# Vinyl Transfers vs Plastisol



## TaylorTees (Nov 8, 2006)

Quick question... I believe I read in a post that vinyl transfers are just as good of quality as Plastisol transfers - or similar..??? 

So... to make vinyl transfers you need a regular printer, vinyl cutter, and vinyl rolls... and then you can just heat press it ... and it is a high quality image on the shirt... as in it will stand up to lots of washes.. not crack etc.. Looks good because of the clean edges....

I just want to make sure I'm understanding this right, because it almost seems its fairly inexpensive equipment to be able to be self sufficient and not have to contract work out for plastisol transfers for white lettering on dark shirts for example.. 

Also - with this equipment - you could expand your business into stickers/signs etc.. if you wanted to someday.. yes??

Sorry if I have no idea what i'm talking about - I just feel like I dont understand what I read because it seems to good to be true =)

Thank you!
Ambrelee


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

yes it is true.  

cut vinyl/flock etc.... transfers are ideal for sample runs or retail. This has been around for a few years now. A lot different from the days when you paid $ 50 set up for someone to cut you 5 pcs.  

There is the WEED factor. So for 24 pc./up runs it is cheaper and faster to apply custom plastisol heat transfers.

You can also use spreadshirt to test market cut transfer designs. 

From there, you can do it yourself, or have a company that makes all types of transfers, make them, apply them to shirts, ships out your orders to your customers or you.

Printing t-shirts is a trade, not hard to learn but it is a trade. Some peeps want to get into the printing trade and do it all them selfs others just design the shirts and hook up with manufacturers and source out the jobs. Others do both. 

...anyway, you need to decide.


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

Ambrelee, what you need to do is contact some of the companies that make plastisol transfers and ask for samples. As you saw in my videos, and thanks for the compliments, plastisol transfers are very easy to apply. The ones that I used in my demo were from Spot98.net who so graciously made them for me. This is the company that Lucy is associated with and of course can not self promote. The others are First-Edition.com and Dowling Graphics and probably a dozen more that will show up here.


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

TaylorTees said:


> Quick question... I believe I read in a post that vinyl transfers are just as good of quality as Plastisol transfers - or similar..???
> 
> So... to make vinyl transfers you need a regular printer, vinyl cutter, and vinyl rolls... and then you can just heat press it ... and it is a high quality image on the shirt... as in it will stand up to lots of washes.. not crack etc.. Looks good because of the clean edges....
> 
> ...


Yes...you are correct...its great for text on any color shirt. No...you dont need the printer.


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## TaylorTees (Nov 8, 2006)

badalou said:


> Ambrelee, what you need to do is contact some of the companies that make plastisol transfers and ask for samples. As you saw in my videos, and thanks for the compliments, plastisol transfers are very easy to apply. The ones that I used in my demo were from Spot98.net who so graciously made them for me. This is the company that Lucy is associated with and of course can not self promote. The others are First-Edition.com and Dowling Graphics and probably a dozen more that will show up here.


I guess what i'm thinking... is it would be.. quicker.. If someone only wanted 3 shirts - but needed them by tomorrow... If I had my own vinyl cutter.. I could do it myself and have it ready... where as if I had to outsorce for the plastisol transfers, I would have to send the design in (during business hours) and then wait for turn around - which may be quick in some cases, but then there is shipping etc...

I checked out a few of the web pages and we are working on getting some samples but - just thinking about all the options =) 

My husband is really into cars, and car graphics - so getting the vinyl cutter will help both the tshirt business and for him personally and possible it could be another avenue of business for us... that was my thinking - reguarding purchasing the machine instead of outsorcing.. 

Ambrelee


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

TaylorTees said:


> I guess what i'm thinking... is it would be.. quicker.. If someone only wanted 3 shirts - but needed them by tomorrow... If I had my own vinyl cutter.. I could do it myself and have it ready... where as if I had to outsorce for the plastisol transfers, I would have to send the design in (during business hours) and then wait for turn around - which may be quick in some cases, but then there is shipping etc...
> 
> I checked out a few of the web pages and we are working on getting some samples but - just thinking about all the options =)
> 
> ...


For print on demand vinyl is tough to beat especially for text.


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

David are you not limited top the number of colors in the design then with vinyl? So if someone had a 3 color design he could not do it in vinyl or is it layered. I never used it so I would like to know.


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

You can layer 3 colors of vinyl transfer. I've seen it done at spreadshirt.


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## Jasonda (Aug 16, 2006)

TaylorTees said:


> I guess what i'm thinking... is it would be.. quicker.. If someone only wanted 3 shirts - but needed them by tomorrow... If I had my own vinyl cutter.. I could do it myself and have it ready... where as if I had to outsorce for the plastisol transfers, I would have to send the design in (during business hours) and then wait for turn around - which may be quick in some cases, but then there is shipping etc...


If you are only doing 3 shirts then it's going to be quicker and probably much cheaper to do them with vinyl.

However, if you are doing a larger run of shirts, with a detailed design or a design with more than 3 colors, plastisol is probably going to be a better option.

Don't worry about taking too long for the turn around - as long as your customers know what to expect from the beginning. 

I don't see why you can't do both - get a cutter for your basic everyday jobs and then just outsource plastisol transfers as needed. If you are going to use the cutter for other things (car graphics), it could be a good investment.


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

badalou said:


> David are you not limited top the number of colors in the design then with vinyl? So if someone had a 3 color design he could not do it in vinyl or is it layered. I never used it so I would like to know.


Lou, I wouldnt do more than three but you can layer the vinyl. It is perfect for one-liners, phrases etc. You can get a three color effect by designing with the shirt color in mind. I will post a pic in a few.


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## badalou (Mar 19, 2006)

so that is 3 layers? One layer over the other. so the lettering is cut in half to get the 2 color wording? isn't that really thick?OK who's going to do the video on this. I think that would be a great service. Even for me.Lou


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## MotoskinGraphix (Apr 28, 2006)

badalou said:


> so that is 3 layers? One layer over the other. so the lettering is cut in half to get the 2 color wording? isn't that really thick?OK who's going to do the video on this. I think that would be a great service. Even for me.Lou


Only two layers and letting the black shirt create the third color. This isnt thick at all because the lines arent very wide. The tribal areas are hardly noticeable at all. The trick with vinyl is to avoid great big areas of solid color. I can feel the red area but no more than most stock transfers we use. It isnt screenprinting with water based inks smooth but is totally acceptable to most customers. There is a total wow factor when they can order a personal custom shirt and walk away with it in a matter of minutes.


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## hammered (Apr 14, 2006)

I layer vinyl all the time. Ill try to get a picture of my latest. I did a few "Redskins suck" shirts for a friend and I layered the Eagles logo. If you do the head like Philly does, you have 4 layers. Some materials layer better than others. The EZ-weed and Spectra-cut II are awesome for layering. Also, I cut some of my designs with a couple mil overlap so that when I star pressing I can line up different colors instead of lapping.. Ive never do more than 4 layers and nothing overly detailed.


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