Heat Transfer Paper vs. Sublimation Printing

So, you're entering the wonderful world of T-shirt making and personalized garments - that's exciting! You may be asking yourself which garment decoration method is better: heat transfer paper or sublimation printing? The answer is that both are great! However, the method you go with depends on your needs and what you're looking to do. Plus, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages. Let's dig into the details to help you decide which is the right fit for you and your business.

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The Basics of Heat Transfer Paper

So, what is heat transfer paper exactly? Heat transfer paper is a specialty paper that transfers printed designs to shirts and other garments when heat is applied. The process involves printing a design onto a sheet of heat transfer paper using an inkjet or laser printer. Then, you place the printed sheet on your T-shirt and press it using a heat press (in certain cases, a home iron will work, but heat presses provide the best results). After you've pressed it, you peel away the paper, and your image adheres nicely onto the fabric. Great - you now have a custom T-shirt! That was easy, right?

Garment decoration via heat transfer paper is super easy and carries one of, if not the lowest, start-up costs in the industry. In fact, many decorators get their start using nothing more than the printer they already have at home! A few other important notes about heat transfer paper is that most papers work on both cotton and polyester fabrics - while you'll learn that sublimation only works on polyesters. In addition, heat transfer papers are designed to work for either dark or light-colored garments while sublimation is exclusively for white or light-colored garments.

Ok, How About Sublimation

The sublimation process is quite similar to that of heat transfer paper. Like heat transfer paper, the process involves printing a design onto a sheet of specialty paper - sublimation paper in this case - and pressing it to a garment with a heat press. The difference lies in the science behind sublimation. Ready to get science-y?

Sublimation ink, when heated, turns from a solid to a gas that embeds itself into the polyester fabric. When it cools, it goes back to a solid and becomes a permanent part of the fabric. This means that your transferred design adds no additional layer on top, so there's no difference in feeling between the printed image and the rest of the fabric. This also means that the transfer is incredibly durable, and under normal conditions, the images you produce will last as long as the product itself.

Bonus! Sublimation not only works on polyester fabrics - it also works on a wide variety of hard surfaces with a poly-coating. This opens up an entirely new world of items you can customize - coasters, jewelry, mugs, puzzles and much more.

Heat Transfer Paper vs. Sublimation

By now, we hope you have the gist of heat transfer paper and sublimation, so let's get down to the nitty gritty and compare these two garment decoration methods in a few important areas.

Startup Costs and Equipment Requirements

Garment decoration via heat transfer paper is one of the least expensive methods for starting out. To get started, you will need an inkjet or laser printer (which you may already have), a heat press, heat transfer paper, and the shirts or garments you'd like to decorate. That's it! A hobbyist heat press will typically run you around $300, and that will be your biggest initial investment. If you don't already have a printer, we would recommend an inkjet printer with pigment based ink for starting out - such as the Epson EC-

Sublimation carries a higher start-up cost than heat transfer paper, but that cost has greatly come down in recent years. Sublimation starter packages such as the Sawgrass SG500 contain everything you need to start sublimating - minus the heat press - at a very affordable price. This includes the sublimation printer, sublimation paper, essential software and a sample pack of products you can sublimate. Outside of this, all you need is a heat press, and a hobbyist heat press starts around $300.

For additional information and help picking out your first sublimation printer, check out our other blog, "Which Sawgrass Sublimation System is Right For You?"

Durability and Feel

Sublimation uses a process where the ink becomes part of the fabric rather than adding a layer on top. This results in a transfer that is unmatched in both durability and feel. On the other hand, heat transfer paper adds a layer on top of the garment. This additional layer can be physically felt and is less durable than sublimation and can become faded and cracked over time with numerous wash cycles.

It is important to note that heat transfer papers are not created equally, and you will find some that offer a softer feel and greater durability than other transfer papers. For folks just starting out with an inkjet printer, we recommend JET-PRO Soft Stretch for its soft texture and great durability.

Types of Garments You Can Decorate

With sublimation, you're more limited in the types of fabrics you can decorate compared to heat transfer paper. First, sublimation only works with polyester fabrics. No 100% cotton! This is because sublimation ink only binds to polyester material. You can get away with sublimating on some poly-cotton blends, but the transfer will not be as bright and vibrant as when you use 100% polyester. Because sublimation adds no extra layer on top of the fabric, the material also needs to be white or very light-colored for your transfer to show.

On the other hand, with heat transfer paper, you can decorate on light and dark-colored cotton, polyester and cotton-poly blends.

While heat transfer paper may be the clear winner on the types of fabrics (material and color) that you can decorate, remember that sublimation can also be used on a wide range of hard and soft surface substrates. For the most part, heat transfer paper cannot.

Other Factors to Consider

Colors You Can Produce

Sublimation allows you to print full colors, which is especially great if you are wanting to print photos or have customers that need a very specific color (such as for a company logo). Depending on what type of heat transfer paper you use - inkjet or laser - you may not be able to achieve the same full-color, photo-quality transfers as with sublimation.

For photo-quality prints with heat transfer paper, your best bet will generally be inkjet heat transfer paper for light-colored garments or laser heat transfer paper printed with an OKI white toner laser printer. For more information on this topic, check out our other blog, "3 Things You Must Know Before Buying Heat Transfer Paper."

Weeding

Sublimation is also naturally self-weeding as only the ink is transferred to the fabric. The process is easy as printing, pressing, peeling!

Most heat transfer papers are not self-weeding with the exception of "two-step" laser transfer papers such as FOREVER Laser Dark. With heat transfer paper, a transfer layer carries the print to the garment, and unless you want a noticeable background the shape of the paper on your T-shirt, you will have to trim around the image with scissors or a cutting plotter.

On transfer papers for light-colored garments, the transfer layer is clear and mostly invisible, and trimming is optional. However, if you don't trim it, you will be able physically feel the transfer layer even where the image is not present. On "one-step" transfer papers for darks, unprinted areas will show a white background, so trimming is essential.

Bottom Line

If you’re an up-and-coming entrepreneur working to create your own custom products business, then at some point you will want to invest in new gear and equipment.

I’m sure you’ve done all your research and know what you’re in for — you’ve probably worked out what equipment and supplies you’ll need and where you’ll get them from.

But, for someone just starting out, it’s a jungle out there. It’s hard to tell what is what and where to order from. 

So, how about we start with a few baby steps?

In our opinion, the heat press is one of the most important pieces of equipment in the custom products business and deserves to be discussed as much as any other machine.

If you’ve never heard of the machine, don’t worry. We’re going to tell you all about them. 

So, stick around to the end, as I explain to you why you need one, how they work and what they’re used for.

Once that’s done, then we can talk about the differences between commercial and entry-level heat presses and what’s best for your business.

Let’s dive right in.

I’m sure you have some questions, like, why you need a heat press in the first place?

And that’s a question worth asking.

Whether you run your own business and you’re looking to upgrade or you’re just starting out and figuring out what’s what, the information in this article can be very beneficial. 

To understand why you need a heat press you need to know that heat is what helps you produce custom products.

In other words, as the name implies, heat presses use high temperature and pressure to transfer ink or toner from the transfer paper to your blank.

This is the main reason why anyone would use the heat press.

Heat presses are used for processes like sublimation, white toner transfer, direct-to-garment, direct-to-film, and many other printing methods.

Now that you know this, let’s talk about how it actually works.

Without going into scientific details, the mechanism for how a heat press works is very simple.

With competitive price and timely delivery, Eastsign sincerely hope to be your supplier and partner.

It uses three laws of physics; time, temperature and pressure.

This combination of forces work together to transfer your graphic onto the desired product.

It’s important to say this now, each heat press is different about how it’s engineered.

With that said, the first thing you should do when this piece of equipment arrives at your doorstep is to read the manual.

Get to grips with its workings before you begin tinkering with it.

You may ask, what’s the big deal? Well, it runs hot at the upper platen and can cause burns and injuries if you’re not careful.

How much of the heat is generated depends on what you set it to.

Normally, you will see a “control panel” at the upper platen with a digital display and a few buttons.

These kind of heat presses are designed for users to give users an accurate time, temperature, and pressure read out. But just note, not all heat presses have a digital display panel. 

So when you set up your settings, you simply press down the platen on your well-positioned fabric and let the heat press do its job.

Pretty simple, right? Just wait until you hear all the things you can make with one!

Oh, good — you’re still here! It means you want us to tell you what a heat press machine is capable of creating?

Well… a more interesting question is what can’t it customize?

What’s beautiful about these machines is that they’re great all-rounders.

You can make just about anything you want depending on what customization process you use. 

Heat presses can be used on all types of products.

We’re talking about the whole spectrum of blanks here…t-shirts, shorts, jackets, bags, and much, much more!

It’s also worth mentioning that a heat press can be used for sublimation, screen-printing, patches, and surprise, surprise — rhinestones. So, you’re all set!

This brings our conversation to the differences between heat presses.

It goes without saying that a heat press is a sophisticated piece of technology. It’s jam packed with exceptional hardware and all all sorts of great features.

But all this comes with a cost. You see, top of the line equipment can be pricey.

However, when you put it side-by-side with a cheap heat press, you can see exactly where your money goes.

Not everyone needs the latest-and-greatest equipment, especially one who is starting out.

So, be sure to consider these certain features like durability, production capacity, serviceability, and output quality before purchasing one.

Let’s talk about each of these features next.

Business must work like a Swiss clock. It has to run all day, every day, seven days a week. If it stops, you’re out of business.

So, if you plan on going into the custom apparel business, build it on a solid foundation of equipment.

Equipment has to be reliable.

Think about it… you’ll be rolling out products the whole day, from morning until evening.

You can’t afford to work with equipment that can fail under load.

This is where top-of-the-line heat presses get to shine, like the Hotronix Fusion IQ or GeoKnight, to name a few.

That is, they’re the embodiment of the words durability, safety, and consistency.

But this is just one piece of the puzzle. Next is the element of serviceability and finding parts in an event it breaks down.

So, whom will you call when your heat press breaks down? 

You can try to fix it yourself but if it’s a more serious matter, then you may need some additional help.

Ideally, this could be an expert who can come out to fix up and repair the problem you now have in your hands.

Talk about headaches!

Fortunately, when you buy a heat press directly from us, you’re getting peace of mind. It carries a fully guaranteed warranty, tech support, and training — basically everything you could want in a heat press purchase.

As important as support and training is in this process, so is the output quality. So, let’s go over that. 

If you want to learn more, please visit our website What is the Difference Between a Heat Press and a Sublimation Heat Press?.