subscribing....interested as well

It can be done but there are going to be some factors involved and some things to keep in mind. Almost all tri suits, tops, bottoms are sublimated. The sublimation process is always started with a white piece of fabric then dyed w/ high temp ink around 400 degrees. When you screen print a textile item it has to cure through a dryer at 330 degrees for 30 seconds or so. The issue you may run into is that, depending on what color(s) you want to print and what color the suit is, the color from the suit may bleed through the ink color due to the ink that was used to dye the fabric originally. We have the same issues on motocross jerseys as well since it's the same process. The more colors you want to try and screen print on the suit may lead to more problems as you have to "flash" after you put a base layer of white on the design assuming it's not a white suit as we know, no one wins seeing someone in a all white suit. Your also going to probably run into screen charges and set-up fees associated with screen printing. We have found that by going to a heat transfer it is much more reasonably prices and set-ups are much less if anything. The feel is much like a screen print feel but the difference is it's die cut using a plotter and applied with a heat press at a much lower temp than a screen printing dryer (approx. 315 degrees for 8-10 seconds). I have done a few of my 2XU tri tops and shorts this way and they have held up through 8 or so washes already. Heat transfer's are the same way Orca applies their logo to most of there tops and shorts which is what led me to going that route. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the detailed response!

Any idea what the cost would be for heat transferring a few logos for the front and back of a suit? Are there websites that can print and cut the logos, then you use an iron or something for the transfer?

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
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I wouldn't go the buying something off-line and applying it with a iron just because it's hard to get even pressure and temperature, we have a couple different size heat presses we use and for a suit, top or bottom. We usually but a Teflon bag on the inside so you keep that even pressure on the design. Most apparel decorating places should be able to help you out. As far as artwork goes, some of our customers make something on customink.com and just send us the link to what they made and we can usually pull it off of there and make it work or if you had an .eps, .ai, .pdf or any other kind of vector file of the artwork they should be able to make it happen as well. We typically charge $8-15 per side depending on the detail of the print or if we have to spend extra time doing artwork for it.

I used Andre and the team at Kiwami to do just that on my Octane. Photo available here: https://twitter.com/...302075547648/photo/1

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I've done one off sublimation (about 12 years ago) at a local shop, IT was initially expensive and kind of a PITA for the shop. They have to set up logo size, correct colours etc. The second and third time it was much easier and cheaper. Having said that they could do it on a white background only, I don't think you can sublimate on anything but white.

If you are looking at the PI you might be stuck with ITU style logos (white only logo on a colour background) IIRC the new Garneau that Rapp wore at AZ has a white top, I believe he tested it as about the same as the PI.

You (or your coach) might be better off with the trucker hat route, only like 3-5$ per piece�..;-)

(edit, I wouldn't do the Iron on thing. Tried it and wrecked a top and the logos don't really stretch well)

Maurice

Contact Kiwami, they've got a ton of experience doing this sort of thing.

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you might want to try a small.

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talk to Kiwami or whoever you talk to make sure that they have specifically done the Octane stuff before as it's one of the hardest tri tops on the market to print on.

You want someone who can do either die-cut solid colored vinyl (designs cut out of pre-colored film) or else full color vinyl (printed in full color on vinyl film and then cut to shape) AND someone who has special vinyl and printable vinyl specficially for this material. Regular heat transfer vinyl and regular printable vinyl film will not work on those tops and will peel off really quick.

When the Octane is printed there is a heat process involved when pressing on the vinyl. If it's overheated even just a bit some of the dye sublimation dye already in the top will leach into the new print darkening it. This can also happen over time. Often prints on that material will be slightly darker than you want and it's really easy to screw up.

We used to do a lot of tri-top printing and supplied transfers to several of the printing shops out there that did tri-suit printing. We still supply transfers for anyone printing in bulk and who owns their own heat press and knows what they are doing but we don't print single suits anymore.

winskins did mine. it wasn't cheap but the work was good. My only regret was that I should have made the graphics larger. When they sent the proofs through, it was on the suit just lying on the ground (so it wasn't stretched). Once the suit stretches out, the artwork looked too small. So I would do it again, just making the graphics larger than I did

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+1

I really have no idea what they thought about sizing the suit like this. I found a size S suit in an outlet and first thought it would be too small anyway (I am 6'2 and 160-165) but after some PI jerseys in S fit just fine I tried it on as well and it fits like a glove. I just wished the zip was a bit longer to get it on easier so maybe I have to swim with it...

What are people doing who would actually need a size small? especially since PI is not doing a XS.

At the same outlet I bought some PI stuff in S, a Craft jersey in M, a Castelly jersey in L and even tried an Asos jersey in L which was too tight.

Thanks for all the replies! I'd probably only be doing two graphics on each side - tri club and coach logo. Still not sure on sizing, though.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023