# Does anyone know if you can do heat transfers on bamboo and hemp t-shirts?



## thesaltysurfer (Aug 31, 2008)

Hi,
Does anyone know if you can do heat transfers on bamboo and hemp t-shirts? I know you can digitally print on them as long as you use a white base on every color shirt, however I just wanted to know if anyone has ever successfully done a heat press on them and run them through the wash and dryer. 
Thanks!


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I've done a plastisol transfer on bamboo t-shirts and hemp t-shirts and they turned out fine.


----------



## LittleDogy (Jan 15, 2008)

thesaltysurfer said:


> Hi,
> Does anyone know if you can do heat transfers on bamboo and hemp t-shirts? I know you can digitally print on them as long as you use a white base on every color shirt, however I just wanted to know if anyone has ever successfully done a heat press on them and run them through the wash and dryer.
> Thanks!


I've done plastisol and Jpss without any probelms. What type of transfers will you be using?


----------



## thesaltysurfer (Aug 31, 2008)

thanks for the info Rodney! Do you mind looking at my designs at thesaltysurfer.com and then clicking on the "view our t-shirts". Can I do a plastisol transfer with my designs? So far the only method we have used is DTG. Which is great, however we're really trying to minimize costs and make this process much easier. Right now it is very costly. Or if you have a better printing method I'm all ears.
Thanks again!


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> Right now it is very costly


I'm not sure exactly how much "costly" is to you (that can be a pretty relative term ), however, if you're doing small runs with a design with a lot of fades/color variations, it will be cost more no matter which printing method you select. Plus the bamboo and hemp blank t-shirts cost a premium as well.



> Can I do a plastisol transfer with my designs?


Yes, you probably could, but I would suggest simplifying the graphics to get rid of the fades in the t-shirts of the main character design. 

The fades can be done with screen printing (or plastisol transfers), but the process needs a separate screen for each color which will add to your costs. 

If you simplified the colors with a solid fill instead of a fade from dark to light, I think the designs would still look great and they could be more easily made into plastisol transfers or just screen printed.


----------



## thesaltysurfer (Aug 31, 2008)

well, I'm a novice at this however the only way I believe I can do it is using an imageclip transfer.....if that makes sense. I can't have a big white background, just the image and some writing. You can view my images at shop.thesaltysurfer.com.
Thanks for your help!


----------



## Recreator (Feb 24, 2013)

I would definitely recommend DTG or screenprinting over heat transfer onto hemp.


----------

