Heat Transfer Vinyl vs. Digital Transfer Printing

Everyone who uses heat transfer vinyl to make t-shirts has the same complaint, “I hate weeding vinyl.” Weeding tends to occupy most of your time, and becomes especially true when you have large orders of t-shirts with multiple colors. You must put each color on the cutter, weed each piece individually, press them onto the shirt individually, and ensure everything is lined up properly. If this is a large part of your business, you know that the process is time consuming. Would you like to stop weeding heat transfer vinyl?

With the OKI Pro8432WT Digital Transfer Printer, you can print full color designs and not have to weed any of it. With Forever Dark no-cut media, you can simply print your design with the CMYW printer and have an entire t-shirt completed in minutes There are many positives to this system compared to the other options that allow you to make full color t-shirts.

1. No Weeding
You can do away with the laborious hours that weeding a multi-color job entails. This also allows you to minimize your stock of the colored vinyl. With this system, you only need the printer and the paper to make any color that your customer could want.

2. No Maintenance
If you compare this system to a Direct to Garment or Screen Printing, there is nearly no maintenance involved. It is a CMYW laser printer which means that everything in the printer is completely dry toner based. You don’t have to worry about clogging lines, burning screens, cleaning screens, pre-treating garments, or any of the headaches that the other systems have. You can simply drop your design in the RIP software and print.

3. Small Footprint
The OKI Pro8432WT is a desktop laser printer, meaning you only need room for a small printer and a heat press and you are ready to go. You don’t need to stock any type of vinyl and you do not need the space that a screen printer will take up. The small size allows you to complete your projects from just about anywhere.

4. Ease of Use
Between the printer, the RIP software, and the heat press, the process is quite simple. It is something that can be easily learned in a small amount of time. It isn’t hard to make designs for this process and it is fairly easy to learn how to use the equipment. Because it is a regular laser printer, there is nothing special about sending a print through. It works the same way a regular desktop printer would.

5. More Customers
Many times, a customer will come to you wanting something that is just impossible to do with what you currently have. This is certainly true if you are doing heat transfer vinyl. A customer may want a 5 or 6 color design and only 10 or less shirts, that will be too many colors for heat transfer vinyl and too few shirts for any of the other techniques. The cost would be too high for the customer. But if you printed the design on the OKI Pro8432WT, you can make the customer exactly what they requested for the same price, regardless of the number of colors and how many t-shirts they would like.
6. Affordable
If you were to finance this entire system, the cost would be under $200 a month. If you completed 4 small (under 10 shirts) orders, you could pay off the financing each month (assuming $6-$10 profit per shirt for small runs) while still making extra. If you compare this to the startup cost of large screen-printing equipment or a direct to garment printer, this is one of the cheapest ways to get a full color t-shirt.

7. No Garment Restrictions
The other options are limited when it comes to the types of garments they can be applied to, but with a digital transfer printer, you can print on cotton, polyester, and blended garments. Because of the lack of restrictions, this allows you to say yes to more of what the customer desires. Regardless of how many colors and what type of garment they prefer, you won’t need to turn them away.

8. More Profit
This may be the most important point. If the OKI Pro8432WT can print on any garment, do full-color graphics, complete small and large runs, and save you time, then it only allows you to make more money. Customers are willing to pay more for high-quality, full-color prints. If you offer your customer this option over heat transfer vinyl, you can charge more and spend less of your time making it.

What’s the Process?
Using Forever Laser Dark on the OKI Pro8432Wt is a simple process. You print onto the A sheet, press the adhesive onto the back of the A sheet, press it onto the shirt, and then cure the toner. Click Here to View Video

Once you have completed the process, you will see just how easy it is. Because you are not actively weeding or completing another step while the shirts are in the press, you will have more time to work on something else.

If you are tired of weeding heat transfer vinyl and would like to offer full-color graphics, the OKI Pro8432Wt is the way to go. With the simple process and ability to apply to any garment, this is an easy way to start printing in full color.

If this is something you are interested in, you can contact us online at wensco.com or call us at 800.253.1569