# First Time Platicol Questions



## SouthMSbowtique (Feb 23, 2016)

I've been reading this part of the forum and have gotten really interested in what Plasticol can possibly do for us, but I have a few questions to see what would be the best way to attack this.

I have a customer wanting about 200 t-shirts, for both front and back design. Mainly family tree on front, and some writing on the back. Really simple.

I can do my own artwork, so that's not a problem. My questions are:

1) Who do you recommend to order these transfer from?

2) When you do order, do you order one size design for adult t-shirts and 1 size for youth? The reason I ask this is because we currently do a huge amount of HTV t-shirts, and we scale the the graphics for the shirt size.

3) How many colors can you put on a transfer, and is there a significant cost increase for doing so?

4) What is the general turn around time for these companies to produce the transfer?

Thank you in advance for all your answers!


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

1. No one. For 200 I recommend direct screenprinting, it should be less expensive than transfers. 
2. No, one size, unless the customer wants to pay extra and they never want to pay extra. 
3. Up to the manufacturer, and yes.
4. The most popular companies will turnaround in a day or two, others take up to a week.


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## jlidesigns (Jul 11, 2016)

Just stumbled across this post. I can only speak from my experience.
1) I just recently had a 300 shirt order that I used transfers for...200 were preorders, and another 100 shirts ordered at the event. The transfers were great. I order from First Edition Screen Printing.
2) If I am doing youth and adult shirts, I keep my design width around 10.5"w so that it does not run into the armpits of the youth shirts. I use the same size on youth and adult that way.
3) They can go up to 7 colors, and yes, the more colors you are printing, the higher the cost per transfer sheet.
4) Normal turn time is to ship within 4 working days once the proof is approved and the order clears invoicing.
I have sampled other plastisol transfers, but have stayed with this company for several reasons...mostly for the excellent product and customer service. 
I am sure that a direct screen printer could have priced the recent order I had a bit less than I was able to...but my client was confident in my product and was thrilled I could set up easily at their event to be available for late participants. It works for me. 
I would suggest getting some sample packets from various transfer places and reviewing their products. Be sure to do wash testing as well to ensure durability. Good luck.


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## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

I will disagree with @wormill on his first point. I don't do direct screen printing because I don't want to deal with the mess, the hassle, or the time it takes. And, depending on the amount of colors in the design, I can get the price down fairly low per item depending on which company I use and if I can gang the from and back images.

As for size, I will go with the maximum size for the smallest tee. It will still look fine on adult sizes (except maybe 3XL and bigger).

7 colors seems to be the max. The price does increase with each color added; this is where ganging can help.

Turnaround time varies by company, from a couple days to a week -- plus shipping.

I use several companies for my plastisol designs, depending on the job (whether I am using my own artwork or I want to customize a template, number of colors, size of design or sheet I need, etc.).

I like the following:


Transfer Express (for their templates) 
Seay Graphics 
Semo Imprints (good price on 1-color 7x12) 
F&M Impressions (for their $.15 and $.20 program) 
Versatranz (they have the biggest sheets I've found -- good for ganging)
 Best of luck to you!


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

I doubt the OP is a screenprinter or they wouldn't be asking the question so I thought it would be understood I meant outsourcing. There is no mess or press time when you outsource so I'm not sure you are actually disagreeing with me (?) On a 200 shirt order I do the artwork, send an email, drop ship the shirts, pick it up in a week, usually less than the cost of the transfers. I don't know why anyone would disagree with that. Now sometimes there is more profit in ordering transfers from F&M but the more shirts/locations/colors there are, the cheaper screenprinting becomes.


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## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

@wormill

Haha -- yes, you eliminate the mess and hassle when you outsource the screen printing!

For 200 double-sided tees, it might be worth paying someone else to do it but I don't see how it could be cheaper than doing it yourself, especially if you can gang the images.


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

Because transfers are ridiculously over priced. Look into contact printing.

-- Rick M


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## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

@wormill

Let's say I can gang the front and back images and I use Seay Graphics. Let's say further that there a 4 colors in both images.

For 200 sheets, that would cost $400 or $2 per sheet. Since that one sheet would cover both sides of the tee, that's $2 = the cost of the tee. At SanMar, I get 200 Port & Company Essential Tees in ash for $1.65 each.

Are you saying you can contract out for 200 tees, front and back images at 4 colors each for under $3.65 a tee?

P.S. I am not trying to start a cyber-rumble. I just am (easily) confused...


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## betweenmatt (Sep 20, 2014)

@jleampark
don't forget the labor cost of heat pressing 200 shirts front and back. Idk how long your press time is but you could be looking at quite a few hours of labor, electrical cost, space, counting shirts, folding shirts, not messing anything up.

Yeah you're paying more for a screen printer than if you used transfers, but they're handling all the issues and all the other associated costs.

Also imo halfway decent screen printing looks light years better than transfers, but thats just my opinion.

In regards to the OP
2) It depends on the range of sizes and how the design looks. I always go for the same size design across all the product if I can, but occasionally will do a smaller set for youth or a larger set for 2xl+. Just remember having different sizes means spending more time keeping things organized so there aren't mistakes.


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## jleampark (Sep 6, 2007)

betweenmatt said:


> @jleampark
> don't forget the labor cost of heat pressing 200 shirts front and back. Idk how long your press time is but you could be looking at quite a few hours of labor, electrical cost, space, counting shirts, folding shirts, not messing anything up.


Oh, this would definitely be a PITA -- you're basically talking about 400 presses plus folding plus the (hopefully) rare mistake.


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## betweenmatt (Sep 20, 2014)

Yeah it doesn't sound like it would be that bad when you're looking at it as just numbers, but when you actually go to do it it would be a nightmare; whereas screen printers normally get jobs in the hundreds to thousands of shirts; so they can handle that quantity with little to no issues. 



jleampark said:


> Oh, this would definitely be a PITA -- you're basically talking about 400 presses plus folding plus the (hopefully) rare mistake.


I'd probably take the job for 9-10$ a shirt if the op is looking for a screen printing prices; We use waterbased and discharge inks that last forever and don't flake - 10 day turnaround with free shipping.

I know places that'll do it cheaper but I'm assuming quality is important lol


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## wormil (Jan 7, 2008)

jleampark said:


> Are you saying you can contract out for 200 tees, front and back images at 4 colors each for under $3.65 a tee?
> 
> P.S. I am not trying to start a cyber-rumble. I just am (easily) confused...


You don't pay yourself or someone labor? I would take the $3.65 and tack on 400 press charges (labor). But regardless, I would still have my time invested in 400 presses. 

I can contract them out for $3.98, that includes labor, everything, I don't break a sweat. And honestly, that's not a great price for contract printing, I could get them cheaper. And before anyone asks, sorry but I will not divulge my contract printer, done that in the past and it came back to bite me.


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