Caldron Graphics Textile Inks | Digital Pigment Ink for Fabric Printing

Inks

Caldron Graphics Textile Inks | Digital Pigment Ink for Fabric Printing

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Product Description

Caldron Graphics Textile Pigment Inks for Direct-to-Fabric & DTG printers. No washing or steaming required. Ultra-soft hand feel, eco-friendly, and works on cotton, poly, & blends.

Caldron Graphics Textile Inks | Premium Digital Textile Pigment Ink for Fabrics

The Caldron Graphics Textile Ink is a state-of-the-art, water-based pigment ink engineered specifically for high-speed digital textile printing. Designed for Direct-to-Fabric (DTF-Direct) and advanced DTG textile printers, this ink provides an ultra-soft hand feel, brilliant color gamut, and exceptional wash fastness without the cumbersome post-processing required by traditional dye-sublimation or reactive inks. Unlike dye-based textile inks that require massive steamers, extensive washing, and chemical fixers to bond to the fabric, Caldron Graphics pigment textile ink uses advanced nano-binding agents to permanently lock color to both natural and synthetic fibers using only heat. Whether you are printing custom cotton apparel, polyester blends, linen, or rayon, this digital textile ink delivers outstanding coverage, zero ink bleeding, and consistent results. It is the ultimate solution for print-on-demand fashion, custom home textiles, and industrial fabric roll-to-roll printing.

Key Advantages of Caldron Graphics Textile Inks

✔ Ultra-Soft Hand Feel

Formulated with micro-level pigment particles that sit smoothly on top of the fabric fibers. Unlike traditional screen printing plastisol or heavy reactive textile inks, Caldron Graphics ink leaves the fabric feeling breathable, soft, and natural to the touch—crucial for high-end fashion and comfortable apparel.

✔ No Steaming or Washing Required

Traditional textile printing with dye inks requires expensive steamers and industrial washing machines to remove excess dye. Caldron Graphics pigment ink cures instantly with a heat press, calender, or dry heat tunnel. This drastically reduces your equipment footprint, water usage, and production time.

✔ Universal Fiber Compatibility

While sublimation strictly requires polyester, and reactive inks only work on cellulose (cotton), this digital textile ink bonds excellently to Cotton, Polyester, Cotton/Poly Blends, Linen, Viscose, and Rayon. One textile printer can handle virtually any fabric roll or garment you throw at it.

✔ Exceptional Wash & Rub Fastness

Achieves a 4-5 grade on ISO wash-fastness tests. The nano-binders in this textile ink form a flexible, cross-linked matrix around the pigment, ensuring the print resists fading, cracking, and bleeding even after 50+ industrial laundry cycles.

✔ Eco-Friendly & OEKO-TEX Compliant

As a water-based textile ink, it is free from heavy metals, formaldehyde, and APEO chemicals. It meets strict international environmental standards, making it completely safe for printing baby clothing, underwear, and sensitive skin apparel on your digital printing equipment.

✔ High-Speed Jetting Reliability

Precision-milled to sub-micron particle sizes, the ink flows flawlessly through high-density printheads (like Epson i3200-U1 or Ricoh Gen6) at high pass speeds. This anti-clogging textile ink ensures maximum uptime for roll-to-roll wide format textile printers.

Caldron Graphics Textile Inks Technical Specifications

ITEM	SPECIFICATION
Product Name	Caldron Graphics Digital Textile Pigment Ink
Ink Type	Water-Based Pigment Ink with Nano-Binders
Color Configuration	CMYK + White (Varies by printer setup)
Printhead Compatibility	Epson i3200-U1, Epson 4720, Ricoh Gen5 / Gen6, StarFire
Curing Method	Heat Press (150°C-180°C), Calender, or Dry Heat Tunnel
Curing Time	30 seconds – 3 minutes (Depending on heat source)
Wash Fastness	Grade 4-5 (ISO 105-C06)
Dry/Rub Fastness	Grade 4 (Dry) / Grade 3-4 (Wet)
Hand Feel	Ultra-Soft (Comparable to dye-sublimation)
Post-Processing	None required (No washing or steaming needed)
Shelf Life	12 – 18 Months (Stored sealed at room temperature)
Compatible Fabrics	100% Cotton, 100% Polyester, Cotton/Poly Blends, Linen, Viscose, Rayon, Canvas

*For direct-to-garment (DTG) applications on dark garments, a standard textile pre-treatment liquid is required before printing the white ink layer. For roll-to-roll light fabric printing, pre-treatment is generally not needed.

Caldron Graphics Textile Inks FAQ

The fundamental difference lies in how the color bonds to the fabric. Dye-sublimation ink turns into a gas under heat and physically dyes the inside of polyester fibers—it requires polyester fabric and cannot print on cotton. Pigment textile ink (like Caldron Graphics) does not dye the fiber; instead, it uses a binding agent to glue the color to the surface of the fabric. Because of this, pigment ink can print on almost any material (cotton, poly, blends) and requires only heat to cure, whereas dye-sub requires a calender press and strictly polyester materials.

No. This is one of the biggest advantages of Caldron Graphics digital textile ink. Traditional reactive textile printing requires steaming the fabric, then washing it in massive industrial machines to remove unbonded dye and chemicals. Our pigment ink is a "print-and-cure" system. Once it passes through the heat press or heat tunnel, the binder is activated, the water evaporates, and the fabric is ready to be sewn or shipped immediately. This saves massive amounts of water, time, and factory space.

Yes. Caldron Graphics textile ink is highly versatile. For roll-to-roll direct-to-fabric printing, you load the ink into a specialized textile wide format printer, print directly onto raw fabric rolls, and cure it with a built-in heating unit or external calender. For DTG (Direct-to-Garment), you use the exact same ink in a flatbed textile printer to print on finished, sewn garments like t-shirts and hoodies.

To get the maximum 4-5 wash fastness rating out of this textile ink, two factors are critical: Temperature and Time. You must ensure the fabric reaches the optimal curing temperature (usually between 150°C and 180°C, depending on the fabric) for the required duration (typically 1 to 3 minutes). If the digital printing equipment does not reach this temperature, the nano-binders will not fully activate, and the print will wash out over time. Always test cure settings on a sample swatch before running full production.