Short answer
Choose reactive for cotton, viscose and silk when you want a soft hand and the best wash fastness. Choose pigment when cost and a simple process matter more than softness, or when the fabric is a blend. Choose disperse (sublimation) for polyester, where it gives the brightest colour with no feel at all but cannot print white. The file needs the same pixels for all three; what changes is how you plan white, dark grounds and large solid areas.
Key points
- Reactive suits cotton, viscose and silk; disperse suits polyester; pigment goes on almost anything.
- Pigment is the simplest process with no steaming or washing, but large solid areas can feel stiff.
- Sublimation cannot print white, so every white in your file shows the fabric colour.
- All three need the same pixels at print size; check DPI before you choose an ink.
- Ask the printer for one strike-off on the real fabric before the full run.
Side by side
| Reactive | Pigment | Disperse / sublimation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabrics | Cotton, viscose (rayon), linen, silk | Almost any: cotton, polyester, blends, silk | Polyester; 100% gives the best colour |
| How colour holds | Dye forms a chemical bond with the fibre | A binder glues pigment to the surface | Heat moves dye into the polyester fibre |
| After printing | Steam, then wash off and dry | Dry and heat cure; no steam, no wash | Heat press or calender from transfer paper, or heat fixing for direct disperse |
| Hand feel | Soft, like the unprinted fabric | Can feel stiff on large solid areas | No feel at all |
| Wash fastness | Excellent | Good; wears with heavy rubbing and chlorine | Very good on polyester |
| Brightness | Bright and deep | Slightly less brilliant than reactive | Very bright on white polyester |
| White and dark | White comes from the fabric; dark grounds fine | White comes from the fabric; dark grounds fine but stiffer | No white at all; light fabric only |
| Cost tendency | Higher (ink, steam, washing, effluent) | Usually the lowest per metre | Transfer paper adds a consumable |
All three are found in digital (inkjet) printing and in screen printing. This guide talks about digital, which is where most designers send files today.
How each ink works
Reactive
Reactive dyes bond chemically with cellulose: cotton, viscose and linen. They also print silk, though some print houses use acid dyes for silk. The fabric is pre-treated, printed, then steamed so the dye reacts. A washing step then removes the dye that did not fix, along with the thickener.
Note: A classic recipe in the dye literature is saturated steam at 102°C for 8 minutes, then a cold rinse, a wash at the boil and a final rinse. Your print house will have its own settings, but the steam and wash steps are always there.
These extra steps are why reactive costs more. The dye ends up inside the fibre, so the fabric keeps its soft hand.
Pigment
Pigment is coloured particles held on the fabric by a binder. After printing, the fabric is dried and heat cured. There is no steaming and no washing, which saves water, energy and time.
Because the colour is a thin film on top, pigment works on almost any fibre and on blends. The same film makes heavy coverage feel stiffer than reactive, and an Indian Textile Magazine report rates reactive as "more brilliant and softer than pigment printing".
Disperse and sublimation
Disperse dyes go into polyester under heat. In sublimation the design is first printed as a mirror image on transfer paper, then pressed onto the fabric at about 195 to 215°C. Direct disperse printing puts ink straight on the fabric and fixes it with heat.
Sublimation colour is very bright on white polyester and leaves no layer to feel. It works only on polyester. Guides differ on the minimum: some accept 50% polyester, many suggest 65%, and the colour gets lighter as the cotton share rises.
Which fabric, which ink
| Fabric | Usual ink | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Cotton kurti, dress material, bedsheet | Reactive or pigment | Reactive for softness and fastness, pigment for cost |
| Viscose or rayon | Reactive | Cellulose fibre, soft drape kept |
| Silk saree or dupatta | Reactive or acid | Dye ink keeps the sheen and hand |
| Polyester georgette, chiffon, crepe saree | Disperse or sublimation | Only disperse dyes colour polyester well |
| Poly-cotton blend | Pigment | One ink covers both fibres |
| Sportswear, flags, polyester home textiles | Sublimation | Bright colour, no hand |
This maps closely onto India's print clusters. A Government of India Textiles Committee profile says Surat produces about 40% of the country's man-made fabric, so polyester sarees and dress material there are mostly disperse or sublimation work. Cotton and viscose go to reactive or pigment printers.
What each ink needs from your file
The pixels are the same for all three. A 44 × 90 inch dupatta at 300 DPI is 13,200 × 27,000 px whether it prints in reactive or sublimation. What changes is how you plan colour.
For reactive
- Dark and full grounds print well and stay soft, so you can use them freely.
- White areas are unprinted fabric. A white outline on a navy ground is the fabric showing through, so make it wide enough to stay open.
- Dye travels a little into the yarn, so test hairlines on a strike-off.
For pigment
- Large solid blocks, especially dark full grounds, give the stiffest hand. If the client wants softness, let more fabric show or choose a lighter ground.
- Expect slightly less brilliance than reactive and check bright pinks and greens on a strike-off.
- Blends print evenly, so pigment is a safe choice when the fabric content is mixed or unknown.
For sublimation
- There is no white ink. Every white or very pale area in your file shows the fabric colour.
- Print on white or light polyester only. A dark ground has to be printed as colour, which is fine because there is no hand.
- The paper print looks dull before pressing. Judge colour on the pressed fabric.
- The RIP or the printer usually handles the mirroring for transfer paper, so send the design the right way round unless asked.
Warning: Never design white motifs for a sublimation print on coloured polyester. They will come out the colour of the fabric.
For every ink, ask the printer whether they want RGB or CMYK and which file format. Our guide to TIFF, JPG and PNG covers formats.
Choose reactive, pigment or disperse
Choose reactive if the fabric is cotton, viscose, linen or silk and the buyer cares about a soft feel and colour that survives many washes. Kurtis, premium dress material and silk sarees fall here.
Choose pigment if cost per metre and a short, simple process matter most, the fabric is a blend, or you are sampling quickly. Accept a firmer hand on heavy coverage.
Choose disperse or sublimation if the fabric is polyester. Accept that white and dark fabric are not options for sublimation.
Tip: When a buyer is unsure, print one strike-off of the same repeat in two inks. Feel and colour on the real fabric settle the choice faster than any table.
Worked example
Example: A buyer wants one floral design as a cotton kurti panel (20 × 30 in) and a polyester georgette dupatta (44 × 90 in). At 300 DPI the panel is 20 × 300 = 6,000 by 30 × 300 = 9,000 px, and the dupatta is 13,200 × 27,000 px.
The kurti goes to reactive for a soft hand, and the dupatta goes to sublimation on white georgette. One layered master file serves both, saved at the larger size.
The design has white flowers on a deep teal ground. On the reactive kurti the white flowers are the bare cotton and the teal stays soft. On the sublimation dupatta the white flowers are the white georgette, which works, but the same design on cream georgette would turn every flower cream.
If the client's file is only 1,650 × 3,375 px, the dupatta needs 8× more pixels on each side: 1,650 × 8 = 13,200 and 3,375 × 8 = 27,000. That is about 356 megapixels, far above the free limit of about 36 megapixels on our upscaler. Enlarge one repeat tile instead and build the dupatta from it, or ask the client for the original artwork.
Common mistakes
- Sending a design with white motifs for sublimation on coloured polyester.
- Expecting pigment to match the softness of reactive on a full dark ground.
- Sending a polyester-cotton blend for sublimation and getting faded colour.
- Approving colour from the sublimation paper print.
- Choosing the ink before checking that the file has enough pixels for the print size.
What to do next
Find out the fabric and the ink first, then check your file size in the fabric DPI calculator. If the design is too small for the print size, enlarge it 4× or 8× in the AI image upscaler and save it as TIFF for the print house. Our 300 DPI converter explains why a small file needs more pixels and why changing the DPI label alone does not help.
Questions people ask
Which is better, reactive or pigment printing?
Reactive is better for softness and wash fastness on cotton, viscose and silk. Pigment is simpler and usually cheaper per metre because it needs no steaming or washing, and it works on blends. Pick by fabric, end use and budget.
Can sublimation be done on cotton?
Not well. Sublimation dye bonds only with polyester, so on 100% cotton the print comes out faint and washes away. Blends print lighter in proportion to the cotton, and many guides suggest at least 65% polyester.
Does pigment print fade after washing?
Pigment prints have good wash and light fastness once properly heat cured, but they sit on the surface, so heavy rubbing and chlorine can wear them over time. Reactive and disperse prints usually hold up better to repeated washing.
Why do sublimation prints look dull on paper?
The colours develop fully only when heat moves the dye into the polyester. Judge the colour on the pressed fabric, not on the transfer paper.
Do I need a different file for reactive, pigment and sublimation?
The pixel size and DPI are the same for all three. What changes is colour planning: white areas, dark grounds and solid blocks behave differently, and your printer may ask for RGB or CMYK depending on the machine.