Compositions and methods for treating textile materials so as to facilitate transfer of an image thereto using a dye sublimation transfer system are provided. The compositions are applied to the textile in the form of an aqueous pretreatment composition, which comprises a polymer resin and a crosslinking agent. The resin and crosslinking agent are cured upon the textile material to form an image-receiving area. The sublimation transfer system is then applied to the image-receiving area to form a finished, image-bearing textile product.