Hi, I sublimate polyester and have recently bought an air purifier for my workspace, and have noticed it goes red pretty quick after subbing 3-4 garments, indicating poor air quality. My presses are right next to an open window and I also have a fan to circulate air. I’m a massive worrier so I’ve googled, and couldn’t find any websites about sublimation which said there are any risks involved in sublimation in terms of fumes produced, apart from one which said that exposing low quality polyester to the temperatures required for sublimation may release toxic fumes. I then ended up down a rabbit hole googling ‘is polyester toxic when heated’ and according to the websites I found, polyester is basically the devil, containing formaldehyde and anitomy along with many other chemicals apparently.


Most of these websites with this information are those selling ‘eco-friendly’ alternative products, and while it seems like a scare tactic to increase their sales and drive people aware from polyester, I can’t help but worry about it. I’m hoping it’s a bit like the beauty industry where companies will tout their products as having ‘no chemicals’ and therefore better than competitors, even though the chemicals in their competitor’s products either aren’t harmful, or aren’t harmful in the quantities they’re found in these products.

I don’t know a lot about air purifiers and I’m hoping it’s simply just the steam generated from heating that’s setting it off, but seeing it going red stresses me out that I’m harming myself in some way. I know the inks I use are safe, and the dyes used in the garments I use are azo-free, I’m just worried about what’s in the polyester itself.

More than happy to be told I’m being ridiculous with my concerns!