating element only does one side at a time ). After Pressing When the 2nd pressing is done you will carefully peal back the Dye Sub paper. You may wish to use gloves for this as the socks will be extremely hot. Peel the paper back like opening a book for best results. Removing the Socks After you have opened the Dye Sub paper you can then carefully remove the socks from the paper. The socks will be very hot to the touch so you may wish to use gloves to protect your hands. The socks are ready at this point and can be folded and ready for sale. Finished Product Your finished socks have now been pressed and are ready for sale. If all of the steps were followed you should not have any white seams as the process will transfer to the edges as well. The entire process should be able to be done within less than 2 1/2 minutes so you would be able to press at least 24 pairs of socks an hour! If you have any questions about our socks or any of our other products please contact us at 1-800-764-8688.