adamski... said:
whats the difference between a hot peel and opague transfer? please excuse my ignorance im new to this
"Hot peel" describes how quickly you peel the transfer from the shirt after you lift the press up. Hot peel transfers must be pulled off immediately; Cold peel transfers must cool off for a little bit before you peel them from the shirt.
Opaque transfers, on the other hand, are transfers designed to work on all colors of t-shirts. This is different than regular heat transfers (I don't know if regualr transfers have a specific name like 'opaque' does), which only work well on light-colored shirts.
With opaque transfers, EVERYTING is transfered to the shirt - this includes any white 'border' left behind the image. Opaque transfers also tend to feel thicker, having a 'rubbery' feel to them.
With regular transfers, it's partially see through (or translucent). This means they won't work on dark colors (the color of the shirt will show through too much), so you can generally only use them on white or ash t-shirts (some people do other very light colors as well, such as light yellows). They feel fairly soft, but usually not as soft as screen printing (this will vary with the specific transfer paper used).
Some people (including myself) feel that the quality of opaque transfers isn't good enough to be used at all, while others specifically persue that rubbery feel (some customers like it).