Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Transfers and Dark Garments - Numbers on Shirts

I have never really given up on bad ideas. No matter how lousy transfers are I have always tried to keep my eyes open hoping that someday, somebody would actually create a workable solution. I attended a tradeshow in January and picked up all the basic info, as well as, paid $100 for a sample pack of some transfer paper that would do drop outs for the color and work on dark garments. Since the show I have been too busy, setting up the store in San Francisco - Lower Haight, to even read the instructions. While I drove to LA today I read some of the details and made sure that I had all the stuff to do some samples. Basically it is a 3-4 step process ( I once saw a Chinese YouTube video of a guy doing something similar to this) the involves a heat press, a color laser copier and a mask output that helps the separation of the white underbase from the paper. It seemed like it would work if for no other reason that to create a simulation of a color print for customers, but the stuff is expensive, like $5 per shirt not counting the cost of the copies themselves. It's bound to get cheaper over time, but the first step is to determine if this stuff works.

Lastly, I found a card for a Numbers transfer company that provides stupid numbers, which I hate, but kinda like the idea of random numbers on shirts. I'm going to order some just for fun. I will definitely feel like I've sold out if I start allowing customers to order shirts with numbers on them. Just shoot me now for even considering it. Ugh.

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