The Scary Truth About Decorating Team Sports Uniforms – Heat Press Vinyl
15 Feb
The Scary Truth About Decorating Team Sports Uniforms with Heat Press Vinyl
Heat applied film gets a bad name sometimes. It’s easy to understand why when you look at the photo below of one of the most popular brands on the market (not Stahls’).
Washed just 2 times and put through the dryer on low heat.
Imitator's Heat Transfer Vinyl
The photo above can teach us quite a few lessons about decorating:
- There are countless brands of heat transfer vinyl materials on the market intended for t-shirts – cotton/poly fabrics.
- There are not many films intended for sports uniforms – polyester fabrics, nylon and mesh.
- Some suppliers will recommend their “t-shirt” heat press film for polyester, sometimes this does not work – just like the example above.
- So before committing to decorate team uniforms trust, understand and test your heat applied film brand.
- Likewise understand the fabric that you want to decorate – if it’s a nylon use a material that works on nylon. Polyester – a material that work on polyester. If it’s a mesh construction, verify compatibility.
- Lastly, pick a material that works for it’s intended sport. If it’s football – odds are that there will be hard helmet contact on the lettering, make sure that the material will stand up to this. The material above failed through basic laundering, imagine if it were worn on the field
The photo can also teach us a few things about selling…
- Based on the common problem above we need to do a good job of explaining to customers the advantages of the film we use (assuming you are using us) and how it has been lab tested for durability and performance.
- To avoid having to overcome the objection of using vinyl, you may want to identify the process simply as ‘personalization’ or another creative name that does not conjure up a negative connotation.
So to end on a positive note….how can you be assured that the scary situation above does not happen to you?
The answer: BUY A HEAT TRANSFER FILM THAT YOU CAN TRUST.
As you may have guessed, Stahls’ CAD-CUT Direct has a material – actually we have two depending on whether your decorating nylon or polyester.
Take a look at Thermofilm® on the other side of the same exact polyester mesh jersey put through the same exact wash cycle.
Thermofilm® on a poly mesh team uniform
To conclude today’s post below are two videos demonstrating our solutions, Thermofilm® and Thermogrip® for decorating team uniforms. You can buy these products by visiting CADCUTDirect.com
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Tags: heat press, thermofilm, numbering, team sports, flex, lettering, vinyl, uniforms, jerseys, thermogrip, transfer
I have been having the same problem. It has only been occuring on poly-dazzle cloth material, and I use thermo-grip, applied following application guidelines plus a few seconds. I have sent Stahls’ a jersey that came from a customer for testing, but as of yet have no feedback.
My only solution up till now was to either simply re-heat the graphic or remove it and start again. I’m sure just about everyone here knows how bad the removal solvent can …
I must say, I’m glad to have found this site. Just the picture from above shows me that I’m not alone in the frustrations of dealing with heat application in the athletic market.
Hey Jim
Thanks for the comments. I’m surprise to hear about problems with ThermoGrip on this fabric. Can you email me your company info so I can follow up on the sample sent?
Email is josh@cadcutdirect.com
Not certified yet, we are in the process right now. Thermofilm is more for team uniforms generally. Fashion Film would be most like Eco-Film.
Have these films been certified for use on garments for children under 12? How do they compare with films I like – Eco-Film and Eco-Film Plus?