# Help heat transfers on nylon gone bad!



## nadogirls (Mar 13, 2008)

Please someone help! I recently ordered transfers for nylon jackets from a company that has always given good quality transfers. The transfers went on ok and look great. I have had some customers bring back jackets after washing them and the design peeling off. I applied the transfers as directed from the company. I decided not to screen print these hoping the embellishment would go on without making as many mistakes. Not only does the design come off but the adhesive under the ink comes off also. The transfer company said it must be repellents in the jacket. I bought the jackets from Augusta and they stated that customers embellish these jackets all the time. Although they are willing to take a look at the jacket and test it. Has this happen to anyone if so please reply back with your advise. I printed 125 jackets for a school they gave as Christmas gifts. Thank you,


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## jean518 (Sep 23, 2009)

Yes. I did not do the embellishment but was asked if I could fix it. The designs started peeling off within a day after being distributed. None had been laundered. You can peel off the design with no effort. Some of the transfer had rough spots in it like it was overheated. We are working on peeling the design off the jackets. The customer wants to go back to embroidery. There will be a slight discoloration where the design was. Going to try to cover as much as we can. I do not do screen print but have used transfers. I did a test with vinyl. If the incorrect vinyl or application method is used, the design will peel off. I think nylon is a little more difficult to deal with. I have seen discussion about nylon on this group. When screen printing was the topic, I think someone said there is an additive that can be put in the ink to make it stick. The Augusta jacket is the one that has a sweatshirt lining and the material tag says nylon taffeta which is a rather slick fabric. Also, when I went to stahls to check out which vinyl was recommended for nylon/satin/taffeta there was a different cover sheet recommended. It was a silicone sheet and is much heavier than any of my teflon sheets. The one I ordered was 19. Did you tell your transfer company what fabric was being used? Fabric content does make a difference in both application material and method.


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## nadogirls (Mar 13, 2008)

This sounds like the same type of jacket. Exact jacket to be honest. I ordered the transfers specifically for nylon and tested them and they went on great. Although, i had one person bring one back because it started cracking and coming off around the edges of the design. It looked to me like friction from the design coming in contact with normal use. How did you fix your jackets.


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## jean518 (Sep 23, 2009)

The client has other jackets that were embroidered. Once we get the transfers removed, I will embroider the jacket to match the others as close as possible. Most of the jackets have never been worn. She said that when they got them from the supplier, they were starting to peel. They got them about 2 days before the first meet and handed them out. Most still had the tags on them when the parents called her to report the issue. I would love to go back with vinyl in order to be able to cover the old design are but the customer is leary and wants embroidery. 

Maybe some of the screen print or transfer gurus can give us some more hints. These jackets are not inexpensive. It is an Augusta 3280.


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## Nick Horvath (Feb 26, 2010)

The transfers may be made to go onto woven nylon, however there is not really much that will apply over water proofing/resistant coating and stay on through wear and tear. 

Usually these jackets are coated with PU, and you can get away sometimes if the coating is not that thick. 

Allot of people use rubbing alcohol to remove the area in which they are applying to. You would have to keep using the alcohol and then test the area by sprinkling water on it and see if it beads up.

Keep in mind you stand to possibly ruin your jacket doing this.

So basically these transfers may be able to stick to nylon, but not a PU coating.

I hope this helps.

Best regards.


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## jean518 (Sep 23, 2009)

Thanks Nick. I have seen jackets printed on but maybe they do not have the same fabric content but look similar. Since I do not want to take the chance of messing up a jacket, I will just go ahead and embroider them. Less time consuming in the long run.


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## orange circle (Nov 10, 2010)

Nick,
Are you saying that heat transfers to polyurethane coated nylon is not possible? I am hoping to be able to use transfer paper onto jackets.
Thanks,
John


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