CA1181906A - Dyed flocked fabric and method of making the same - Google Patents

Abstract

DYED FLOCKED FABRIC AND METHOD
OF MAKING THE SAME

ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

The invention contempates a flocked fabric and method wherein flock is adhered by a heat-cured flock adhesive to a substrate fabric and wherein a heat-sublimable dye is contained as a component of the adhesive and/or as preprint of the substrate fabric, the adhesive having a curing time and temperature at which such dye substantially sublimes.
Various examples are given to achieve different selectively available color patterns and contrasts, as well as different selectively available surface textures in the dyed product.

Description

I 1819~B

DYED FLOCK FABRIC AND METHOD
_ OF MAKING _HE SAME

Background of the Invention The inven-tion relat~s to dyed flock-coa-ted - fabrics and to methods of making the same.
So far as I am aware, the dyeing of flock-coated fabric has to date involved one of several processes, each of which has its difficulties and :limitations which impair product quality, or which involve undue product waste, or which do not lend themselves to as wide a variety of different ultimate finishes, textures and colors as might be desired.

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According to one of these processes, the manufacturer of the flock-coated substrate fabric must tailor his production lot to what can be accommoda-ted in a piece-dyeing operation, usually a service performed other than by the flock-coatiny house. The process involves scouring and rinsing the goods, bringing the goods to temperature in a dye bath, then introducing thc dyes for a time and at a temperature appropriate to the class of dyes and goods involved. The dye ba-th temperatures are generally in the range 140 to 180 degrees ~ahrenheit.
This techni~ue has disadvantages which include wastage of product at ends of the piece, great difficulty of making uniform color in the finished product, from one to the next piece, and the economies of continuous-run production are simply not available.
According to another process, a transfer-printing dye is applied to so-calledgreige goods, i.e., to undyed flock-coated substrate fabric. A dye-bearing transfer paper is faced against the gr-eigegoods in oriented lay-down of the flock, and oil-heated steel rolls apply contact hea-t and pressure by squeezing the paper to the fabric, the steel rolls being at at least 400 F., and the heat and pressure being applied for at least 30 seconds. Although the process is not as batch-limited as the piece-dyeing process, it is nevertheless relatively expensive due to paper waste and handling, and product texture and quality suffer from the application of heat and pressure to layed-down g o ~
flock. The process is also inheren-tly incapahle of dyeing the substrate because the substrate materials are incapable of withstanding the greater temperaturesand/or -times needed to assure sufficient dye penetration via the flock.
Brief Statement of the Invention -Therefore, this invention provides a method of pro-ducing a dyed flocked fabric, which comprises selecting a suit-able substra-te fabric, coating the substrate fabric with a wet layer of flock adhesive, introducing a selected heat-sublimable dye prior to applying flockr selecting flock of a material capable of beiny dyed with a heat-sublimable dye, applying the selected flock to the wet coating of flock adhesive, drying the adhesive at a temperature less -than that at which said dye sublimes, and then curing -the adhesive by exposing the dried flocked substrate for a predetermined period of time to an elevated curing temperature at which said dye substantially fully sublimes.
By employing the aforementioned method the invention provides a dyed flocked fabric, comprising a substrate fabric, a cured flock adhesive coating on one side of said fabric, and flock adhered to said substrate fabric via said cured ad hesive coating, said flock being of a material capable of being dyed with a heat-sublimable dye.
The invention seeks to eliminate any need to manufacture a flock coated fabric prior to dyeing which now can be achieved directly in the course of manufacture.
In its preferred embodiments the invention seeks to provide a substantially increased variety of options for colour development, colour contrast, pattern development and finish-texture development.

Furthermore, the method of the invention can be carried s n ~
out at a reduced cos-t with greater pxoduct quality.
In a preferred embodiment, a heat-sublimable dye is employed as a component of flock adhesive that is wet-cvated to the substrate fabric as a preliminary to applying flock to the wet adhesive. The flocked adhesive coat is dried at less - 4a -1. ~81gO6 than adhesive-curiny temperature, and -the dried coated fabric i5 then subjected to a curing time and temperature which enables (a) color development ~ by sublimation and (b) adhesive curing. The techniques may be embodied :in the otherwise-conventional continuous-run production process of the flock~coating house. The technique lends itself to a variety of color-contrast, pattern-contrast and surface-texturlng effects for whlch illustrative examples are given.
Detailed Description The invention will be described in detail in eonjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a diagram which schematically depiets suceessive steps in the method of the invention, for producing dyed flock-coated fahrics; and Figs. 2 to 7 are fragmentary diagrams, applicable to various of the locations 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 6-6 in Fig. l, to illustrate optional operative steps for producing different appearance and texture variations in the product of the method.
Referring to Fig. l, the method of the invention illustratively utilizes flock-coating equipment comprising means for processing a continuous length of substrate fabric lO, from a supply roll ll on a suitable stand l~ at one end, to a driven take up roll 13 for finished product on a suitable stand 14 at the other end. The substrate fabric lO is shown first to pass an appllcator station A, where a coating ~fi ~ ~

applicator 15 extends the full coating wldth of the web of fabric 10 and is continuous]y supplied with a suitably regulated flow of liquid flock adhesive from a supply means 16. In similar fashion, at a downstream-oEfset flocking station B, a flock applicator 17 extends the full adhesive~coated width of -the fabric 10 and is continuously supplied with a suitably regulated flow of flock material from a supply means 18. After flock application to the wet adhesive coat, the continuous-production equipment is shown to include a first oven 19 or ovens set to dry the adhesive but no-t to cure the same. Thereafter, the flocked fabric wi-th dried adhesive is subjected to conditions of curing temperature and time as it passes through a curing oven 20. After curing at 20, the finished product is wound upon take-up roll 13, for storage or ship-ment, as re~uired.
The means 15 of adhesive coating and the means 17 of flock application and orientation, including their respective supply means 16-18 are existing, well-known devices, and need no further description for present purposes; also, the ovens 19-20 including festoons therein (not shown) and various drive and support rolls (not shown) along the length of web under treatment are well-understood and require no present description.
In accordance with one mode of the invention, a heat-sublimable dye is an essential additive component of the liquid adhesive supply at 16. The quantity of T'J' ~

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such adhesive mix-ture may be sufficient Eor an entire run, or it may be adquate to serve only a fraction of an entire continuous run, it being in the latter case necessary for an opera-tor to monitor the current supply level at 16 and to replenlsh with fresh mixture as needed. The proportions of dye material and adhesive components may be so readily maintained to sufficiently close tolerances that color in the resulting product is not degraded by the fact tha-t a given run uses batch-mixed replenishment of the dye compounded liquid adhesive.
At the drying oven or ovens 19-19', the wet flocked fabric web is exposed for a time and at temperature (e.g., 200 F.) to achieve adhesive drying without curing. Then in the curing oven 20, the web passes through successive zones (e.g., three) of progressively greater temperature. Illustratively, curing at 20 may proceed at temperatures of 275 F.
in a first oven zone, 350 F. in a second oven zone, and 400 F. in the third oven zone. A total ime of 12 to 14 minutes is shared in roughly equal fractions at the respective curing-oven zones, and it has been found with materials thus-far employed that a final curing time of four minutes at 400 F. is desirable, for best heat-development of the sublimable dye components used, as well as for curing of the adhesive.
Stated in other words, a greater length of time at 400 F.
curing temperature has not thus far established any improvement in dye-color development, but a different ~ ~819Q6 oven, such as a multiple-pass curing oven would pro~ably permit a shorter overall curing time at 400F., for both the adhesive and i-ts dye component.
In another rnode of the invention, the greige substrate fabric is gravure or otherwise printed with heat-sublimable dye prior to the adhesive-coating step. The coating-adhesive may be colorless or it may contain a heat-sublimable dye selected for ultimate color contrast wi-th that which had been prlnted on the substrate fabric. Flock application, drying and curing then prcceed as before, to produce a finished product, wound upon the take-up roll 13.
Examples of different product, made by variously combined steps of the indicated methods will be specifically described.
Example I
Starting with a woven cotton substrate, a wet layer of flock adhesive was applied before flocking with natural 3-Denier Trilobal* nylon, cut to 80-mils length. The substrate was 100 percent cotton, being unnapped, soft-filled sheeting. Adhesive was applied at approximately 3 ounces/square yard, and flock was also applied at approximately 3 ounces/square yard.
The adhesive was a commercially available acrylic water-based flocking adhesive, in which a 3 percent addition of heat-sublimable dye had been mixed. The dye materials were those intended for heat-transfer inks and were products of Verona Dyestuff Division of Mobay Chemical Corporation, Union, New Jersey, being their dyes known as Resiren yellow T-4G~WN Liqùid and Resiren blue TGL-WN Liquid, in the proportions:

A trademark of the DuPont Company.
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1 perCerlt Resiren~yellow T-4G-WN Liquid

2 percent Resiren`~blue TGL-WN Liquid Upon drying the flocked adhesive-coated substrate, the treated surface was light gray in color (being the color of the uncured adhesive), but after curing in the manner indicated, iOe.~ concluding with four minutes at 40~F., the dye had been developed by sublimation to a uniform rela-tively dark green at the adhesive-coat, beiny visible over the entire flocked surface as what I would call an apple green, modulated only by bright flock highlights of lighter green, as a func-tion of light-incidence upon the flocke~ fabric. It is my belief that, except or the above-noted highlighting effect, the rela-tively dark overall appearance of the fabric is in important degree attributable to the somewhat fiber-optic nature of the individual pieces of flock, in relatively uniform stand-up adjacent array, and of course it i5 possible that to the degree that dye had bled into the flock, the strength of the coloring is enhanced.
The finishe~d fabric has a soft uniform velvet-like feel or hand and is highly resistive to fading.
Example IT
Starting with a knitted polyester substrate, the 2~ same procedures were followed as with Example I, the only difference being as to the selection of heat-sublimable dye mixed in -the adhesive. The selected dye proportions in the adhesive were:

1 percent Resiren~yellow T-4G-~L~
2 percent Resirerr~red TFB-WN Liquid ~t~

~ ~8~go6 Results of drying and curing in the rnanner of Example I produced a uniform sof-t rust color in the flocked side of the fabric, with a hand and fastness as for Example I.
Exam~
Starting with the cotton sheeting, adhesive-coating, and dye-content of Example I, the flocked coated substrate fabric was subjected to precisely the same drying and curing procedures as in Example I, except that at location 2-2 of Fig. 1, i.e~, between the location of flock-application and entry to drying oven 19, the 10cked and still-wet adhesive-coated side of the fabric was subjected to an air-embossing step, for which operative mechanism is schematically shown in Fig. 2.
The mechanism of Fig. 2 comprises two elongate manifolds 25-26 in the form of tubular pipes drilled and fitted at spaced locations to define downwardly directed air jets, symboliæed by downward arrows at spaced locations. The manifolds 25-26 are supplied at one end by a suitable source of pressurized airflow, and they are-closed at their other end. Manifolds 25-26 are held in fixed pa.rallel relation, at longi-tudinal spacing D, above the coated and flocked surface of web 10 and are oriented transverse to the direction of web movement. The means for holding manifolds 25-26 at their spacing D includes (a) a yoke 27 at their closed ends and (b) guide means (not shown) whereby oscillatory displacement may be imparted to manifolds 25-26 in the direction transverse to the direction of lg()~
web movement, a motor 23 being shown with crank 29 and link 30 connection to yoke 27 for imparting such motion.
In the air-embossing use of the device of Fig. 2 in Example III, the air jets along each manifold 25-26 were at 1.5-inch spacing, the amplitude of transverse oscillation impar-ted by means 28-29-30 was 2.2~ inches, and the distance D was so se~cted in relation to the speed of web displacement and to the oscillation cycle that sinusoidal air-embossments on the web 10 due -to jet action from the upstream manifold 25 were at 180 degrees phase~offset from the corresponding sinusoidal air-embossments on the web due to jet action from the downstream manifold. The full ; cycle of transverse oscillation repeated at 8-inch intervals in the direction of web movement.
The finished product was green as in Example I, except that surface texture had been characterized `by a permanent pattern of entwined 180-displaced sinusoids, whexein each sinusoid due to manifold 25 lapped the adjacent three 180-displaced sinusoids of manifold 26, and vice versa The air blasts from manifolds 25-26 locally incline affected flock, and curing retains -the inclination. The result is not only a highlighted appearance effect, in accordance with the entwined-sinusoid pattern, but also a textured feel akin to velvet which has had similarly 29 tex-tured shearing.

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Example_IV
Starting wi-th a woven polyester-cotton osnaburg fabric, the side to be flocked was first screen-printed with a non-adhesive print paste wherein the dye ingredient was again of the heat-sublimable variety, the print dye being of a heat-developable first color A, and -the thus-prin-ted surface of the web 10 was then adhesive-coa-ted with adhesive containing a second dye of heat-developable color B. Flocking, drying and curing were otherwise as described for Example I.
The non-adhesive print paste was a water-diluted mixture comprising a 4-percerlt addition of Resiren blue TGL-I~il Liquid in a stock solution of carrier in water, the latter being a 4 percent solution of stock print thickener (specifically, Chemloid Auxiliary 0155M) in water. And the printed surface of the web was dried before application of the flock adhesive. The dye selected for mixing in the adhesive was Resiren red TF~-WN Liquid, added as a 2 percent component of the liquid adhesive.
; As indicated, flocking, drying and curing steps proceeded as in Example I, but the curing step was operative upon the hea-t-sublimable dye components of both the print paste and the adhesive. The resulting product had the texture and feel of the product of Example I, but the color appearance was in accordance with the striped print pattern, wherein soft purple alternates with soft red. The stripes had been printed 1/8-inch wide, at 1/8-inch spacing, and so at moderate ~ 18190B

viewing distance from the product, e.g., five or more feet away, the appearance was -that of a soft red-modulated mayenta. The hand and fastness oE
the product were as described for Example I.
Example V
Using a 284 polyester-cotton osnaburg substrate and applying the adhesive mix of Example I (i.e., wi.th the potential for heat-development to green), a fixedly mounted gouging comb 35 (Fig. 3) was applied to the surface of the adhesive, just prior to flocking with natural flock; this location is designated 3-3 in Fig. 1. The flock was also as described for Example I except that i-t was a random-Cllt nylon, of ~ mils maximum length. The gouging 1~ comb had teeth at 1/8-inch spacing, across the adhesive-coated width of the substrate, thereby producing parallel elongate ribs and valleys to which the flock was applied. Upon drying and curing as described for Example I, the product was green ; 20 and had the àppearance and feel of a corduroy, combined with the feel of a short-cropped velvetO
Ribs are highlighted, and valleys are darker.
Example VI
Adopting the substrate, adhesive mix and short flock material of Example V, the gouging step was omitted, and therefore the flock was applied to the smooth surface of the wet adhesi~e coat. The wet adhesive of the flocked substrate was then dried in oven 19; but at location 4-4 ~Fig. 1), the flocked surface of the substrate was subjected to eI~ossing g O 6 pressures by passage be-tween an embossing roll 40 and its associated backing-pressure roll 41 (Flg. 4).
The embossing pattern had been engraved in the cylindrical surface of roll 40, in the form of intersecting finite longitudinal and transverse lines, the engraving being to 30-mil depth, i.e., to a depth exceeding the cut ]ength of the flock.
The rolls 40-41 were heated to 400 F. so that primary initial heat transfer to the dye components of the adhesive could be at valley regions of the flocked goods. Adhesive curing required less than the four minutes desired for full color development, and the exposure at curing oven 20 was limited to the one minute (at 400 F.) required for adhesive curing.
The finished goods had cleanly and clearly defined embossment faithful to the engraving pattern, with background valley regions of darker blue-green and with lighter, almost gray, blue-green at the ribs of the embossment, reflecting in the embossment regions less than the more complete color development which was accomplished in the background or valley regions.
The produci lends itself admirably to richly textured wall-covering application.
Example VII
Starting with the woven-cotton substrate of Example I, but dyed to a light-blue color~ a flock adheslve was applied through a stencil pattern which characterized the cylindrical surface of an adhesive-application rotary screen or roll 15' ~Fig. 5), in place of the means 15 of Fig. 1. Surface motion of

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roll 15l at contact with the substrate web 10 matched that of web 10, and a regulated flow of adhesive was supplied to roll 15' via suitable non-rotating end-fitting means 50. The adhesive had as an essential component a 3 percent addition of Resiren blue TGL-~ Liquid. The flock was again the 80-mil cut 'rrilobal natural nylon of Example I, but of course it adhered to the adhesive-coated substrate only in accordance with the stenci]. pattern of adhesive coating. Upon drying and cur.ing, w.ith full four-minute exposure at 400~F., the finished product was an overall dark blue, characterized by fine light-blue where substrate was exposed between the larger tufts of dark-blue velvet which dominated the appearance.
Conclusion It wili be seen that the described inventi.on meets all stated objects and introduces a new dimension to the variety of fabric colors, patterns and textures which the flock-coa-ting house may provide to its customers. Not only is the variety of product increased, but this is done at great economy as compared to prior techniques which required batch handling, dye-transfer paper, piece-dyeing and other operations which are no-longer necessary. In other words, the desired end result of a finished product is achieved without the need for any after-finishing, liquid or mechanical. Morecver, uniformly superior quality of the end product is much more rèadily controlled and assured, without introducing any ~ t~c,~ c ~k o ~
undesired surface di.stor-tions (coloring or texture) in the finished product. The process of the invention provides tremendous savlngs by avoiding or subs-tantially reducing the need for large inventories of raw rnaterials or in~process goods, in that one or a few possible substrates and merely natural flock can well serve for the production of a wide variety of differently dyed proclucts, the only needed change-over being in the cleaning and mixing of correct heat-sublimable dye additive to the wet adhesive mixture. Further savings are realized in raw material (water, scouring agents, softeners and chemicals) and in energy and labor7 through the one-pass technique of the invention, as compared to conventional dyeing procedures, including pre~dyeing of substrate and/or flock, and the ; pig~enting of adhesives in conventional colored flocking.
In the case of Example IV, it should be noted that a velvety stand-up look was uniform over the entire flocked surface of the product, and this represents a product that, to my knowledge, is also new. In the past, print-transfer printing techniques applied to flocked fabric have required (a) steam-aging to develop color, and (b) washing; the resulting products is characterized by wring marks, "rope" marks and the like, all without assurance of a uniform velvety stand-up of the flock. It is also to be noted that in any print-transfer of dye to flocked fabric, the dyed region is only skin deep, for example, there is not enough dye penetration into the substrate to permit 9 ~ 6 use of the flocked fabric alone as a drape, a lining being required for thus~printed fabrics.
On the other hand, with dye as an integral part of the full adhesive coat, an opacity is achieved which enables drape functions to be well served, in solid color or patterned colors, without requiring a lining.
While the invention has been described in detail for preferred method steps and structures, it will be understood that the specific disclosures and examples given are merely illustrative and are not limiting, in that modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention.
For example, instead of pre-printing the substrate, as described in Example IV, the pre-printing step may be incorporated in continuous-run production of the ultimate fabrics, such pre-printing being for example through use of gravure-prin~ing rolls 60-61 and subsequent oven-drying at 62 (Fig. 6), applied at location 6-6 of FigO 1, i.e., prior to adhesive coating; in Fig. 6, a doctor blade 63 assures a uniformly clean gravure-roll surface for continuous fresh application of printing paste at 64, the paste being as described in Example IV, namely including one or more heat-sublimable dyes as an essential component.
Also, while embossing may be of the high-pressure steel-die delineated variety described for Example VI, it will be understood that other embossing techniques may be employed. A "soft" embossing technique may g ~) ~
for example employ a pa-tterned relief in the cylindrical surface of a large-diameter soft roll 70 of foamed polyurethane which is either driven to match the surface speed of wet-adhesive coat or is alloed to ligh-tly drag its contact with the adhesive coat of passing web 10. Such a step would occur just after flocking, e.g., at 2-2 in ~ig. 1, wherein the "soft" embossing is seen at 10' to have been the cause of locally "laying down" the flock, or at least modulating its otherwise stand-up orientation.
Still further, although the recited specific examples have involved use of woven cotton fabric and woven polyester fabric, the invention is clearly not so limited, in that the fabric may be knitted or non-woven, and the fiber or blend may be selected from the wide variety of those available as long as it can withstand the temperature exposures indicated for curing of flock adhesive and heat-sublimable dye.
Thus, the fabric may be selected from polye~ter, nylon, acrylic, polyrayon and acetate varie-ties; the fabric may also be a blend of one or more of such fibers with or without cotton; and the flock need not be Trilobal bu~, rather, for example, may be a selected one of the nylon, acrylic and polyester varieties available.
Still further, the flock adhesive may be solvent-based and therefore not necessarily the water-based adhesive 28 mentionecl in the present specific examples.

Claims (39)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE
PROPERTY OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A method of producing a dyed flocked fabric, which comprises selecting a suitable substrate fabric, coating the substrate fabric with a wet layer of flock adhesive, introducing a selected heat-sublimable dye prior to applying flock, selecting flock of a material capable of being dyed with a heat-sublimable dye, applying the selected flock to the wet coating of flock adhesive, drying the adhesive at a temperature less than that at which said dye sublimes, and then curing the adhesive by exposing the dried flocked substrate for a pre-determined period of time to an elevated curing temperature at which said dye substantially fully sublimes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said adhesive has as an essential component said selected heat sublimable dye.

3. The method of claim 1, in which said substrate is a woven fabric.

4. The method of claim 1, in which said substrate is a knitted fabric.

5. The method of claim 1, in which said fabric is of a material selected from the group comprising cotton, polyester, nylon, acrylic, polyrayon and acetate.

6. The method of claim 1, in which said substrate is a cotton fabric.

7. The method of claim 1, in which said substrate is a polyester fabric.

8. The method of claim 1, in which said substrate is a fabric of blended cotton and polyester.

9. The method of claim 1, in which said fabric is of a blended material comprising two or more materials selected from the group comprising cotton, polyester, nylon, acrylic, poly-rayon and acetate.

10. The method of claim 1, in which said flock is of a material selected from the group comprising nylon, acrylic and polyester.

11. The method of claim 1, in which an air-embossing step is performed after the flock-application step and prior to the drying step.

12. The method of claim 1, as a continuous process, wherein the substrate fabric is an elongate continuously transported web, and continuously winding as a completed product the thus-cured flock-coated substrate web.

13. The method of claim 12, in which an additional step of gouging the wet-adhesive coating is performed prior to the drying step.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the gouging is at equally spaced locations transverse to the direction of web transport.

15. The method of claim 12 in which a roll-embossing step is performed on the wet-flocked coating prior to the drying step.

16. The method of claim 15, in which the embossing roll is relatively soft and yielding.

17. The method of claim 12, in which a roll-embossing step is performed on the flocked coating after the drying step and prior to the curing step, the embossing roll being relatively hard and non-yielding.

18. The method of claim 12, in which the curing step in-cludes continuously tensed application of the uncoated side of the substrate web to a roll heated at least to curing temper-ature.

19. The method of claim 18, in which the heated roll is pattern-embossed, whereby heat-transfer to the dried web and therefore dye-sublimation are locally enhanced for color con-trast in accordance with the embossment pattern.

20. The method of claim 17, in which the engraved depth of the embossing roll is less than the flock length.

21. The method of claim 17, in which the engraved depth of the embossing roll is greater than the flock length.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said substrate fabric has the ability to withstand approximately a four-minute exposure at substantially 400° Fahrenheit ambient temperature, said adhesive has as an essential component thereof a heat-sublimable print-transfer dye, said adhesive is dried at a temperature so sufficiently below 400° Fahrenheit as not to cure the adhesive, and said elevated curing temperature is sub-stantially 400° Fahrenheit for a period of approximately four minutes.

23. The method of claim 22, in which the component pro-portion of dye in the flock adhesive is in the range up to substantially five percent.

24. The method of claim 23, in which said range is sub-stantially one to substantially four percent.

25. The method of claim 22, in which the adhesive is of a water-based acrylic.

26. The method of claim 22, in which the dye component added to the flock adhesive is a water-based mixture of a selected one or more pure dyes.

27. The method of claim 1, in which the adhesive is uniformly applied.

28. The method of claim 1, in which the adhesive is applied in a pattern of localized application.

29. The method of claim 21, in which the substrate fabric is dyed prior to adhesive application.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein said heat sublimable dye is printed on the substrate fabric prior to coating the fabric with flock adhesive.

31. The method of claim 30, in which said adhesive is clear.

32. The method of claim 30, in which said adhesive has as an essential component thereof a selected second heat-sublimable dye.

33. The method of claim 32, in which the printing step comprises a patterned printing with said first-mentioned dye, said second dye being of different developable color than said first dye, whereby upon sublimation, said second dye has color contrast with respect to patterned printed areas of the fabric.

34. The method of claim 30, in which the selected sub-strate fabric is a dyed fabric.

35. The method of claim 30, in which the selected sub-strate fabric is a natural fabric.

36. A dyed flocked fabric, comprising a substrate fabric, a cured flock adhesive coating on one side of said fabric, and flock adhered to said substrate fabric via said cured ad-hesive coating, said flock being of a material capable of being dyed with a heat-sublimable dye.

37. A dyed flocked fabric so described in claim 36, wherein said adhesive coating includes as an essential component there-of a substantially sublimed heat-sublimable dye.

38. The dyed flocked fabric of claim 36 wherein said substrate fabric is printed with a heat-sublimable dye, and said adhesive coating has a curing temperature and curing time at which said dye substantially sublimes.

39. The dyed flocked fabric of claim 38 in which said adhesive coating includes as an essential component thereof a second heat-sublimable dye which substantially sublimes in the circumstance of said temperature and time.