No Scorch Marks-See What Shirts Pass the Test

When your customer requests a 100% polyester shirt do you cringe?   Are you afraid your 100% polyester t-shirt will leave  scorch marks?  We evaluated five different brands of 100% polyester t-shirts to see which leave scorch marks.

Scorch marks caused by too high of temperature and too much pressure.

Transfer Products

Our two products recommended for 100% polyester are Elasti Prints and UltraColor Max.  Both products apply at the same 290-degree temperature with a pressure setting of 6.  The test was done on a Hotronix Auto Open Clam Press.     Elasti Prints is a screen-printed transfer produced with plastisol inks and a low temperature adhesive.   It is recommended when you are doing 1 and 3 color work and need at least 18 of a design.   UltraColor Max is a Direct to Flim transfer.    We recommend UltraColor Max when you only need a small quantity of a 1 or 2 color print (1-17) or if you are using 3 or more colors.

Polyester T-Shirts

We evaluated five of the 100% polyester t-shirts brands we carry.    This included Port & Company PC380, Sport-Tek ST350, Hanes 4820, Jerzees 21m and Gildan 42000.    All the shirts evaluated are available in a wide range of color choices and were labeled as moisture-wicking.  The color chosen for the test was black t-shirts.

Let’s take a look at each of these polyester shirts.

The least expensive is the Port & Company Performance Tee PC380.   This polyester t-shirt is also one of the lightest weights, 3.8 oz. that we tested.   It also combats UV rays.

The next shirt tested cost a little more but offered the same 3.8 oz. weight, the Sport-Tek PosiCharge Competitor Tee, style ST350.    This shirt has PosiCharge technology to lock in color.

The next two shirts had approximately the same cost, the Jerzees 21M and the Gildan 42000.    The Jerzees Dri-Power was the shirt with the heaviest weight at 5.3 oz.    The Gildan Performance T-shirt is slightly lighter at 5.0 oz.

The most expensive shirt evaluated was the Hanes Cool Dri Performance T-shirt, 4820 at 4.0 oz.  Like the Port & Company it also had UPF protection.

No Scorch Marks Results

Using the low temperature transfers with a 290-degree application, with a pressure setting of 6, only the Sport-Tek Competitor Tee had a visible scorch mark.     All the transfers had great opacity with none showing any signs of bleed too and no scorch marks!