Apparel Terms to Help with Heat Transfers
Nov/111
Terms used when ordering apparel can be confusing. A special thank you to team member Andy Curtiss who did some research on what they mean and how it comes into play when applying heat transfers.
Denier– A unit of measurement that indicates how fine the weave of a material. Specifically, denier references to the weight of a fiber. For example, 1 denier = 1 gram per 9,000 meters of a fiber. So this means that the higher the number, the heavier the weight of the fibers used. A lightweight garment has a lower denier. For example, a woman’s nylons could be 7 denier. But a heavy duty nylon awning could be 1,000 denier. This does not affect heat printing.
Moisture Wicking – This term refers to some fabrics abilities to absorb sweat from your skin and pull it through to the outside of the garment. This leaves your skin dry and comfortable and allows the sweat to evaporate more quickly. Both nylon and polyester have the capacity to wick moisture as noted above. This term alone has no effect on the adhesion of our product as it is NOT a special coating, but a natural ability of some fibers.
Dri-Fit, Aerocool and Cool Mesh – These are trademarked or brand terms that refer to a type of jersey in which nylon or polyester has been mixed with cotton or another natural fiber. These garments are advertised as not only good at wicking away sweat, but the added natural fibers like cotton make the garment more breathable and comfortable, allowing a person to cool down more quickly. So when dealing with these garments, we will always need to ask: polyester or nylon.
Porthole, Mini, & Micro Mesh – These are all terms that simply refer to the size of the holes and the denier (weight) of the mesh fabric. All three can either refer to polyester mesh or nylon mesh. The largest holes with the heaviest denier are generally the porthole mesh which is used for some football jerseys or mesh laundry bags. In contrast, the micro mesh has tiny holes and smaller denier and it is used for basketball and lacrosse jerseys. Mini mesh is between the other two and can be used in any of the sports previously mentioned as well as soccer. When a customer mentions any of these products we should immediately ask if it’s nylon or polyester and make the appropriate transfer type choices from there – don’t ever assume!
Tricot Mesh – Tricot is a term that refers to a style of knitting or weaving. The tricot style will generally leave one side of a garment smooth and the other side textured. Tricot mesh is this style of weave used in a mesh jersey. These are often times a higher end jersey in the sports world (it is also used in undergarments and sleeping bags). Tricot mesh comes in both polyester and nylon varieties so we need to ask when customers mention it – don’t assume!
Performance Wear – A garment that is worn close to the skin because of its wicking properties. Performance wear is made to be tight, but flexible so it can be worn under a uniform or as a uniform itself in some sports. Some performance wear is worn as a loose fit. These garments can be decorated with any of our products that are appropriate for polyester. However, other performance wear is referred to as compression fit. These garments are worn skin tight and will generally stretch to some degree. For this fit you should use Elasti Prints® or CAD-PRINTZ™. You will hear the terms moisture wicking, dri-fit and aerocool occasionally in conjunction with performance wear (see above for their definition).
Sublimation – A high end process of decorating garments that involves dying the garment with a gas process. Garments are polyester and start the process as white or very light grey. After the sublimation process is complete, the garment will show a different color(s) on the outside, but still show the original white or light grey on the inside. The only catch to the process is that it easily suffers from dye migration (see below). The only transfer type that can be safely used is CAD-PRINTZ Sub Block.
Sub Block on a Sublimated Shirt
Embroiderer Caters To Conferences With Print-On-Demand Transfers
Oct/110
Conferences are a great niche for custom transfers because they allow you to offer a customized shirt without committing inventory. You may be left with some extra designs, but these can be used for follow-up orders after the event or for next year’s gathering.
By visiting a website like http://www.allconferences.com/, almost any decorator can easily identify if there are any worthwhile conferences near them that would make it feasible to pack up a truck or van with shirts, designs, and a heat press and spend a busy weekend selling logoed merchandise.
For Marjorie Corrow, president, Life’s a Stitch Embroidery, LLC, Niskayuna, N.Y., (http://tinyurl.com/6k6tzsw) custom transfers have been a profitable decorating method to use as she travels to conferences held by Christian youth groups and child abuse prevention organizations. Although Corrow is primarily an embroiderer and brings a few pre-embroidered items with her, the majority of her merchandise is printed onsite.
One lucrative niche that Marjorie Corrow, president, Life’s A Stitch, Niskayuna, N.Y., caters to is conferences. Although she is primarily an embroiderer, she has found that transfers allow her to easily expand her offerings and increase her overall sales.
“I invest in a lot of blanks and about $200 in transfers,” she says, “and I use them for a couple of years. For example, I have two logos I use every year for my Christian youth group.”
One secret to success in catering to conferences is knowing what to bring. Corrow selects a nice variety of apparel appropriate to the event, which typically includes T-shirts, sweat shirts, caps, and women’s tops as well as miscellaneous little things.
“I usually have hoodies and T-shirts with the conference logo on the front chest, down the sleeve, or down the leg. I also bring a selection of blank flannel pants. I typically buy a lot of closeouts that I don’t pay a lot on. I have a good relationship with the wholesaler, and it will let me return closeouts,” Corrow says. “Of course, you have to be at a certain sales volume, and you have to return goods within a certain amount of time. But it allows me to send back apparel that isn’t logoed even though I have to pay the shipping.”
“I have a pretty good feel for how much and what sizes,” the decorator notes. “I only bring things I can sell in subsequent years. That is something that you learn over time.”
Corrow has found that even though she’s often bringing back an old design, she can still sell another piece to last year’s customer by changing the garment it’s applied to.
“For a prevent child abuse conference, I have a design that is hands with spread fingers and thumbs entwined in different colors, sizes, and configurations. They form a U-shaped necklace, and I apply it to the neckline of either a scoop-neck ladies’ shirt or a regular T-shirt.
“This conference is mainly women in helping professions, and the hands symbolize helping. They absolutely love it, and every year I put the hand design on a new piece,” she says.
Each year, Marjorie Corrow exhibits at a Prevent Child Abuse conference where one of her most popular designs is intertwining hands, which she embroiders on women’s wear and bags. She uses transfers for hoodies, flannel pants, and doggie Ts.
Rally Towels are Easy-to-Print Items to Offer Your Customer
Sep/115
This Friday, a big game takes place between two local state ranked football teams. Both of them run successful spirit stores so, professionally, we are staying neutral!
If your area also has an upcoming big game, an easy-to-print item to offer your customer is the rally towel. You can even print on the demand at the game with your heat press and custom transfers supporting both teams. Or have your customer offer it as an incentive with program sales–$10 for a program and rally towel.
Rally towels add to the excitement for fans!
These towels are available at a low cost, usually about $1, and you can do a transfer gang sheet with 2 images per sheet to keep your costs to a minimum. We offer over 100 football layouts that can easily be customized for your event!
On the rally towels shown, which are 14” x 17” in size, we used a Goof Proof® screen printed transfer and heat pressed for 4 seconds. All of our products can be applied to cotton, so choose your favorite and waive your team to victory!
Rally towels are a great way for fans to support their team!
Magic at the SGIA Expo
Sep/110
To most consumers, garment decoration is a mystery. Somehow, somewhere, people take plain shirts, jackets, and hats and Shazam! make them into great-looking apparel. You can see the magic happen firsthand at the 2011 SGIA Expo in New Orleans, October 19-21. Nobody will be wearing top hats or capes, and no rabbits will be pulled from hats, but there will be hands-on demonstrations, informational sessions with industry experts, and even prizes and giveaways.
It’s all happening in the Stahls’ Heat Printing Zone. There you’ll find refreshments, samples, demonstrations, and forums with world-class experts. You’ll learn how to decorate your customers from head to toe – literally. Topics include printing on headwear, creating graphic T-shirts, and customizing shoes, as well as discussions on industry trends and innovations. Plus, you’ll have the chance to win a Hotronix® Fusion™ heat press at our Friday drawing.
And don’t forget to visit our other areas.
In booth #1245 you’ll be able to see samples of Transfer Express’ screen printed transfers and get more information on our products.
The Digital Apparel Zone(#3125) will have live demonstrations of cut and sew equipment, heat transfer and print/cut technology, and cutting-edge techniques in digital apparel decoration.
Cap off your day with a visit to the Screen Printed Apparel Training Zone (#3319). Each day at 3:30 pm Josh Ellsworth of CAD-CUT ®Direct will demonstrate the use of screen printed transfers and heat press machines, as well as a thorough review of heat applied materials.
Stahls’ is Heat Printing, so be sure to visit us at the SGIA Expo and on Facebook.
Use Your Customer’s Clip Art in Our T-Shirt Designer
Sep/110
Below is a recent testimonial from a customer that knows the value of our Custom Clip Art program at Transfer Express.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
I am not sure that I can express my appreciation to you and the delight that I felt when I went to your website today and saw that I could not only SEE my CCA but that I could put them into Easy Print layouts to view. You guys are AMAZING! This will help my sales tremendously and make my life so much easier. Again, THANK YOU!
Ingrid
From Indiana
What is the Custom Clip Art program?
If your customer has a logo or clip art that they would like to reuse in our customizeable layouts, we can archive it for you. Imagine your customer’s logo or clip art in place of all our eagle clip art or others shown in the Easy Prints® layouts. This gives you the power to offer your customer lots of options. Your archived Custom Clip Arts are viewable online and can be used in our online T-Shirt designer to create a truly custom T-shirt design in seconds.
How to order a Custom Clip Art?
Place an Easy Prints Plus order that includes the artwork you would like to archive. Request what speicific art that you need to be archived. For a flat one time fee of $15, we will assign that logo or clip art a unique number just for you. Once the plus order is complete your Custom Clip Art will appear online and be ready to use!
Got custom art that you need custom transfers for?
Click here to send us the art to get your quote or order started.
Put your custom logo in our layouts
Facebook Marketing Tip No. 1 – Show Off Your Shirts On Facebook
Sep/110
While more decorated apparel shops are understanding the worth of putting up a Facebook business page, many are still struggling with what kind of content to post. To make your Facebook a viable business tool, you must find the right balance between fun and interesting vs. promotional information.
People are on Facebook for mostly social reasons, and they do not want to be bombarded with what is going to be considered advertising for a business. However, there are a number of ways to communicate what services you offer without being offensive or blatant.
One of the easiest ways to promote yourself on Facebook is to show off your work. When you finish a job that you’re proud of, make sure you take a photo of it and post it up on Facebook. Tell a little bit about it. Good examples are what was the purpose of the shirt, who did the artwork, and how it was decorated. Even better, see if you can get customers to shoot a photo of a recipient or their customer wearing the shirt.
If you think about it, having a shot with your customers happily wearing shirts you created is probably one of the greatest testimonials you can get. Even without copy stating “I love my shirts from The ABC T-Shirt shop,” the photo says it all.
All shops have favorite customers with whom they have a great relationship. Consider asking some of your best customers if they wouldn’t mind taking a photo sometime of some work you’ve done for them. It’s a painless, inexpensive way to gain some valuable exposure for your business, and your customers will probably be flattered to see you post their shirts on Facebook as well.
Put photos on Facebook of customers wearing their shirts.
Vector vs Raster Art: Which is Best for Transfers?
Jun/110
Vector vs Raster Art:
There are basically two different types of art – vector and raster (bitmap/jpg). Both are useful depending on your end use.
Raster art is made up of tiny boxes known as pixels. An example of a raster image is a digital photograph. Typically, rasterized files end with file extensions such as .jpg, .tif, .bmp, .gif, and .png. One of the most common mistakes made with raster art has to do with scaling (sizing) a rasterized image larger. Since raster art is resolution dependent, you can scale smaller, but you shouldn’t scale larger. This is because there are only so many pixels in the image. Raster images are measured by their dpi (dots per [linear] inch). A crisp, high resolution image will be around 300 pixels per inch. When scaling larger, the same amount of pixels remain, but over a larger area. Therefore, if you scale a high resolution (300 dpi) photo twice the size, you now only have 150 pixels per inch, which is half the resolution previously. When scaling larger, the pixels per inch decreases, which in turn makes the resolution decrease. This creates the distorted and pixilated look.
When zoomed in on raster artwork, you can see the pixels that create the image.
Vector art, on the other hand, is not resolution dependent. You can scale it larger or smaller and it will still look the same. Vector art can be used on a golf ball or the same art can be used on a billboard and either one will look clear. This type of art uses mathematical formulas to create the artwork. There are no pixels involved. Instead, it uses points and curves to create shapes. This type of artwork is created in applications such as CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator, which can have file extensions such as .cdr, .ai, and .eps.
When zoomed in on vector artwork, lines and curves are smooth.
How does this all fit in to our transfers?
Rasterized artwork is fine for our CAD-PRINTZ™ digital transfers as long as it is high resolution at full size (300 dpi or higher). Also for our digital transfers, vector artwork is perfectly acceptable as well.
If you are interested in our screen printed transfers, the printing process differs some. In this case, you can send us raster artwork, however, it will only be used as a guide from which the artwork will be recreated. Vector art is preferred for screen printing.
How To Outfit An All Star Uniform
Jun/112
Baseball All Star teams are forming and these teams will need uniforms. Start with the front of the uniform and dress them like pros! An entire layout category is dedicated to these players in our Easy Prints® collection. Many of these teams will want two or more colors on the print and our online design tool, Easy View™ can show your customers what the print will look like in two colors on their shirt. All Star teams frequently also add a number to the front of the uniform under the logo, especially script with tails layouts. If doing teen uniforms, our 4” numbers are perfect. For smaller youth, use 2.5” or 3” numbers ordered through our Express Names program. If using 2.5” numbers you can fit 10 digits in one strip, and for 3” numbers you can fit 8.
The All Stars will want to be recognized so be sure so to be sure to add an Express Name above the number on the back. The 2.5” size is best for teen uniforms and the 2” size is perfect for younger teams. The number under the name can be ordered in two colors to match the uniform front, and with Easy Prints® numbers it is one application in just 4 seconds. For teen uniforms, an 8” number can be used and for smaller sizes use a 6” number.
If your team has a sponsor this can be added to the sleeve. Add this as well as a cap size print for your team caps to the front logo and create a gang sheet – all three logos are printed on one sheet for a great cost savings.
Add an American flag to the other sleeve and your All Star is ready to play!
All Stars layout QAS-2 with front number
Transfer Extreme and Memorial Day
May/110
Transfer Extreme Layout USA-10 America is Great
We’re a patriotic bunch, here at STAHLS’ Transfer Express. Flags are waving, banners are soaring, and Lenny Schiavone just cooked a whole bunch of hot dogs for us to kick off the Memorial Day Weekend!
Meanwhile, we’re still celebrating the launch of our latest product offering, Transfer Extreme, and its introductory collection of patriotic screen-printed transfers. Since it hit the wires on Wednesday, May 25th, each of our 10 Americana stock designs has been flying off the shelves. (Looks like we’ll have to keep printing!)
Transfer Extreme Layout USA-1
Transfer Extreme is really special to us. We enlisted the help of industry-renowned graphics expert, Dane Clement, to create trendy, edgy designs that truly display American Pride. These were screen-printed with plastisol inks using our new, innovative, simulated 4-color process printing method. This provides beautiful graphics, intricate designs, and full, vibrant colors. The image quality is comparable to direct screen-printing, digital printing, or litho. However, the finished product gives you a very soft hand (not plastic-y like those other guys), and it applies in only 4 seconds! Plus, it’s great for both light and dark fabrics; for cotton, polyester, and cotton/polyester material.
Transfer Extreme Layout USA-9
Dane created designs that are ideal for all ages, but will especially appeal to the alternative looks that teens and young adults love. Just in time for Memorial Day, they’re perfect for summertime fashion and your customers’ 4th of July Independence Day celebrations.
Transfer Extreme Layout USA-4
Please check out the designs when you have a moment, if you haven’t already. We’d love to hear your feedback about them at info@transferexpress.com. Tell us how you like and how you’re using them, or if you have any special stories such as from a U.S. Veteran. Also, please share with us what designs you’d like to see us produce for you in the future!
In the meantime, I hope your family, like mine, will be struttin’ their stuff this Memorial Day Weekend wearing Transfer Extreme designs!
Transfer Extreme Layout USA-11
Celebrate Your Patriotism And Your Independence From Boring Transfers! – Today is “Decoration Day” with our new product, Transfer Extreme!
May/110
Transfer Extreme™ Layout USA-7
STAHLS’ Transfer Express® is well-known throughout the industry as being the industry leader in providing its customers with custom transfers. We set the bar with our one-day shipping of our Easy Prints® screen-printed transfers using our Idea Book™ catalog of thousands of available designs, layouts, and clipart. We’re also established as an innovative company, constantly employing new technologies and adding new products to our ever-expanding collection. Most recently, this has included CAD-PRINTZ™ digital transfers, Foil, Glow-In-The-Dark, and non-apparel Banners, Stickers, Wall Graphics, and Window Clings.
Today, we are proud to announce the introduction of our newest product. Transfer Extreme™ is a transfer that is screen-printed with plastisol inks using an inventive simulated 4-color printing process. The end result gives your customer a beautifully screen-printed graphic, allowing for extremely intricate designs and vibrant colors. The image quality is very comparable to that of digital transfers, but with the much softer hand of screen-printing.
Other transfer companies offering similar products are forced to deliver you a very hard, heavy graphic in order to deliver similar image quality. Or, they have to sacrifice the quality in order to provide a softer hand. Transfer Extreme provides both quality and soft feel, AND is VERY easy to apply: 4 seconds! Using one of STAHLS’ Hotronix® heat presses set on 365 degrees, Transfer Extreme applies in just 4 seconds. [Transfer Extreme Application Instructions] You can screen-print 4 colors in just 4 seconds! (Well, actually, it’s MORE than 4 colors, but who’s counting?!) Transfer Extreme applies to cotton, polyester, and cotton/polyester material, and works on both light and dark fabric.
Layouts USA-9 and USA-7
Just in time for Memorial Day, in preparation for your customers’ 4th of July Independence Day celebrations, and in advance of the 10th anniversary of 9-11-01, we are offering Transfer Extreme in the form of patriotic/Americana-themed stock transfers. There are 10 fabulous designs for you to choose from, available in the form of individual packs of 10 transfers for just $20. Or, if you can’t make up your mind, there are 2 separate variety packs available containing 2 of each of 5 of the designs.
Transfer Extreme™ Layout USA-1
The designs are patriotic, yet edgy, and are perfect for your customers’ summertime fashion. Try putting them on zipper hoods or burnout tees for the alternative look the teens love!
Transfer Extreme™ Layout USA-11
Transfer Extreme™ Layout USA-5
STAHLS’ Transfer Express is very excited about this fantastic new product, and we are sure that you will be, too. With more to come in the future, today please give your customers the opportunity to celebrate America with Transfer Extreme!
Transfer Extreme™ layout USA-8
