Help Center

Looking for help? You came to the right place! If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for here, click on the conversation bubble in the lower right hand corner of your screen to chat with someone or email us directly at sales@howardct.com.

Transfers

Screen printed heat transfers offer an alternative to direct screen printing. Whereas traditional screen printing is produced directly onto the final substrate, heat transfers are manufactured by screen printing onto a carrier paper or film treated with a special release coating.  The transfer is then applied to the final substrate using a commercial grade heat press.

In both cases, similar or even the exact same inks are used – typically plastisol, water based, or solvent based inks. These inks are pushed through mesh screens to create single and multi-color designs which can be applied to a variety of clothing items and accessories including t-shirts, sweatshirts, polos, sports uniforms, bags, hats, can coolers and more.

There are many advantages to utilizing screen printed heat transfers, most notably the ability to keep stock of certain designs and logos. This allows you to print on demand and fill orders on an as-needed basis. In turn, you can decrease overhead of your blank garments.

Gang sheets allow you to fulfill an entire job with just one order. For instance, place a full chest logo, sleeve print, and heart region all on the same gang sheet, cut apart, and apply. Instead of paying for three set ups, you only pay for the single gang sheet. Read more about the gang sheet sizes we offer HERE.

You will get the same quality and durability from screen printed heat transfers as you will with direct screen printing. In fact, many of our customers and their customers prefer the look and feel of transfers.

Plastisol inks are made using PVC particles and plasticizers. Most traditional screen printing is done using plastisol inks because of their versatility, durability, and cost-efficiency.

The following products are produced using plastisol inks:

➤ Howard Multi-Purpose
➤ Howard Hot Peel
➤ Puff
➤ Ultra Stretch
➤ Vintage Wash
➤ Glitter
➤ Glow in the Dark

Our specialty inks include transfers made from solvent based and water based inks. These are more ideal options for industrial and performance markets because of their greater opacity, better edge detail, and the ability to be applied to a wide range of end products. Water based inks also offer a more eco-friendly alternative to plastisol inks.

The following products are produced using solvent based and water based inks:

➤ colorVIBE Hybrid
➤ colorVIBE DTF

While our sales team will be happy to assist you in selecting the right transfer product for your specific job, you may also find this chart helpful.

Yes, we have several gang sheet sizes to choose from.

Fill your gang sheet edge-to-edge however you want, as margins have been accounted for.

We recommend storing your transfers in a climate-controlled environment away from any potential humidity exposure. Storage bins with tops that snap shut are a great choice.

When properly stored (see above), we guarantee a shelf life of up to 6 months from the day the transfers were produced. While this is the time period we can guarantee, you should expect a much longer shelf life from your transfers.

[READ] DURABILITY OF SCREEN PRINTED HEAT TRANSFERS

Yes, we now offer cutting on most transfer products. Please see our cutting and bagging service options and pricing HERE.

Artwork

Most files types are accepted. Seriously.

Vector files are preferred because they can easily be color separated and resized without losing detail. Vector artwork is comprised of points, lines, and curves to create a series of shapes and ultimately, your custom design. Typical vector file extensions include: AI, CDR, PDF, EPS.

Please note that a vector file must be created in a native program. Simply saving a raster bitmap as one of these file extensions will not “convert” the file to vector format.

Preferred file extensions include:

If you don’t see your file extension listed above or if your file isn’t accepted on Dashboard, you can email your artwork directly to your sales rep or to our main account at sales@howardct.com.

[READ] THE IMPORTANCE OF VECTOR ARTWORK IN SCREEN PRINTING

Not at this time. There are plenty of free options for creating designs online. Some of our suggestions include Canva, Adobe Spark, Inkscape, and GIMP.

Setup your file on an artboard the size of the gang sheet you will be ordering. Place your images onto the artboard sized exactly as you’d like them printed. No need to mirror the images. If you are ordering white ink, you can either send your artwork as white on a color background or you can send your artwork as an arbitrary color and note during submission that you’d like it to print white.

There is a section titled Art Requirements on the bottom of each product page that details the art specifications for each product.

[READ] 6 SECRETS TO SUCCESSFUL SCREEN PRINT ART

Yes, send them our way. No need to overthink this. Submit your artwork with a tint, percentage, gradient, or fountain fill. Our artists will prepare the file and our RIP software will convert it to halftones. We use specific mesh screens depending on the art, so please do not try to convert your artwork into halftones before sending it to us.

[READ] CREATING ARTWORK FOR HALFTONES

We have several distressed patterns you can choose from. Our artists will add this to your artwork at no additional charge.

If you’re using your own distressed pattern, you can simply place the pattern (bitmap or vector) on top of your vector artwork. If you can avoid distressing the vector artwork itself, this will help our artists in the event they may need to make any changes to the file to prepare it for production.  

[READ] ADDING A DISTRESSED PATTERN TO YOUR ARTWORK

Ordering

To place an order, login or create an account on our Dashboard site. Click Order Transfers and fill out the information according to your needs. If you would like to place multiple orders at once, select Add More in the lower right-hand corner of the page.

If you are having trouble ordering on the Dashboard site, you may email your order(s) to us at sales@howardct.com.

To expedite the process, be sure you have the following details. If you need assistance selecting the right product, our sales team will be happy to help direct you.

1. Product

2. Quantity

3. Colors

4. Dimensions

You can find product specific pricing on each product page of our website. Our full price list can be found HERE.

Yes, PMS matching is available for the following products: Howard Multi-Purpose, Howard Hot Peel, and Ultra Stretch. There will be a one-time fee of $35 per custom color match. Once you pay this fee, you can re-order the color at no additional cost.

[READ] LEARN MORE ABOUT CUSTOM PANTONE® MATCHING

Plastisol transfer orders will incur a color wash charge of $15/screen.

Mega Gang orders will incur a color wash charge of $30/screen.

Mega Gang orders require a 25-sheet minimum per color wash.

[READ] HOW TO PRICE A COLOR WASH

You can find all of our standard turnaround times here.

If you submit an order on the Dashboard site that won’t meet your deadline, please get in contact with us at sales@howardct.com.

Plastisol ➤ $25/color
Digital ➤ 25% up charge

Rush service may be limited or refused on high-production days. Our sales team reserves the right to refuse rush orders. Rush service is only available on plastisol transfer products.

Yes, you may request a virtual proof of your artwork at the time you place your order. There will be a cost of $5/proof.

We try to include at least one extra transfer with every order. This is supplied as a means to test your order before you begin application to your sellable garments. If you suspect you may need to conduct more than one test print, you may cut your transfer in half or into quarters to test multiple times.

Please do not rely on this extra transfer to fulfill your order as it is NOT guaranteed.

[READ] WHAT’S INCLUDED IN YOUR ORDER