# NEED HELP!! Heat transfer vs screenprinting?



## Est'd 1978

Hello again heheh 

I just started a clothing company and I used a local screen printer, but I had a lot of problems with them(thats another story), and I was thinking of buying a heat transfer press and doing the shirts myself for now. I just dont know how much difference there will be vs the screen printed shirts I already have? I was told that heat transfer are good for a square backround design, but not good for just letters i.e.-Established across the front of the shirt. I would greatly appreciate any help on this matter. I have since found a better screen printer with contracting prices which arent bad, but if I can do heat transfer myself with the same quality I would be happy to do that!! If anyone needs to get in touch with me 

Thanks

Established Clothing Co


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## MarkSD

Heat transfer with pigmented inks would limit you to white, ash gray and very light colors. You could use opaque paper for darks but have the issue of the carrier showing. You can trim close to help eliminate most. Transfer paper will leave carrier but will almost washout. Carrier is more noticeable on colored shirts.

You could look into to plastisol transfers and heat press them yourself. Some good transfer companies are:

Silver Mountain Graphics, First Edition, Ace Transfer, Transfer Express. There are also companies with pre-made transfers such as ProWorld. Silver Mountain, I believe, carries transfers pre-made transfers. 

If you are interested in more on digital transfers there is a Yahho Group- [email protected] There is a screen printing board but I'm not at my business compter and don't have the addy handy.

Mark in SD


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## Est'd 1978

Thanks for the info!! I am new to all of this, but it sounds like it is much harder to heat press a black shirt? Would anyone be able to tell the difference between my current silk screen shirts and a transfer shirt by touch or look?? My first run of shirts are white, black and grey. Also how long does it take to get good at using a heat press??


Thanks again

Bobby
Established Clothing Co


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## Twinge

They can tell a difference between the two, but the difference will be neglible on lighter shirts. On darker shirts, the difference will be apparent and definately noticeable if you are using opaque transfers, and unnoticeable/negligible if you are using vinyl/flock or plastisol transfers.

The biggest advantage to using heat transfer is that its easy to learn (I think we've botched maybe 4 shirts out of 300ish, and 2 of those I just printed upside-down) and its much cheaper to do if you want to do it yourself. The biggest disadvantage is the inability/poor ability to do darker t-shirts, which can essentially be remedied by using a vinyl cutter or by ordering plastisol transfers.

Search for previous 'screen printing versus heat transfer' threads, I've gone into greater detail in the past =)


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## cleung

A screen printed shirt just seems to be of higher quality than a heat transfer. It's a higher end shirt.

Clint

Free Spirit Activewear


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## jdr8271

You can do almost anything with heat transfers that you could do with screen printing. Either buy plasticol transfers, or buy a vinyl cutter, and cut vinyl transfers your self, and you can print on dark shirts.


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## monkeylantern

jdr8271 said:


> You can do almost anything with heat transfers that you could do with screen printing. Either buy plasticol transfers, or buy a vinyl cutter, and cut vinyl transfers your self, and you can print on dark shirts.


I disagree. While heat press technology is leaps and bounds better then 10 years ago, screenprinted shirts for me, are almost a uniformly nicer shirt.


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## Chris

monkeylantern said:


> While heat press technology is leaps and bounds better then 10 years ago, screenprinted shirts for me, are almost a uniformly nicer shirt.


I don't have a heatpressed shirt in my closet. And I've got close to 300 shirts.

BUT it is apples to oranges.. in an artistic sense there are things you can do with one but not the other and "quality" is merely an opinion that's rooted in bias. 

Just from my own observations, guys will gravitate towards screened shirts and women will go for a heat transfer.


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## Solmu

Chris said:


> Just from my own observations, guys will gravitate towards screened shirts and women will go for a heat transfer.


That's interesting. The women I know hate heat transfer even more than the guys. Reason being: most guys are relatively flat chested, so a shirt with a heavy hand will more or less hang straight in front of them. With women that's clearly often not going to be the case, and it's not going to be as comfortable, or look as good. Also puts more strain on the transfer, making it more likely to crack.


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## Chris

Good point.. I guess no one likes them? 


I could be wrong, of course. I just don't know any guys who would buy them and I mainly see them on women here in L.A.. but they're not super big and the design sits in the upper-middle portion of the shirt (avoiding any boob stretchage).


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## CoolHandLuke

As for the whole heat transfer vs. silk-screen, I personally think that if you’re selling a high-end shirt, silk-screen is the only way you can go. You can get away with a one-time sale of a high-end shirt done through heat, but you’re not going to develop a true loyal customer base. Especially from the higher demographics.

I would look for another printer. There’s plenty of great ones out there!


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## Mind Your Mind

I have used screenprinting, heat press using transfers from printers, heat press using transfersfrom plastisol transfers, and now using heat press with vinyl transfers. 

Screenprinting has been good but I contract it out and have had problems with quality and some cracking issues.

I tested heat press from printers and they are not suitable to what I am doing and they cracked easily.

I used the heat press with plastisol transfers and had great success. You can barely tell the difference between this and screenprinting. I don't think the public or customers can tell either. 

I have just started using vinyl transfers and am very happy with the results. They don't crack at all so far and have a nice soft feel to them. Very difficult to tell apart from screenprinting. 

But as has been mentioned before what works best for one person or type of design may not be the best for another. 

I strictly just use text in my designs and very little of it.


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## no1viking

Heat Press vs Screen Print - I plan to do t****s for baseball tournaments usually have a baseball graphic and text with the title of the tourney and the date on it. I will be doing batches of from 120 to about 800. I know the start up costs are more with screen printing. What equipment would you recommend or do you think I should get a contract screen printer? How much would they charge me to do the screen printing

How much do the plastisol and vinyl transfers cost? Where do you buy them? What sizes are available?


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## hopper365

I'm new to the t-shirt printing business too. I have a heat press machine and a 4-color screen printing press.

I have printed both and I think the screen printed shirt looks a lot better.


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## promohouse

The difference between heat transfers and designs printed with a print screen is in the application process. Heat transfers are pre-printed and are applied to cloth goods, typically T-shirts, with a heat press. Items decorated with a print screen, through the screen printing process, are printed directly onto the item.

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Best,

Lee


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## skinner1691

You can get hotpell transfers that give you the same hand (fell) as screeprint. from a number of suppliers ,all you have to do is send in your art work and and have them make the hot-pell ones. I have been in the Bz for over 40 years and I sell over 600 shirts a month out of my home and only use transfers .The nice thinf about transfers is you don;t have to have a large stock of pre-printed shirts on hand just blanks and the transfers anf a heat press. Cost saveing from the getgo. Good luck on your co. Bob


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