Discuss the various aspects of heat pressed vinyl transfers. Popular and new types of vinyl media, suppliers, vinyl cutters /plotters, press times, quality, how to instructions and more can be found in this heat press sub forum.
What's your opinion about vinyl on polo shirts? Personally I'd prefer embroidery, but should we offer vinyl on polos to our customers, or is that just cheesy?
The price difference between the two methods may make the difference between a sale and no sale. I have had customers ask me about doing polos with vinyl and as far as I'm concerned they are just a tshirt with buttons so why not.
If the polo's fabric is of the honeycomb type, then embroidery should be used. Vinyl & other heat transfer materials don't stick to honeycomb fabrics as well as compared to the regular cotton t-shirt fabrics.
I just finished some polos using ironall for an emt class being held locally. They turned out really nice and the customer thought they were great. In fact, the same customer has ordered twice more from me(t-shirts not polos).
Like already has been said, they are just a t-shirt with buttons.......
Wow. I'm actually kinda surprised at people's comments!
I had a feeling that people would scoff at the idea of putting vinyl on polos, but I guess I was way off!
I have a possible customer (for when we open) that is interested in getting polos embroidered (we could outsource that), but I thought I'd mention that we could do vinyl even cheaper for him. The thing is, he'd prolly only want about 10 shirts total, so I'm sure embroidering will cost him quite a bit.
I'll need to make up a mockup for him and see what he thinks (he's a friend, so I don't mind making him a free sample).
If the polo's fabric is of the honeycomb type, then embroidery should be used. Vinyl & other heat transfer materials don't stick to honeycomb fabrics as well as compared to the regular cotton t-shirt fabrics.
Hi Byron, that's good to know.
Do you have any examples of what brands to stay away from if we want to do vinyl?
Well, I would not say that "you have to stay away" from a certain brand. Im just saying that it's not very ideal to use vinyl on the "honeycomb" type fabrics, and other fabrics with fibers that are not "closely knitted".
I just finished some polos using ironall for an emt class being held locally. They turned out really nice and the customer thought they were great. In fact, the same customer has ordered twice more from me(t-shirts not polos).
Like already has been said, they are just a t-shirt with buttons.......
Hi Byron, that's good to know.
Do you have any examples of what brands to stay away from if we want to do vinyl?
In my experience, you will want to stick to cottons and away from anything described "pique" (meaning that it will have varying depths to it's fabric weave). Vinyl can be applied to these, but you will save yourself a lot of trouble if you can steer your customers towards flatter, more T-like material.
That said, here are some fairly recent polos I did (I posted the T's I did for this company in another thread):
If the polo's fabric is of the honeycomb type, then embroidery should be used. Vinyl & other heat transfer materials don't stick to honeycomb fabrics as well as compared to the regular cotton t-shirt fabrics.
That's true... however, increasing the pressure of your heatpress often allows the vinyl to melt more firmly to the texture of the polo. I'd also decrease the pressing time by about a third, depending on the material used to compensate for the increased pressure. Mine have been a hit with the customers in need of a quick/cheap polo shirt!
Vinyl on Polos? Good or Cheesy? 
www.busyPrinting.com
