White ink transfers (plastisol) have a general shelf life of 1 year...
something about the pigment in white ink that doesn't fare well over time.
(white ink is troublesome in EVERY form of printing - screenprinting, DTG, transfers, you name it!).
Leading up to the one year mark, you'll notice the transfers will be harder to pull,
and eventually they will stop releasing from the paper in certain areas...which effectively ruins the transfer/shirt.
Black ink (and colors) have a general shelf life of 2 years...
although you can squeeze more out of them, sometimes MUCH more.
We work with one of the largest transfer companies in the business (they switch inks and paper regularly, looking for better solutions),
this is their experience from the past 30 years of business. This is also OUR experience with their transfers in the last few years of business.
Just because someone says it worked for them 10 years later, doesn't mean that it will work for you...and everytime you try.
Even if every second transfer works...you're now wasting ONE extra shirt per order to find out. Gambling is not how you run a business.
The above are loose guidelines...but they are guidelines you need to consider if you want to be successful.
We never buy more than 100 sheets at a time for our print-to-order business model...
too much potential waste, and not enough savings (in the long run).
2cents