A custom double sided bandana is a great way to make a fashion statement. They can be worn around the neck, head, or even as a belt. You can find them in a variety of colors and patterns, so there is sure to be one that fits your style.
Double sided bandanas are also very versatile. You can wear them as a headband, scarf, or even a belt. They are easy to care for and can be machine washed and dried. Custom double sided bandanas make great gifts for friends and family members who love to show their personality through their clothing.
Most Companies Don’t Print Double Sided Bandanas
The double sided bandana is a bandana is elusive! It’s a bandana that has the print on each side. This allows for even more versatility, as you can wear the bandana with either side showing. Double sided bandanas are perfect for those who like to mix and match their outfits, and they make great gifts for friends and family members who are fashion-savvy.
It’s likely that you’ve been searching the internet for a company in the United States that can print on a 22″ x 22″ bandana, using a 20″ x 20″ print area (The classic bandana look with a 1″ blank perimeter) AND … wait for it … print on both sides!
You talk to vendor after vendor, to only get to the end part and find out that they can’t print on the back. It’s frustrating.
Well, I’m hear to tell you, that we CAN and DO print on the back.
Screen Printing Both Sides Of A Bandana
Most of the classic bandanas that you see in big box stores and other retailers are printed by the hundreds of thousands of pieces. Some designs are printed in the millions. These are the bandanas everyone uses as the standard for any other bandana. And, they are printed on both sides.
These retail bandanas are printed using a roller printer. These printers are 25 meters long and take several dozen gallons of ink to prime, and at minimum 50 meters of fabric to “thread”.
It is for this reason alone, that companies that have these printers, don’t spool them up to print 36, 72, 144 or even 2,000 bandanas. Heck, they won’t even talk to you if you call and want to discuss 5,000 bandanas.
The reason is, that it costs a few thousand dollars in time and materials to setup these monster printers, and if you want a small quantity, these companies just can’t do it for you, they’ll lose money on the setup.
What About Digital Bandana Printing For Double Sided Bandanas?
Unfortunately, digital bandana printing, in the form of direct to fabric printing or dye sublimation won’t produce a double sided bandana print either. While better suited for smaller quantity runs, these two technologies have the same Achilles heel. They have to be printed on white fabric, and they only print on one single side. When printing on white fabric, anything on the other side can be seen through.
This means that even if they wanted to flip the bandana over and print on the back, they can’t, because you can see the front through the back, and it would have to be a perfect line up.
If you were considering dye sublimation, that would add another issue, in that polyester is the only fabric that can hold a dye sub print. And nobody wants a polyester bandana.
I Heard Screen Printing Is Scratchy And Stiff
Well … yes and no. Screen printing is the method of how an ink is applied. But the ink or dye itself is what determines if something is stiff and scratchy.
Most companies that are advertising custom bandanas are t-shirt printing companies. T-Shirt printing companies use plastisol (plastic based) inks. They do this, because that’s what is commonly used for printing t-shirts. This type of ink is fine for t-shirts because you don’t put the print on your face or body, it’s always facing outward.
With bandanas, you wear a bandana on your neck, arm, face or head. A scratchy plastisol ink is not ideal.
Another concern with using a t-shirt printer to print your bandanas, is that they generally have a maximum print area no larger than 16″ x 18″. This means that for a perfect square (what you would want for a bandana print) they max out at 16″ x 16″. On a 22″ x 22″ bandana, that’s going to look funny and not like a traditional bandana.
Using Water-Based Screen Printing Inks
We achieve a double sided bandana print using the method of screen printing, with the added specialty of being able to print really, really big, and using water based inks and dyes.
BandanasOnline is a bandana manufacturing company. We make bandanas here in New Jersey, and then we print on them, all under the same roof. Since we specialize in the manufacturing of bandanas, every aspect of our production capabilities is geared towards delivering you the custom, double sided bandana print that you want.
How Do We Do It?
Our bandanas are made with 68/60 broad cloth, which means that they are soft and porous. We use a special screen mesh and water-based ink mixture to ensure that we get enough “Soak Thru” for the design to be visible on the back as well as the front.
While this is not as good as loading up a few hundred yards of fabric into one of the massive roll to roll printers, it does bridge the gap between having to order a minimum of 10,000 bandanas and being able to get your custom double sided bandana prints for quantities above 144 pieces.
Check out the video below that shows the results and will likely answer many of your questions. If you are ready to talk to a human or would just like more information, please call us (908) 806-8337 or use our customer contact form and we’ll call you!