Promo coffee mugs, printed mugs, logo mugs, personalized mugs call them by any name. They are done to death in our promotional products industry yet they remain as the most popular merchandise product. Reason is simple you will always need a coffee mug and they break too often so you don’t mind another one. Often I have talked to my customers and explained the different options available to them for getting their own printed logo mugs. I have written this article so that everyone can benefit from the little knowledge that I have learned while working in this industry for 10 years. This will especially be helpful to you if you are placing an order for the first time. Do leave me a comment about how I can improve this post or how it was helpful to you.
I am quite sure many more experts from our industry may also end up reading this article. Please do let me know if I am missing a piece of information or I have not covered a new method for printing on coffee mugs which is useful for the promotional products industry. I would love to hear about it.
Transfer Printing / Decal Printing
This is the age old method of putting print on ceramics. All ceramics that you use in your kitchen are printed using this process. High quality artwork is printed on special papers (called decals) through machines which are especially made for ceramics industry. Even their ink is different. These paper prints are pasted on coffee mugs which are than put inside a kiln and baked on high temperatures. The artwork gets transfered on to the coffee mug permanently. This is the only method to use if you have tens and thousands of pieces to print. This process is not just economical it also gives you vibrant and perfect artwork which is permanent. However this process has its own limitation. You can only get this printing done in a factory setup and usually needs a large quantity order. Typically 2000 pcs as a minimum while some people may do it for 1000 quantity or less also. A longer timeline is required for this typically between 20 to 45 days for production.
Advantages of Decal Printing
* Lowest per piece cost for full color printed mugs.
* Permanent & Vibrant Artwork which does not fade with time or repeated washes.
Disadvantages of Decal Printing
* Large Quantity order required.
* Longer delivery time line.
* No Personalization is possible.
* High initial setup charges
What should you do when you want only 10 pcs with 10 different photographs and you want it tomorrow. Sublimation printing is your answer.
Sublimation Printing:
Newly Printed Sublimation Mugs
Sublimation Printing After couple of washes.
This process is quite similar to decal printing. We need to make a paper sticker which is pasted on a coffee mug and than heat is applied so that the artwork gets transfered on the coffee mug. The big difference is that this can be done out of garage space and needs no factory setup. However one does need a sublimation system. A special paper to print your artwork, an inkjet printer in which sublimation ink system can be attached, a round heat press machine in which you can fix your coffee mug to transfer the artwork and a sublimation coffee mug which is a normal ceramic mug but with a special coating so that the artwork can be transfered on the coffee mug perfectly. Sublimation printed mugs are quite popular now around the world. Infact if you have all types of products which you can print using sublimation inks.
Advantages of Sublimation printing
* Print any color artwork on even a single coffee mug. No setup cost.
* Fast Delivery: Printing one coffee mug takes just few minutes.
* Personalize every piece with a different name or different picture.
Disadvantages of Sublimation Printing
* Expensive: Sublimation mug is typically 2 to 5 times more expensive that a decal printed mug. But of course if you need only one coffee mug or few numbers than this is the only option.
* Permanency: Artwork does fade away over a period of time. Whether this time is few days, months or few years depends on many factors including quality of sublimation ink, quality of artwork, quality of transfer paper, quality of sublimation coffee mug and of course the skills of worker who is transferring the print.
While sublimation process looks quite simple one needs to be careful while selecting a vendor. I have heard many vendors say that if you don’t wash your coffee mug than the artwork would stay for a long time. To me it sounds funny especially when we are gifting coffee mug as a promotional product. We cannot tell a customers Don’t wash our coffee mugs so that our artwork will stay longer or This looks like a coffee mug but its actually a pen stand.
Pad Printing or Printing through a Round Printing Machine:
This is not a very popular method for printing on coffee mugs so I am covering it up briefly. In this method there is no heat applied for transferring the artwork. Its almost like screen printing, they use same colors just that the machines are setup in a manner that it can print on a curved surface. Just like screen printing you can print in single colors and maximum of 2-3 colors. So if you want a photo color image or any image with shading it will not print through this system.
Hope this post was useful. I would love to hear from you. Cheers !
Sumeet Brahmawar says:
Dear Nidhi,
Thank you so much for the above information! It was very enlightening!!!
Sumeet
Leatrice says:
Whoever wrote this, you know how to make a good atrcile.
Anu says:
Highly helpful post to share with my customers. Thank you! Look forward to reading more from you.
Isha says:
That was extremely useful information. The sublimation mugs are so common these days but after some time the picture just fades away and it starts looking dull and faded. Now I know why and what I should buy next time. Thanks for this post!
Mansi says:
Hi
Would like to know the inks that are used in for printing: does it approves the certifications or it is at customers risk?
Thank you for other details too.
admin says:
Hi Mansi
Thanks for such a good question. Many many people make sublimation mugs right now and we have almost equal number of suppliers who are always looking at winning more business and getting cheaper and cheaper inks. Since ink and paper is a recurrent cost every looks at reducing this as much as they can. I am in no position to comment which supplier is taking enough care, not to supply inks which can be a potential health hazard. At Pinnacle we took a conscious decision not to get into sublimation mugs. Majority of these personalized coffee mugs are used by children and there was no way that we were prepared to take the risk. Most of these inks come from china and many Chinese factories are known to use poor quality materials just to bring down the cost. So yes if you are buying a mug which has been printed using sublimation ink than it is purely your risk there is no way to check this. Hope this was helpful.
Kevrell says:
Shoot, who would have thohugt that it was that easy?
Catherine GLC Arts and Crafts Mall says:
I guess I have been lucky the coffee mugs I have purchased have not faded yet. Thanks for the information it was very helpful.
Nidhi says:
Hi Catherine
Thanks for writing. Honestly I think the people you bought it from used good materials to make your coffee mug so your mug is still bright and happy. However in India many we get many many of our customers turning to engraved coffee mugs as the mugs they used for last promotion faded away.
You have a nice store.