How to Decorate Soccer Uniforms
Jul/100
QSO-58 on soccer uniform
Score this soccer season with increased soccer uniform sales.
Soccer teams will now be ordering for the fall season. We have hundreds of soccer designs your teams can choose from as well as the products to apply to these uniforms. Soccer uniforms are typically 100% polyester. All Transfer Express products will apply to this fabric. If they are labeled “dazzle polyester”, that is just a finish and will not effect the transfer application. One thing to watch for is “sublimated” 100% polyester. These still can be decorated with our Polytrans screen printed transfers, but you will need to order at least a 2 color print, with the dark color as the outline/background color to block the sublimated dye. For example, if you are using white ink on a red sublimated shirt, we recommend ordering white with a black outline.
Our digitally printed Cad-Printz™ are also great for soccer uniforms especially heart size crests that can be applied to almost any uniform. Cad-Printz ™ are full color so your teams can really stand out at a low cost this season.
How to Decorate Soccer UniformsNew Pearl Prints™ Custom Transfers
Jul/100
Copper Pearl Print - Using Layout QCH-114
Add some glimmer to your orders with our new Pearl Prints™. These pearlescent prints give your prints a little more luster. Available in 5 colors— Pearl Blue, Pearl Green, Pearl Purple, Pearl Gold and Pearl Copper Your own art can be ordered in the Pearl Prints™ colors, or use Easy Prints® to create your design and order as a Pearl Print!
Pearl Prints™ can be applied to cotton, polyester and cotton/polyester apparel. They are applied at a temperature of 340 for 10 seconds and are peeled cold.
Call us at 1-800-622-2280 to request your free samples!
New Pearl Prints™ Custom TransfersPuff Screen Printed Transfers
Apr/100
Add a dimension to your printing with our new Puff transfers. Puff transfers are available in white or black puff, but these colors can be combined with our regular screen printed inks to really make your design stand out. The Puff screen printed transfers work best on bold designs since the enlarging of the ink closes up detailed designs. Puff also works best on fashion items rather than athletic wear that is wash and worn weekly. Use Puff with our Easy Prints® tshirt design ideas or send us your artwork.
Easy Prints® Layout CP-23 Kelly with White Puff
Puff enlarged view
Ink Formula Focus: Glitter Screen Printed Transfers
Apr/100
QEV-60 in Silver Glitter Ink
The use of glittery, sparkling graphics on apparel is a growing trend for girls and women who want to add a little “wow” to their custom designs. Glitter designs can be applied to apparel using a number of different techniques but none that has the quality and durability like screen printed transfers. Like standard screen printing, Transfer Express’ Glitter transfers are printed using plastisol ink but with added sparkle. You can actually see the glitter in the ink!
Unlike the other standard plastisol transfers created, Glitter transfers are a “cold peel transfer”, meaning after it is applied with a professional heat press the transfer paper is not peeled away until after it has completely cooled. So after each transfer is heat applied to the garment, set it to the side and go on to apply the next transfer. Once they have all cooled, peel away!
Glitter Transfers:
Can be applied to light and dark garments
Heat print to any cotton, polyester or cotton/poly blend fabrics
Look best with bold designs. Not recommended with detailed artwork.
Are available in 5 colors; red, blue, green, gold and silver
Can include any of the 5 glitter colors in the design.
Request a sample of these Glitter transfers to show your customers all of their printing options. They are perfect for groups such as cheerleaders, gymnasts, sororities, camps and even fashion designs.
Ink Formula Focus: Glitter Screen Printed TransfersCustom Earth Day Transfers
Apr/100
April 22nd marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day! Many groups, schools and organizations will be gathering to help clean up our Earth and spread the word about how important it is to keep our planet clean and healthy. Custom Earth Day t-shirts are worn by many of the groups and sold to the public to raise money to help their efforts. Since this year is an anniversary year many people will be gathering at parks, environmental fairs and rallies which is a perfect time to gain more profits or help raise money to give back to the environment.
Start with a few Easy Prints® designs and purchase organic cotton t-shirts to heat print them to with your professional heat press. Below are a few ideas to get your started. Keep in mind, during these events there are many volunteers and staff helping out. It is very easy to add a line of text or names to the back of your Earth Day t shirts with the word “VOLUNTEER” or “STAFF”.
Do your customers want to give away reusable bags for repeated trips to the grocery store? Polypropylene bags are popular for reducing the number of plastic bags in our landfills but they are very difficult to heat print on since they melt under high temperatures. Elasti Prints® screen printed transfers apply at a low temperature and are perfect for this type of application!
Earth Day T-shirt Ideas
Best Custom Transfer Ink Color for the Job
Apr/100
Plastisol Ink Colors
No, Shakespeare wasn’t really talking about custom transfer ink colors with the quote “A rose by any other name, would smell just as sweet’ but it does apply. Too often, it is easy to get caught up in the name of a color when what really matter is the color itself.
For example, if you want a bright pink color to be put on a black shirt, you may be drawn to the neon pink when our bubblegum pink would actually be a much brighter pink for the job.
Other colors that work better on dark colored shirts are yellow instead of neon yellow, orange instead of neon orange, mid blue instead of neon blue and celery instead of neon green. The colors with the neon name are very bright on white shirts or when a white outline is added to put on dark shirts, but alone are not the best choice.
Another color names that can be confusing is cardinal or scarlet—is a stop sign red needed (our red) or a light maroon (our burgundy) and khaki—is beige, natural or cream what you really need.
So how do you know? All of our colors that have a corresponding pantone match are listed with this number. So if you have a Pantone chart the chart can be used. An even more useful tool is our ink color selector. This is a “paint strip” like chart showing all of the actual colors so the name really won’t matter at all.
Best Custom Transfer Ink Color for the Job100% or 50/50 Fabrics – Which works best for transfers?
Mar/100
Two of the most common types of t shirts and hooded sweatshirts customers request are 100% cotton and 50/50 cotton/polyester blends. For applying screen printed transfers though, which one works best and is there any difference in the finished product after the heat transfer is applied? For the finished product the answer is, “No, there is no difference in the quality or durability of the finished product if using 100% or 50/50 t shirts or hoodies”. The plastisol ink will attach itself to the fabric fibers in the same way.
Now, before the custom transfer is applied to the garment is where you may see a difference. The difference between 100% cotton and a 50/50 is the amount of moisture in the fabric fibers. The 100% cotton t shirt or hooded sweatshirt will hold more moisture and will need to be prepressed for a longer duration to remove the moisture. This is done before the transfer is applied.
Which screen printed ink formulas work best for the different types of fabric?
50/50 Cotton Polyester blends – Goof Proof®, Hot Split, Polytrans, as well as every other heat transfer that Transfer Express manufactures.
100% Cotton – Same as 50/50.
Recommendation:
Hot Split transfers will apply to 100% cotton however a longer prepress time is needed. All you need to do is pre-press for a few more seconds or until you do not see any more “steam” being released.
If you are unsure of which transfer type will work best for your type of fabric our Dealer Services Team is more than happy to give you suggestions.
100% or 50/50 Fabrics – Which works best for transfers?Faux Rhinestone Transfers Add Bling to Your Custom Prints
Feb/100
Rhinestones are hot, but finding someone to do custom printed rhinestone transfers is difficult, and the cost is high. For your budget-minded customer, we offer an alternative, “Faux Rhinestone”. Faux Rhinestone is not actual rhinestones, but rather a screen printed transfer created with a dot pattern and glitter ink to give the effect of rhinestone. We offer several transfer designs from cheerleading to basketball to give your customer some “Bling!” Just choose a layout, let us know what you would like it to say and choose one or more of our glitter ink colors—Silver, Gold, Red, Blue or Green. We have free samples of faux rhinestone available if you would like to see it before you order, just give us a call!
Faux Rhinestone t-shirt designs
Ink Formula Focus: Polytrans Screen Printed Transfers
Dec/090
Polytrans is another one of those types of transfers that we can say has been around since the start. It’s confusing to most because of its’ similarities to Goof Proof® but Polytrans does have its’ own advantages and is quite a simple transfer type to explain.
The secret to the ink formula for Polytrans is simple; it’s the Goof Proof® formula…shhh! Well no, it’s not a secret, just not well known but let’s change that. To start, it’s actually screen printed, with the same ink used by screen printers, plastisol ink. Printed onto a release paper, the ink receives an adhesive additive to make it easy to apply with a heat press. So this is the exact description of how a Goof Proof® transfer is printed. So what’s the difference?
Polytrans is all about how it is applied with the heat press. We mean the amount of time and temperature that is set on your heat press. On the instructions you will see that Polytrans is heated at 340 degrees for 10 seconds. This is different than Goof Proof® that is applied at 365 degrees for 4 seconds. Same formula, different time and temperature. That’s it! The lower temperature.
Use Polytrans if:
- Dark ink color is under a lighter ink color. (So the heat doesn’t smush them together)
- You’d like a softer feel than Goof Proof® but still a durable athletic feel
- Your apparel requires a lower temperature for when heat applying transfers etc.
- Test the difference between Goof Proof® and Polytrans, your heat press may have better results at the lower temperature and longer time.
So test a sample of this transfer type, or just grab what you know as a Goof Proof® sample and apply it using the 340 degrees for 10 seconds settings.
Ink Formula Focus: Polytrans Screen Printed TransfersInk Formula Focus: Hot Split Screen Printed Transfers
Dec/090
QAL-262 - Burgundy & White
The Hot Split ink formula has been around since the start of Transfer Express and has grown to a very popular formula used by many of our dealers. It’s our softest feel and lightest transfer when applied to apparel so you can see why it is used by so many.
To get down to the characteristics of the ink formula itself, a Hot Split transfer is screen printed using plastisol ink. Just like it’s counterpart Goof Proof® it is literally screen printed onto a release paper that allows it to peel “like butter” when applied with a heat press. It “splits” from the paper when peeled “hot”. Hence the name! It’s a simple product, (ink on paper) but it packs a punch in its qualities.
So try out a sample of Hot Split if you haven’t already and see why we call it our softest feel transfer.
Ink Formula Focus: Hot Split Screen Printed Transfers
