# Heat transfer paper versus vinyl transfer



## Nvr2Old

Hello all, 
I am appealing to all of you that have more experience than me.
I would like to weigh the pros and cons between light and dark transfers with good quality paper (JPSS, Ironall for darks), versus vinyl transfers. 
I have a fairly simple 3 color design appx 10" x 12", and I am looking for the highest quality image I can produce myself on a t-shirt. I think the transfer paper method would be easiest, but not sure about durability.
I have a 24" contour cutter, Epson 1400 printer w/ pigment ink system, and heat press.
Can anybody tell me the pros and cons for each method?
Durability through wash cycles, costs, soft hand, etc?
I'm sure a lot of you have tried both processes, your opinions would be greatly appreciated.
I posted this on the heat transfer section yesterday, but no relies yet.
I am hoping some of you vinyl guys will know the differences.


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## DecalGuy

Hi JV,

As far as durability goes vinyl will outlast the t shirt. I'm sorry to say (and don't want to start an argument) as good as JPSS is it really doesn't last very long compared to plastisol and vinyl.

Mike


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## charles95405

The problem with a three color design in vinyl is getting your registration right so there is minimal overlap and no gaps. I usually try to keep my vinyl to 2 colors..or in recent case just one color..and did it on 175 items. Durability is great and will far outlast the transfer. But if you need full color, transfers are the way to go, but just remember transfers on darks are a challenge. I personally will not do any transfer on dark as the image feels to much like wearing a raincoat!..If I have to do dark, I outsource to a DTG operator.


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## miktoxic

i agree with both posters above. i've done contour cutting for both lights and darks and do vinyl cutting.

if you have a full color design vinyl cutting is out. there is no way to do blends and if overlapping two colors to me is the max. it get's too heavy and feels like a chunk of plastic (which basically what it is) on the shirt. i really only suggest doing one color stuff with vinyl unless it's for uniforms then multicolor is fine.

i've got good results with transfer paper and contour cutting for lights, look and feel-wise. the image itself doesn't stand up to the wash, in my experience, after 3 or 4 washes when it starts to crack. but i've also just tossed the shirt in with no special care (didn't turn inside, wash temp etc.). basically did the lumberjack test. threw long-sleeved sand color tee in hot water, soap and bleach and put it into a hot dryer. maybe if care was taken it'd last longer. i find i only use this if the qty. of the order is 25 or less and tell the customer up front what to expect. 

transfers for darks i'm kinda steering away from altogether. if the design isn't broken up instead of being one big block of color, the shirt is almost unwearable. there's no give in the paper itself when applied and when wearing something in the summer, forget about it. it's worse than vinyl.

large qty. orders of color designs i either get plastisol transfers or farm out to a screenprinter.


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## Cjoe Design

I also do inkjet and vinyl transfers. I just did a 3 color dark shirt vinyl job that came out great. With that said, now I will say, I should have done a plastisol transfer. I went with vinyl because it was only 20 shirts and none of the 3 colors were touching so registration was going to be easy and I would not get any thick layering. Unfortunately, the job took alot longer due to having to cut and weed three colors. This design had some text which really added time to the whole weeding task.

I got through it and everyone was happy, but in hind site I probably would have chose Plastisol transfers. No weeding, just one quick press per shirt. They would have cost a little more but not when you figure in the extra time it took me in labor.


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## printablepress

the big differences are that heat transfer vinyl requires that you cut and weed the vinyl and press every layer for about 20 seconds. With heat press transfers there is no cutting or weeding involved and all the colors are pressed at once for 4-6 seconds.


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