Discuss the various aspects of heat press technology. Transfer paper, inks, plastisol transfers, vinyl cutters, printers, commercial usage, durability, suppliers, etc.
before i invest money in a heat transfer press i need some solid advice on whether or not i can get close to screen printing quality on dark shirts using opaque tranfers or plastisol. if i'm just going to be banging my head against the wall i'd rather not waste the time. and what's the deal with printing white on black shirts? is it possible? help!
what's the deal with printing white on black shirts? is it possible? help!
If you mean traditional screen printing, well , um , yes. We do it every day
Use a god opaque white - Wilflex Bear White is a good one
low mesh frame (not lot of detail) 110-156
Good Flood and Smooth Print
********FLASH********
Good Flood and Smooth Print
before i invest money in a heat transfer press i need some solid advice on whether or not i can get close to screen printing quality on dark shirts using opaque tranfers or plastisol.
thanks, rodney. since you are a certified t-shirt junkie, let me ask you this.
would you buy a shirt that was made with a heat press and not screen printed?
would you buy a shirt that was made with a heat press and not screen printed?
Yes, I have many times
The method to decorate it doesn't matter to me as much as the end product being of high quality.
I've seen (and bought) crappy screen printed shirts and I've seen (and bought) amazing screen printed shirts.
I've seen (and bought) crappy heat pressed shirts and I've seen (and bought) heat pressed shirts that made me go "wow".
I've seen (and bought) direct to garment printed shirts that I wouldn't give away to my worse enemy, and I've seen some really nice direct to garment printed shirts.
I don't care how you do it, just get me a cool, quality printed shirt
Some customers will agree with Rodney, many won't.
Or this could also read, many customers will agree with Rodney and many won't
There are definitely people out there that wouldn't want a "heat pressed" shirt for whatever reasons or past stigmas, but there are also people out there that just don't care. I *think* that there's enough of the "don't care" people out there that it makes for a viable business opportunity.
It helps to know your market though. If you are selling shirts to people who expect screen printing, then that might sway your decision.
thanks for the input, solmu. i hear what you're saying. the business i'm starting doesn't involve high-end fashion tees but as an artist i am a stickler for detail and quality. the decision to go with the heat press was actually inspired by the poor quality i experienced with various screen printing shops in town. i was told (by a screen printer) that the look i was searching for was done by heat press. it's possible he may have just been trying to get rid of me because i was becoming quite frustrated. the bottom line is i have no screen printing experience and not only is the equipment more expensive, but the learning curve is much greater. i would still like to keep my night job so the time it takes to set up and print small runs of different shirts has to be realistic and managable. if you guys have any thoughts or suggestions on the subject, i'm all ears. all of your input has been invaluable so far - thanks.
if you guys have any thoughts or suggestions on the subject, i'm all ears.
I think everything you're saying is reasonable; I just don't want to see people going into things with their eyes closed so to speak (which I'm not suggesting you are). Transfer printing will lose you some customers, but it opens up all kinds of doors that wouldn't otherwise be available to you (which obviously means more customers of a different kind). It's just a matter of finding the balance, depending on the type of business you're running (some businesses don't actually need a lot of options for example). Obviously you want/need the options transfers bring, so the trade off is worthwhile.
I think everything you're saying is reasonable; I just don't want to see people going into things with their eyes closed so to speak (which I'm not suggesting you are). Transfer printing will lose you some customers, but it opens up all kinds of doors that wouldn't otherwise be available to you (which obviously means more customers of a different kind). It's just a matter of finding the balance, depending on the type of business you're running (some businesses don't actually need a lot of options for example). Obviously you want/need the options transfers bring, so the trade off is worthwhile.
Transfer printing will lose you some customers, but it opens up all kinds of doors that wouldn't otherwise be available to you (which obviously means more customers of a different kind).
I don't think that transfer printing will lose you customers. If you offer the "right" type of tested technology you'll be able deliver a very high quality, durable product.
I don't think that transfer printing will lose you customers. If you offer the "right" type of tested technology you'll be able deliver a very high quality, durable product.
it has been hard over the years educating people that Heat Transfers ARE high quality. Just because the litho-transfers from the 70's were some what lower quality than screen print. This general consummer mentality has been a hard up hill road for transfer makers.
Even today, when you tell peeps, Yep there are Hot peel transfer that work everytime and are superstretch high quality, you still get a lot of.....
printing on dark shirts 
