Hoodie cord is a highly essential accessory to have on your sweatshirt or hoodie. It provides a secure way to adjust the hood's tightness to your liking while ensuring it stays in place. The traditional method of producing hoodie cords involved using plastic or metal, which deteriorates over time. However, in recent times, silicone ink has become the new norm for manufacturing hoodie cords.
Silicone ink is an excellent choice for hoodie cord production as it provides outstanding durability, versatility, and design flexibility. It is a type of ink that can be applied to almost any material, dries relatively quickly, and is resistant to water, heat, and UV light. Moreover, it maintains excellent elasticity and does not peel, flake, or crack like other types of ink.The silicone product can be self-drying after dipping in 10-15 minutes.It's only surface dry.It need 6-12 hours if it's cured thoroughly.However,we improve its cured condition,let it be cured at low temperature 60℃.It will be cured thoroughly in 60-120minutes.
The following guide provides steps on how to produce the perfect hoodie cord using silicone ink and the essential tools you would need during production.
Tools Required for Production
1. Silicone ink: The primary material used for producing a high-quality hoodie cord. You can find silicone ink in different colors and grades, but ensure you get the one suitable for your polyester cord.YR silicone recommend you use silicone XG-20S-1,matte silicone ink XG-866M-6 or glossy silicone XG-399-2,slow catalyst XG-MB-1(You'd better use the slow catalyst in hot day,otherwise,the work life is very short),thinner XG-128AH.
2. Dripping machine for hoodie cord head or use one cup to dip the drawstring manually.
The dripping machine is easy to operate.The red button is Stop.The left button is to start dipping the cord.
The green button in the middle is to replenish the silicone ink tank with new silicone ink at all times.Hence,the silicone tank will keep the same amount of silicone ink.You can dip the hoodie cord with same size.
3. Cutter machine: After dipping the cord head in one time,in order to dip the cord with the same size ,you must use the cutter machine to cut the extra part of cord head.
4. Oven box: After dripping the silicone on cord head,you need bake them at 60 ℃
Special Production Process
1.After dipping the polyester cord,if you need print logo on the cord.You need design the logo with computer software.
Designing: Before you start producing the hoodie cord, you have to first design the pattern that you would like to imprinted on it. Silicone ink is highly versatile, and you can create intricate designs with it that can easily replicate on multiple cord. You can use any software application suitable for designing and then export the design in a vector file.
2. Screen printing: After you’ve designed the pattern, the next step is screen printing. Fix the cord on cord printing machine and place the silk screen with the pattern over it. Pour the silicone ink over the stencil and use the squeegee to spread the ink evenly while pressing it through the mesh. After that, lift the mesh up and allow time for the ink to dry.
3. Curing: Once the ink is dry, it must be cured using an oven or dryer that can reach high temperatures to ensure it is permanently fixed onto the fabric. Follow the manufacturer's guidelines to ensure the curing temperature matches the silicone ink you used.
4. Cutting and finishing: After curing, cut the cord to the desired cord length using a cutter machine, and add endings like metal eyelets, metal tips, or even knot to the ends to provide some elegance to the finished product.
Producing a high-quality silicone ink hoodie cord requires attention to detail, creativity, balancing the ink weight on the mesh screen and fabric, and adequately curing the ink. If you follow the guide above and apply the best practices, you can produce affordable, durable, colorful and custom repeatable hoodie cords that meet your customers' needs.
In summary, Hoodie cords with silicone ink are increasingly becoming popular due to their durability, designs, and endless customization options that give you unrivaled flexibility to create unique patterns. With the right tools mentioned above, you can turn this new trend into a profitable business.
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