In an article recently published by Printwear, Chris Pluck gives us some tips on how to order custom heat transfers.
When ordering custom heat transfers for your shop, be sure to specify what the intended application of the transfer is. This will include fabric type, garment/product type, and the color of the garment or product.
Garment, product, and color all must be qualified because even though the garment is 100 percent cotton, not divulging the color information could lead to problems later. What if you want the transfer to be used on different colors of the same fabric? What if the garment is black? In the case of dark colors, for example, the transfer may need a white underbase built in for opacity.
Another example of this is a polyester garment that has been overprinted with a camouflage graphic, like the image above. The dye used in the camouflage print will penetrate through screen-printed inks, especially white ink, and destroy the transfer-printed graphic color. This fabric detail is important for the printer to know to create the right type of transfer for your shop.
To remove the potential of the camouflage color migrating into the transfer, the addition of a dye-bleed blocker may be necessary. Even though this may add to the overall cost of the transfer, your transfer would otherwise be worthless.
Similarly, let your printer know if the fabric is stretchy or contains a great deal of Lycra, as the transfer needs to have stretch properties to work well on the garment.
Thus, the more information you can provide regarding the garment, product and color, the better your resulting custom transfer will be.
Chris Pluck, Insta’s Business Development Director, has been in the imprinting textile industry for over 30 years. He has worked in Europe as well as the US, focused in screen printing and fusible transfer systems.
For more info on Insta’s products, visit us at www.instagraph.com or contact us at sales@instagraph.com.