# Heat Press Iron on/Vinyl cut methods



## RandomFuture (Apr 22, 2007)

Hi there, 

I am kinda new to this process and I am considering it for my tshirt company. We're gonna do one to 3 color prints on shirts (Not custom, just our own designs). I know the screenprinting process but this method has me wondering.

I saw a video of a Roland cutting out a full color image and then having it heat pressed on to the shirt (I can only assume that this is a commercial quality Iron on of sorts)

Anyways I am not sure how the quality lasts up with this method and the vinyl method so I was wondering who here uses these methods for their own tshirt business and If you have some tshirts that I could buy so that I could see the quality first hand, or if any of you are in the NYC area so that I can actually see it first hand.

Thanks!


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## John S (Sep 9, 2006)

If you are wanting to print 12 or more shirts at a time, I would have a contract screen printer make them for you. 

If you are looking at a lot of short run designs with just a few at a time to test the sales, a vinyl cutter would be a good way to go. The cutter can do other tricks to make money. Worth looking into.

The vinyl is durable, but takes a little more labor/time to produce. I have seen vinyl crack and peel after a lot of wash cycles. (I've seen screen printing do the same)

Screen printing is great in large numbers, but you have to tie up money in inventory until you sell the shirt. 

Plastisol Transfers would allow you to press the shirt sizes as you sell them.
It's a 'screen print the design to transfer paper and put it on the shelf until you press it on a shirt' kind of system.


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## RandomFuture (Apr 22, 2007)

Hmm, What about transfer papers, is that a vivable solution?


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## John S (Sep 9, 2006)

RandomFuture said:


> Hmm, What about transfer papers, is that a vivable solution?


The short answer is yes and no. 

There could be some major issues with durability/quality. 
I use them for custom photos, selling them as a short life, low cost product. 
I wouldn't use (inkjet) transfer paper for large quantites of a single design. 

That being said, you can use inkjet, color laser copier or even dye sub printing and have vastly different results. You will want to do your homework on the forums to get a better idea of what your choices are. 

T-shirt color (light/dark) will make a big difference in what you can or can't do with transfer paper(s). Dye sub works only on polyester.


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

Hi Dario, check out this old PDF from HixCorp. The general info is still applicable in my opinion. http://www.hixcorp.com/pdfs/digital info.pdf


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## RandomFuture (Apr 22, 2007)

Thanks for all the info, I read over that pdf and I think it gave me a better understanding of things.

I had another question in the same area.., When doing hats (Outside of embroidery) is the only option transfer papers? 'Cause I know there are hat presses but I was just wondering exactly what material you would be heat pressing on to the hat.


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## vctradingcubao (Nov 15, 2006)

Well, the "rules" for the shirt, such as materials, fabrics, colors, should be the same as when your heat pressing on to the hat.


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## BRC (Mar 27, 2007)

If you saw full color being done by a cutter, what you probably saw was a printed transfer being cut out on a cutter. The only way to have full color on vinyl is to have a printer plotter and they start at about $13,000. If you saw the GX-24 you saw the opaque transfer that was printed on an inkjet and then cut in the plotter. There are seminars you can go to called Great Garment Graphics where you can see this being done.


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