Sublimation transfers can only be done on polyester or on polyester treated materials.
Therefore, a sublimation transfer can’t be printed on natural cotton unless it’s been polyester coated. Furthermore, since sublimation inks aren’t opaque, sublimation can only be used on white or very light-coloured surfaces.
Sublimation transferring is therefore not a particularly versatile or universal technique: on some materials, such as cotton T-shirts, other techniques, such as laser transferring, are more suitable.
However, it is possible to treat some solid surfaces using a polyester spray.