Vinyl heat transfer
How vinyl heat transfer works
The design is cut out of a sheet of coloured vinyl film by a plotter, the film around the design is weeded away by hand, and a heat press bonds what is left to the fabric. The mark is a layer of film sitting on the garment, with a slight thickness you can feel.
Nothing has to be made first, so there is no setup to spread across a quantity and a single garment costs what a single garment costs. That is why names, numbers and anything that differs from item to item are done this way, and it is why the method is slower per unit than screen printing once the numbers climb.
What vinyl heat transfer suits
Vinyl suits short runs, personalisation and specialist finishes. Films come in reflective, metallic and flock, none of which a normal ink can imitate, and vinyl is often the answer on polyester where dyes would otherwise migrate into a printed mark.
Products and materials it works on
- Sportswear, kit and team apparel
- Names, numbers and per-item personalisation
- Single garments, samples and small runs
- Reflective, metallic and flock finishes
- Polyester where dye migration is a risk
Lead time, minimum quantity and artwork
- Lead time
- Confirmed with your quote, against stock and quantity
- Minimum quantity
- Depends on the product and the branding method
- Artwork
- Vector artwork (AI, EPS or PDF) only: the plotter cuts a path, so there has to be a path to cut. Every colour is a separate layer of film pressed in turn, and very fine detail or small text is difficult to weed cleanly, so the design usually needs simplifying.
Other branding methods
Embroidery
Screen printing
Laser engraving
Sublimation
Pad printing
Digital printing
Debossing and foiling
Doming and badges
Pen branding
Ask us to price your order
Add the products you want to a quote list, tell us the quantity and how you want them branded, and we come back with pricing. Nothing on this site carries a price because every job is costed on the product, the quantity and the decoration.