[twentythreemx]

Hello,

Long story short, I do a good bit of vinyl decals and have worked with a screen printer for a while and built up quite a few clients selling shirts.. I'm not doing much work with them anymore, and don't have any room for a screen printing setup for myself. I'm picking up a heat press tomorrow so I can do some small jobs with HTV. I dont plan to steal back many of my clients that I've dealt with that that shop, but I'm sure a few will want to continue to work with me directly..

my question is, what kind of HTV can I use to look as close to screen printing as possible? I assume I want something matte or semi matte? is flex stuff better for that? thinner better for a softer feel?

HEre's the different brands and model vinyl I've considered. And yes I've done too much googling already and find a ton of info but its all pretty old.. I imagine in the last 5 years the HTV game has changed a little. I just remember years ago anything heat transfer vinyl related looked cheap. I dont want that, I need this to look as close as possible to what the clients would have expected before!!

I was looking at: easyweed, easyweed stretch (is thinner better for a softer feel?), stahl fashion film, spectra cut, spectra cut 2, spectra eco, stahls premium plus, thermoflex turbo, thermoflex plus...

all seem simlar in price. i'm probably over thinking it, but I'd rather just get some of the "right stuff" instead of trying out 10 different products. any advice would be appreciated..and I understand none of this will fully look like screen print, but as close as possible as to not throw clients off too far....

 

[SouthJersey]

Many of the products you listed are for different purposes.
I use fashion film and the Thermoflex, but it depends on what I am using them for, or on. I wasn't happy with the Siser products, but Specialty Materials and Stahls brands have both served me well. Stahl's has a nice line of customizable printed patterns also.
You can also use Seay or Transfer Express for screen print transfers for the screen print look.
Good luck with your endeavors.

 

[twentythreemx]

Thank you.

I talked to both Siser and Stahl and have some samples coming of the fashion film as well as the siser featherlite as both of those products seem in line with what i'm looking for.

also came across this product which seems interesting as well.. but they said its difficult to weed and work with due to no sticky backing at all

https://www.heattransferwarehouse.com/walakut-soft-15in

I'm guessing that will be very comparable if not the same thing as the featherlite.. and the fashion film being somewhere in between the featherlite and regular easyweed....

i may try some easyweed stretch too as its thinner/matte.

i think ive at least narrowed down some options and have a few things on the way. thx for the reply