Marking cotton fabric

[Tom Sieczkarek]

Had a customer give me some prewashed cotton shirts to laser a logo onto. They were black and would laser tan and some would come out olive green. Job came out nice. Problem Im having is that after they are washed the first time the mark is washed away. I had a few extra and tried hand washing and still have the same result.There is no bleeding of the dye in the water. Ran the job at 150 and 250 dpi and tried increasing the power.Any suggestions. I tried the "you must have them lasered after every washing" but it didn't work. LOL

[Mike Null]

I have a feeling you may be swimming upstream on this one. It's likely that the cotton is too thin to permit adequate power to make a permanent mark without damaging the fabric. Unless it is as heavy as denim I don't think I'd risk it. There are so many other ways to mark it without risking damage.

[Martin Boekers]

I tried the "you must have them lasered after every washing" but it didn't work. LOL

YIKES!!! What if they brought it back to get re-lasered? I imagine that would be fun!

[Dan Hintz]

That's a unique problem... are you positive the dye isn't bleeding? Try washing one with a couple cups of vinegar in the wash water, and then laser. If the color changes back, I'm not sure what to suggest without playing myself.

[Joe Pelonio]

Difficult problem, the laser marks thick fabrics like carpet and fleece nicely by burning into it, with the thin cotton you are bleaching the dye only. More power and it would cut through. Screenprinting or heat transfer would be better options.