The Last Hot Glue Stick You'll Ever Need for Bonding Fabric
One of the most common applications we work with is bonding fabric and so, one of the most common questions we get is what is the best hot glue stick for bonding fabric? Today we are going to answer this question and shed some light on best practices when using hot melt glue with fabric.
What Makes a Great Fabric Hot Glue Stick
Fabric is an interesting substrate and presents some unique challenges. Because it is porous, many adhesives will work for bonding to it to some degree but it is often thin or heat sensitive which needs to be taken into consideration when choosing a hot glue.
Because of this sensitivity to heat, we strongly recommend using a low temp or multi-temp hot glue stick. Low temp glue sticks must be used in a low temp gun and multi-temp glue sticks can be used in either a low temp or high temp gun.
Pro Tip: Do not use a high temp hot glue stick in a low temp gun. While the glue may extrude, it can cause the gun to break and applying at the incorrect temperature will greatly reduce the strength of the bond.
The Best Fabric Glue Stick. Period.
Gluegun.com carries hundreds of formulations of hot glue sticks from every top manufacturer. This gives us the advantage of seeing everything available on the market but can also feel overwhelming for customers when trying to solve a specific problem. Well, when it comes to bonding fabric, we’ve pondered, toiled and tested and come up with a winner in the Infinity Bond Fabric Glue Stick.
Why the Infinity Fabric Glue Stick?
We didn’t just pull this product out of thin air. Here’s the reasons why the Infinity Bond Fabric Hot Glue Stick is the best all around choice.
- It’s All-Temperature: an all temperature hot glue stick means it can be applied with both a high temp and low temp gun giving you control over viscosity (thickness) and the ability adjust heat for sensitive fabric types.
- It’s General Purpose and Clear: when we say general purpose, we don’t mean your cheap craft store adhesive. This is an industrial product but is formulated to bond to a wide range of surfaces like wood, foam, metal and even some plastics.
- It’s Affordable: no need to buy a full case of glue like some of the other products we carry. The Infinity Fabric glue stick is available in a 1lb sample (approx. 17 glue sticks) and can ship same day.
When the Infinity Fabric Hot Glue Stick Isn’t the Right Choice
We wish there was some type of magical hot melt that bonded perfectly to every surface and held up under every condition but as much as we pray to the glue gods, we have yet to find this formulation. So here’s when this may not be the perfect product for your application.
- Bonding Fabric to Plastic (and maybe metal): plastic is a tricky one. Some plastics are very easy to bond to and others are incredibly difficult. Metal is also difficult because there are no ‘pores’ for the glue to grab on to. You’ll get a bond, just not as strong as say wood or paper.
- Permanent, Washable Fabric Bonds: this bond will be strong but we wouldn’t trust it (or any hot melt for that matter) to hold up on clothing or other articles over multiple trips to the washing machine.
What About the Gun?
A great fabric hot glue stick deserves a great glue gun. Here are our top 3 recommendations for glue guns when using the Infinity Bond glue stick. We have low temp, high temp and variable temp options available.
- Surebonder PRO2-100: high and low temp versions available but you must choose one or the other.
- AdTech PRO 100: High temp version only, great entry level gun.
- Surebonder PRO2-220: this is a more industrial glue gun but has a great temperature adjustment feature which lets you fine tune from 248F to 428F.
Questions? We have the smartest glue people around ready to answer all of your bonding questions. Contact us here.
