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FAQ

We believe in absolute transparency because understanding how your custom products are made helps you make the best choices for your wardrobe and home. By sharing the science and process behind sublimation, we want to show you exactly why our vibrant prints never crack, peel, or fade like traditional vinyl. This guide is here to explain why we use specific materials, how to properly care for your items, and why our specialized crafting method guarantees a premium, long-lasting product you will love for years to come.

Q: Can you sublimate on any regular tumbler I buy from a local store?
A: No, you cannot use standard retail tumblers. Sublimation requires a specialized, factory-applied polymer coating that absorbs the ink. If you try to sublimate on a regular stainless steel, glass, or plastic cup, the ink will have nothing to bond to and will completely wipe away.

Q: Can you print white ink onto a dark or colored tumbler?
A: No, sublimation printers do not use or print white ink. The printer treats white spaces in a design as blank, meaning the underlying color of the tumbler will show through. For vibrant, true-to-color results, we must use white or very light-colored sublimation blanks.

Q: Are sublimated tumblers dishwasher safe, or do they require handwashing?
A: The sublimated design itself is permanent and will not wash off in the dishwasher. However, we highly recommend handwashing to protect the vacuum-insulated seal of the stainless steel. The intense, prolonged heat of a dishwasher can degrade that seal over time, ruining the cup's ability to keep drinks hot or cold.

Q: Will the design peel off, crack, or fade over time?
A: Never. Because the ink permanently bonds with the polymer coating at a molecular level, there is no physical layer sitting on top of the cup. There are no edges to peel up like vinyl, and no layers to crack like epoxy. The design remains completely smooth and intact for the life of the tumbler.

Sublimation printing on tumblers is a specialized process that permanently bakes high-resolution, full-color designs directly into the surface of the cup, ensuring your imagery never cracks, peels, or fades. Unlike traditional custom cups that rely on vinyl stickers or thick epoxy layers, sublimation transforms solid ink into a gas using intense heat, seamlessly fusing the design with a specialized polymer coating on the stainless steel. Because the ink becomes an inseparable part of the tumbler itself, the finished product features a completely smooth, edge-free texture that feels identical to the rest of the cup. This advanced method allows for vibrant, photo-realistic, wrap-around designs that easily handle daily use while maintaining their showroom quality for years to come.

Q: Can I microwave my sublimated tumbler to reheat a drink?
A: Absolutely not. Our sublimation tumblers are constructed from high-quality stainless steel to keep your beverages insulated. Placing any metal object inside a microwave is dangerous, can cause sparks, and will permanently damage both your cup and your microwave.

Q: What kind of images or file formats work best for a custom tumbler design?
A: High-resolution digital images yield the sharpest, most vibrant results. We recommend sending files in PNG or JPEG format with a resolution of at least 300 DPI. Low-resolution images or screenshots will look blurry, pixelated, or fuzzy once printed and baked onto the cup.

Q: Is there a noticeable seam where the design wraps around the back of the cup?
A: We use meticulous alignment and tight wrapping techniques to make full-wrap designs look as seamless as possible. However, because a flat piece of paper must meet perfectly around a cylinder, a very faint, minor seam line may be visible upon close inspection, especially on patterns that do not perfectly repeat.

Q: Are the materials and inks used on these tumblers safe and non-toxic?
A: Yes, sublimated tumblers are completely safe to use. The sublimation ink is trapped entirely inside the external polymer coating of the cup, meaning it never comes into contact with your hands or your beverage. The interior of the cup is food-grade stainless steel.

Common Questions/Answers Regarding Sublimation

What is Sublimation Printing?