Impressions - March 2025 - 28

Reputable, well-established companies,
like STAHLS' Transfer Express,
employ the materials and methods
required to ensure their transfers are of
the highest quality. Photo courtesy of
STAHLS' Transfer Express
fects-think glitter and puff designs, or the
highly specific colors associated with sports
teams and other trademarked organizations,
and 2) the mess that can result from working
with DTF's requisite adhesive powder.
With respect to concern No. 1, not much
you can do here if you're creating your transfers
in-house with a smaller, less advanced
machine. However, this is yet another area in
which the situation is changing rapidly, with
the various top-end custom DTF providers
out there increasingly providing design types
and color matching capabilities that would
have been inconceivable in years past. The
aforementioned top-end manufacturers 613
Originals, Ninja Transfers and STAHLS'
Transfer Express, for example, all include
a number of special effects choices among
their many product offerings.
" At 613 Originals, we offer popular options
like puff, metallic, and neon transfers
- even Full Color CMYK glow-in-thedark...DTF
is pushing innovation across
the board, and we're excited to see what's
next, " Sprowell said.
Similarly, Ninja Transfer's Nemeroff noted
how his company has introduced a number
of new films, like glitter and glow-in-the
dark. " We have also recently rolled out Gold
Foil, Silver Foil, Copper Foil and other film
types, " Nemeroff said.
P.28
Something else to bear in mind: for those
decorators familiar with heat-pressing, each
and every one of the DTF transfer suppliers
mentioned also provide a variety of non-DTF
options, ranging from screen-printed transfers
to custom patches that create the same
look as conventional machine embroidery.
" Use a reputable supplier offering DTF
as a service and also remember that there
is a world beyond DTF, " STAHLS' CEO
Carleen Gray said. " DTF has become synonymous
with the word transfers. [But] it's
important for people new to the business to
understand there are many types of transfers,
and DTF is not a one-size-fits-all, even
though much of the advertising in the space
would have you believe they are the best
choice for every print job. I would caution
new users to do their research and choose
the best decoration technology for the job. "
Bottom line, heat-press decorators looking
to offer something special no longer need to
go to screen printing to do so-and there
will undoubtedly only be that many more
options to go with as time goes on.
With the respect to concern No. 2, this is
yet another area in which the DTF equipment
manufacturers of the world are quickly
solving the problem through the creation
of standalone and/or fully automated adhesive
application systems that are specifically
ImpressionsMagazine.com March 2025
configured to prevent an undue quantity of
particulate matter getting into the air and
possibly endangering operators.
Examples of the former include the Vastex
PTF-100 DTF powder application system
and Equipment Zone's EZ-JET PRO 32,
which includes a dryer component as well.
As for the latter, this category encompasses
pretty much every industrial grade
DTF printer on the market these days, from
such high-output DTF systems as the M&R
Quatro to the higher-output models comprising
the ColDesi, Brother and Roland
lines, among others.
Printer Cost
and outsourCing
Which brings us to the question of cost.
Even a basic commercial-grade DTF printer
will cost you a good $5,000 to $7,000 or
more. As a kind of bonus, many of today's
smaller-size models can be used for director-to-garment,
or DTG, decoration as well.
Nonetheless, this represents a pretty hefty
outlay of cash, especially for those smaller
shops that are merely DTF curious. Examples,
of these kinds of machines include the
Brother DTX Pro, DTF Prestige R2 desk
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Impressions - March 2025

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