# How do you do your neck tags?



## joyclothes (Aug 8, 2015)

Hi everybody,
My name is Andy and I'm very new to this forum and to the t shirt biz. Just started a couple months ago and am on my way to launching my site and making it live.

Here is a picture of my 4th attempt at neck tagging and I think it looks good.








So basically what I did is created the design in Affinity Designer (on a mac) and printed it out on some red grid transfer paper. I actually first tried to use just the regular bottom platten and ruined three shirts in the process (it burned the collars and didn't reach the neck area.

So what I did was used a separate "hat" press attatchment to get the neck area perfectly flat on the press surface.

However, this takes time to switch out the attatchments and was hoping someone knew of a way to reach the neck tag area on the flat press (regular) surface without having to switch up attatchments.

I heard someone used a mouse pad to raise up the inner area?
It sounds good to me but looking to know what type of pad it wuld need to be.

How do you do yours?

Bless you,
Andy


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## Freckledfrog (Aug 9, 2013)

I don't have any experience with them but I've heard that the Teflon pillows work great for pressing around collars. They are kind of pricy but when you consider the cost of ruining shirts, I can see where they'd be worth the investment. I'm sure there's plenty of people on here that have experience with them and could tell you more.

Btw, your logo looks great! Do you mind me asking what shirts you use and where you get them?


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## SayWord (Feb 19, 2015)

I've seen many people use a hat press for neck tags and to be honest, if you have one and it works that well i'd suggest you stick to it!


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

Turn the shirt inside-out before pressing if using your standard heat press. Make sure the neck tape area hangs just off the front of the press.


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## Evilspock (Mar 11, 2014)

We screen print our neck tags. We have a press set up with a small pallet just for necks and sleeves.
All the best!


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## Bfox (Feb 19, 2013)

Business like usual... except use a small platen if possible (Or tape a piece of cardboard/anything to raise the area up a little onto your regular platen) turn the shirt inside out, and print like you would anything else.


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## SayWord (Feb 19, 2015)

Bfox said:


> Business like usual... except use a small platen if possible (Or tape a piece of cardboard/anything to raise the area up a little onto your regular platen) turn the shirt inside out, and print like you would anything else.


Why do you suggest raising the area for screenprinting a tag?


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## idonaldson (Sep 29, 2008)

I use a hat press, if working the regular press no need for a pad.
If using regular press then I use a white mouse pad but a 3x3 size
If you do not use a pad then the color will prevent even heat to the label


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## joyclothes (Aug 8, 2015)

Thanks all for the valuable information! It is greatly noted and appreciated. Here is what I'm going to end up doing at first since I've ran out of budget and time to spend on setting up what I want for my final route.

I ended up purchasing this item here (haven't used it yet) but have faith it should work well for my application of neck tags with transfer paper once cut to the right size.







This can be found here at Silicone Rubber Sheet

It feels thick enough to get the job done. The reason I went this route is because even though the hat press attachment works well, it just takes too darn long to switch out the press attachments to be worth while so I feel this is a viable option to save time thus saving money. 

Here is a picture of the hat attachment on my press. It works good but takes too long to switch back to the regular 'platen' press. It works well because you can flip open the neck of the shirt a lot better and directly press onto the neck without having the collar of the shirt get in the way. It's perfect for the application but is a bit of a hassle to change back to regular press attachment.









Ultimately the end goal is do to neck tags the screen printed route as this is more professional and also takes care of one small problem I encounter with transfer paper neck tagging.
Here's some pictures and please leave feedback on if you think this is a deal breaker or not for neck tags.



























As you can see the paper, once applied, leaves a sort of indent on the back of both color shirts and actually is very slightly visible through the white t-shirt. I am wondering what your opinion is on this, how it could be fixed, and if it is a deal breaker or not. This issue is ultimately why I would be looking into screen printed neck tags in the future.

Please offer your thoughts and post on this subject, thank you.

I bless you all,
Andy


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## Green Mailer (Mar 6, 2015)

joyclothes said:


> Thanks all for the valuable information! It is greatly noted and appreciated. Here is what I'm going to end up doing at first since I've ran out of budget and time to spend on setting up what I want for my final route.
> 
> I ended up purchasing this item here (haven't used it yet) but have faith it should work well for my application of neck tags with transfer paper once cut to the right size.
> View attachment 172921
> ...



Bumping this for Andy. That tag looks (from the back of the garment) like a deal breaker to me. How can he continue to print a heat transfer neck tag without this happening?


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## joyclothes (Aug 8, 2015)

Green Mailer said:


> Bumping this for Andy. That tag looks (from the back of the garment) like a deal breaker to me. How can he continue to print a heat transfer neck tag without this happening?


What I actually did was just bought all the gear I need to screen print tags.

Awaiting for their arrival to start I wanted to get my logo ready. I printed it on some Red Grid transfer paper and turned the shirt inside out and pressed normally at 190C for 30Seconds.

Turned out good. Here it is..








If you want to watch a video of how I made this its here
Joy in Clothes - Custom T-Shirt Neck Tag with Transfer Paper

If you'd like subscribe to my youtube channel I'll be passing off all my knowledge as I go along and documenting my journey into the t-shirt business and starting to screen print.


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## joyclothes (Aug 8, 2015)

In the last post there that video link no longer work.

Here is the updated link to that video that shows how I did the neck tag with the transfer paper.
Joy in Clothes - Custom T-Shirt Neck Tag with Transfer Paper

Hope it helps.

P.S. Even though you love to make movies to your favorite music, don't do it. Just don't. They will be trouble to try to take out of your youtube video in the process your audio could be muted.
When making a instructional video of any kind be sure to use copyright free music!

Love,
Andy


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

joyclothes said:


> Here is the updated link to that video that shows how I did the neck tag with the transfer paper.


From a legal standpoint, you're missing country of origin.

The main issue with inkjet transfer paper is the roughness of the finished label. It would definitely irritate my neck.


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## joyclothes (Aug 8, 2015)

splathead said:


> From a legal standpoint, you're missing country of origin.
> 
> The main issue with inkjet transfer paper is the roughness of the finished label. It would definitely irritate my neck.


Yes, you are correct. Looking further I found this here.

Threading Your Way Through the Labeling Requirements

Specifically here... "*Country of origin.* _The Rules require labels to disclose the country where the product was processed or manufactured. The FTC amended sections 303.33(d) and (f) and 300.25(d) and (f) to clarify that the country where an imported product is processed or manufactured is the country of origin as determined under the laws and regulations enforced by Customs._"

So yea, I must have to tweak around the design some, no biggie. My screen printing gear hasn't come yet so no worries there...

As for the transfer paper being to scratchy, nah I have had plenty of tees using this method and never bothered me any. It's like it's not even there. I recommend it if you're starting out and that's all you have. It's cheap, easy, and quick. I actually really love transfer papers, you can print a graphic intense multi-color image onto a white t-shirt with ease. If using the right ink, paper, and pressing right, the colors won't fade in the wash.

In any case, I'm going to be screen printing them soon 

I was wondering why I've seen examples on google and other places that don't have country of origin on their tags? Can you go into depth on this?


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## joyclothes (Aug 8, 2015)

So, how's this here?









This is my third try at the logo design, trying to make sure it is legal before it goes into use. That is important.

Am I good? Can I start to do these on my tees?


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## splathead (Dec 4, 2005)

joyclothes said:


> I was wondering why I've seen examples on google and other places that don't have country of origin on their tags? Can you go into depth on this?


For clothing sold in the U.S. country of origin is a must. FTC requires that it be placed on the neck of the garment. The pictures you saw were either not for U.S. sale or the garment maker is not aware of the law.


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## Green Mailer (Mar 6, 2015)

So, whats the verdict? Will a plastisol heat transfer work properly for the neck tag and not be annoying to the user?


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## joyclothes (Aug 8, 2015)

Green Mailer said:


> So, whats the verdict? Will a plastisol heat transfer work properly for the neck tag and not be annoying to the user?


Plastisol, yea. Transfer paper, no, not so much. Water based ink for sure would be a softer hand and better feel if you're too worried about it, but as a new screen printer I don't like water based printing much because of the added difficulty and factors that can lead to trouble on press.


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## Wcsign (Mar 18, 2014)

We do them in house with platens we designed.


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## AnS Printing (Mar 30, 2016)

We do plastisol transfers, We print like 10 of them on a sheet and we cut them into small squares and place and press them as needed. 

When we first started we actually used jet opaque and JPSS. Worked great for awhile but plastisol transfers is a much greater quality..


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