WHAT IS HEAT TRANSFER T-SHIRT PRINTING?

Transfer printing is a type of digital printing on fabric, and is a fairly common printing technique for  uniform T-shirt products being used at Dallas Custom Shirts Printing store. Accordingly, the print is printed indirectly on the material (film), before being transferred to the fabric using a heat press .

This printing technique solves many disadvantages of screen printing or embroidery techniques, as well as saving costs.

In Vietnam, this type of printing also has many other names such as heat press printing, transfer printing, digital printing, dyeing on fabric, machine t-shirt printing... Besides, there are many variations. In the scope of this article, we only mention heat transfer printing on fabric.

In the field of fabric printing and uniform shirt printing , the most popular printing technique is screen printing. However, there are many cases where screen printing is difficult or almost impossible, such as images with too many colors, colors with high freshness and gloss, photos, images with many effects, 3D images... In that case, we use another very popular printing method, heat transfer printing.

PRINCIPLE OF HEAT TRANSFER T-SHIRT PRINTING

Laser automatic color mixing printers print images on specialized film, this paper is then placed on the fabric surface, using a press and heat to transfer the ink to the fabric surface, hence the name transfer printing. heat.

THERMAL TRANSFER PRINTING HAS NO LIMIT ON PRINTING COLORS

Unlike screen printing, the more colors, the higher the printing cost. For heat transfer printing, the printed image is printed using an automatic color-mixing laser inkjet printer, so the image can be printed with very high definition and expressiveness. Full effects, including 3D images or landscape photos. The cost of heat transfer printing depends only on the area of ​​the printed image, the number of printing positions, and the background color of the printed fabric.

ADVANTAGES OF HEAT TRANSFER PRINTING

• Thermal transfer printing provides high definition in all print types
• Heat transfer prints do not cause scratches to the wearer. The ink is absorbed into the fabric and the surface does not feel rough or rough when touched.
• Can print large, full-length images
• Production time is significantly shortened compared to other types of printing or embroidery.
• High durability, resistant to common cleaning chemicals.

DISADVANTAGES OF HEAT TRANSFER PRINTING

Heat transfer printing is very difficult to do on dark fabrics. Most of the time, this type of ink only prints best on white, cream, yellow, light blue fabrics... Besides, when printed on cotton fabrics like this, the printed color will turn pale. , significantly lighter than the design color.

CLASSIFICATION OF HEAT TRANSFER PRINTING TYPES

We temporarily classify heat transfer printing into some basic types as follows to make it easier for customers to choose printing type and place orders:

• Heat transfer printing on white poly background : This is the most suitable fabric for this type of printing, this fabric line can be mentioned as interlock, sports elastic, sesame elastic, cool elastic, Thai poly, baby crocodile...
• Heat transfer printing on cotton fabric : Cotton fabric can still be printed but the color is much different, pale compared to the design color. So this is a fabric that limits this type of printing. It is mandatory to treat the lining chemical before printing.
• Heat transfer printing on decal: Usually applied to small prints, the image is printed on a decal sheet first and then pasted on the shirt. Thermal transfer printers of this type can integrate laser cutting features. The most popular in this line of printing is shirt number (soccer) printing.
• Tram printing : This type of printing does not belong to heat transfer printing, but it also produces similar results, the print has average sharpness, the colors are not as fresh as heat transfer printing.
• Heat transfer printing on film: Transparent heat transfer film is a high-quality material that allows special inks to be printed on surfaces such as porcelain, shoes... Creating thickness for the print, as well as Can print on even dark fabrics. High material costs.

HEAT TRANSFER PRINTING ON BLACK FABRIC

Heat transfer printing on black fabric can still be done in many ways, however, due to the high cost, these types are rarely used in the field of uniforms, including:

• 2-skin heat transfer printing : This type of printing is rarely used in the field of uniforms due to its very high cost. Accordingly, the background color of the fabric is printed directly with full-shirt heat transfer printing. When printed, the fabric will have white on the inside and the outside color or pattern as designed. This type of printing requires an A0 large format printer, the image covers the entire shirt and consumes a lot of ink.
• Using specialized ink and lining: The printed fabric surface is treated with specialized chemicals as a transparent lining and heat transfer ink on a black background can be printed in this case.
• Heat transfer printing on film : This technique can not only print on black background, but can also print many styles such as glitter, glitter, and thick images (high printing). Most commonly applied in the thick leather industry.

At Logan, heat transfer printing is a technique we use quite commonly. To see samples, please contact our sales staff. Besides, you can also refer to some other popular printing styles at the link below.