You can heat press tri-blend t-shirts. Before you heat press tri-blend shirts, it is essential that you choose the right heat transfer with the right low temp adhesive. These shirts are sensitive to heat and you must pay attention to the type of heat transfer you use.
What Are Tri-Blend T-Shirts?
Years ago, most shirts were just pure cotton, or a 50/50 cotton poly blend. Pretty simple. However, if you sell custom printed apparel today, you have more choices. One such choice is a Tri-Blend. As the name suggests, they are made of three different fibers; cotton, polyester and rayon. Tri-blends are sought-after for their softness and drape. They offer a higher fashion or trendy edge in a t-shirt and are usually lightweight. Some can even be slightly sheer. The cotton gives it breathability, the rayon gives it drape and the polyester gives it resiliency. It is possible to heat print on Tri-Blends but first you need to understand the do’s and don’ts for successful results.
Choose Transfers with Low Melt Adhesives
As mentioned earlier, tri-blends are soft, stretchy and synthetic. First of all, you need a heat transfer with the right adhesive to print them successfully. CAD-CUT Premium Plus heat transfer vinyl is one of the recommended heat transfers. It can be applied as low as 280 degrees. Secondly, when decorating with low temp transfer adhesives, warm up the lower platen before printing your shirt. Lastly, pre-heat your shirt before applying your heat transfer. The video below offers more tips and tricks for successful heat transfer results on tri-blends.
More Transfer Choices for Tri-Blends and Other Synthetics
You can also use UltraColor Soft digital screen printed transfers from Transfer Express on polyesters and blends. They have a low temp adhesive and give you unlimited color choices. UltraColor Soft is also ideal for printing fine, detailed designs, floating text and any number of colors.
This video below gives you all the information you need on how to successfully print tri-blend t-shirts with your heat press. For a complete listing of all our how-to heat print videos, visit Stahls’ Video Library.