Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
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Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
OK ... all you experienced ar"T"ists ...
Today, I went and browsed thru a few T-shirt stores and in my town there are many, and found that probably over 60% of the shirts in the store were some form of a heat transfer, not screen printed.
Now, what I seem to be 'hearing' from the forum here, is that screen printing is by far better over the long run - in terms of quality, durabilty & washability.
On the other hand, I have observed that even if so - a great many of the discussions here - if not the majority of them - seem to indicate most of the forum uses a heat transfer process.
Is this a correct observation, and if it is, WHY?
Is the choice of Heat Transfer vs Screen PRinting mainly a matter of the short-term economics of a small shop doing mostly small runs?
SCREEN PRINTERS: Do you own your own equipment (what)? Been in the business forever? Do you mostly have large run orders?
Re: Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
Quote:
Originally Posted by lwhitehead
Today, I went and browsed thru a few T-shirt stores and in my town there are many, and found that probably over 60% of the shirts in the store were some form of a heat transfer, not screen printed.
Odd. I pretty much never see heat transfers in a retail space (which partly comes down to where I'm looking).
Quote:
Originally Posted by lwhitehead
a great many of the discussions here - if not the majority of them - seem to indicate most of the forum uses a heat transfer process. Is this a correct observation, and if it is, WHY?
It may not be most, but the majority do seem to (although the screenprinting section is very healthy/busy these days).
There are a few reasons for why. One is that the majority of people here have pretty much always used heat transfer (it was definitely that way when I joined): it's self-perpetuating. If you watch threads where new members who are uncomitted to any particular print method come along, you'll often see them get swayed from their initial inclinations into buying a heat press. If the majority of people here held screenprinted inventory, they'd probably be swayed into that.
(in this case it's possible that buying a heat press is the best decision people could be making - but the reason they're making it has less to do with whether or not it's a good decision, and more to do with the fact that it's the decision everyone else is making)
It's also a question of scale. The majority of members are running very small businesses (there are plenty of exceptions, but they're still a minority). The concerns of a very small business are different to a small business, medium business, large business...
The biggest reason though is that it's one of the cheaper and easier ways to get into the business, and most people are interested in something with a low barrier of entry.
The easiest and cheapest way is to buy screenprinted inventory, but it's not without risk. One of the reasons people are attracted to the heat press is because they're risk adverse (not always true, but often), so it's easy to convince someone starting out who is still nervous about what they're doing that the risk of spending $300 on some shirts to test sell is much greater than spending $1200 on equipment. Again, self-perpetuating: people convince newbies that their own concerns should also be the newbies' concerns (I'm not at all suggesting I'm immune to this: this is precisely what I am doing right now).
In other words people rarely (though not never) consider who the advice is for, but just advocate what would be the best solution for themselves. Then the poster more often than not just goes with whatever the majority opinion is, rather than considering which responses apply to them. The most important thing we can do with information is process it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lwhitehead
Is the choice of Heat Transfer vs Screen PRinting mainly a matter of the short-term economics of a small shop doing mostly small runs?
I firmly believe so.
__________________ "Ah, Henny Penny," said Chicken Little, "the sky is falling, and I must go and tell the king."
Re: Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
Quote:
Today, I went and browsed thru a few T-shirt stores and in my town there are many, and found that probably over 60% of the shirts in the store were some form of a heat transfer, not screen printed.
Are you sure about that? What makes you think they are heat transfers and not some form of screen printing?
Not saying you're wrong, but I just want to make sure we're all taking about the same thing
Re: Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodney
Are you sure about that? What makes you think they are heat transfers and not some form of screen printing?
Not saying you're wrong, but I just want to make sure we're all taking about the same thing
OK good point ... my "assumption" that most of them were heat transfers was made through touch ... in touching the image, most of them had a definate "hand" as the lingo goes ... so I then assumed they were transfers.
Re: Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
Quote:
Originally Posted by Solmu
Odd. I pretty much never see heat transfers in a retail space (which partly comes down to where I'm looking).
so it's easy to convince someone starting out who is still nervous about what they're doing that the risk of spending $300 on some shirts to test sell is much greater than spending $1200 on equipment. Again, self-perpetuating: people convince newbies that their own concerns should also be the newbies' concerns (I'm not at all suggesting I'm immune to this: this is precisely what I am doing right now).
In other words people rarely (though not never) consider who the advice is for, but just advocate what would be the best solution for themselves. Then the poster more often than not just goes with whatever the majority opinion is, rather than considering which responses apply to them. The most important thing we can do with information is process it.
Yes Ok that makes sense. Although of course money is an issue for me as is probably the case for most, I dont want to go with a process that might not produce a product that will LAST. I dont want to risk a poor reputation. I would like as best as possible to start out doing 'what is right for me' in terms of a business philosophy ...
speaking of ... anyone know of a good source for "eco" products - both shirts and inks? I would like to be known for using enviro-friendly products as much as possible. Hopefully enviro-friendly inks is not a complete oxy-moran?
Re: Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
Quote:
Originally Posted by lwhitehead
OK good point ... my "assumption" that most of them were heat transfers was made through touch ... in touching the image, most of them had a definate "hand" as the lingo goes ... so I then assumed they were transfers.
...bad assumption?
Yeah, sometimes screen printing can have a hand. Actually, a lot of times screen printing can have a hand.
It's comes in all different sorts of flavors. Some screen printing has a rough hand, some feels smoother, some is glossy, some can be done to where you can't feel it at all (discharge and water based screen printing).
Re: Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print
To do screen printing is much more involved than just buying a press and starting up. The screens have to be coated with emulsion, dried, exposed with the artwork, washed out, dried, patched, dried, installed on the press, registered, and then flooded with ink. Only then are you ready to print. This is why screen printer charge a setup fee.
To do a heat transfer is much easier and faster but, it is much slower. Where a screen printer can kick out 200 shirts an hour, such speed is impossible with transfers.
And, for the price of the cheapest screen printing press you can get the best heat transfer press.
So, if you plan on doing small, custom runs, heat transfer is very attractive. If you plan on landing the corporate giants that order 1,000 pieces at a time, you will need to go with screen printing. If you plan on being a versatile company do both like a lot of people do. There are plenty of heat presses sitting in screen print shops.
This is a discussion about Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print that was posted in the Heat Press and Heat Transfers section of the forums.
Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print 
Re: Puzzled observations on topic: Heat Transfer VS Screen Print 
