Heat Printing: When and Why?
When choosing a decorating method, it’s important to consider the substrate, what finish is necessary, placement of the decoration, the quantity required and how quickly the job needs to be turned around. Heat printing, also known as heat transfer printing, offers advantages in these key areas over other methods like screen printing or embroidery.
Although heat printing has been around for decades, innovations in heat-applied materials and heat application machinery are making it more popular. Add to that a low starting investment and an easy learning curve, and heat printing is now the method of choice for many decorators.
Get Creative With Placement
Heat printing goes where other decorating methods can’t with heat transfer materials designed for application on a variety of items and special platens designed for unique placements. Heat press platens are available for hats, hat bills, shoes, pant legs and sleeves, enabling decorators to get creative with placements, including wrap-around designs. The more places that can be decorated on a garment, the more premium items can be created and that means higher profit potential.
More Fabrics, Fewer Issues
Some fabrics are difficult to decorate with other methods. It could be a matter of a fabric requiring the level of heat that heat printing offers or the weight of embroidery making a garment uncomfortable to wear. Heat printing provides solutions to many common challenging fabrics.
One market that’s growing i s performance wear, where a soft hand and stretchiness are key to a comfortable final product. Heat printing offers several solutions for application on these kinds of fabrics. There’s heat transfer vinyl, designed for lower-temperature application to avoid scorching and inhibiting dye migration, and screen printed transfers formulated to give maximum stretch and a light feel on garments. Heated lower platens are another option to properly decorate polyester, polyester blends or even nylon without scorching.
Textures and Effects
With options ranging from glitter and reflective materials to full-color digital prints, heat printing is anything but flat or monochromatic. Heat printing is also great for mixed-media applications combining full-color transfers and textured vinyl all on the same garment.