Ideally, what we all want from ink is a soft and lightweight print that achieves accurate color matching along with optimal levels of vibrancy, that is breathable enough, holds the details of a design, is versatile enough to print on a variety of garments, is durable enough to stand up to years of wearing and washing, is easy to use, cost-effective, and eco-friendly.
So the real question is not which ink is better, but rather: Which is best for which circumstance? There are many factors to consider, and for the purposes of this post, I’ve broken impression à chaud down into the top eight. Keep in mind there will be different sets of considerations for different types of customers, and a different set if you’re a printer. Let’s quickly go through them.
Water-based ink has a softer hand (usually) In printer speak, “hand” is essentially the way a print feels, along with its weight. The hand can be soft and light (yes please), or rough and heavy (no thanks), or somewhere in between. Water-based ink inks can produce some of the softest and lightest T-shirt prints out there, and in the best cases, there is virtually no hand– which is a good thing.
Why does water-based ink have a softer hand?The reason is the fundamental difference between these inks. Plastisol, as you might imagine, is plastic-based. It’s made up of PVC particles or other polymers suspended in plasticizer. It’s essentially liquid plastic. And when heated to a high temperature (or cured) it becomes a solid. So a Plastisol print is a layer of solidified plastic that sits on top of the fabric.