The Difference Is in the Transfer
A good garment can be let down very quickly by a bad transfer.
You’ve probably seen them. Thick prints that feel like a patch of plastic sitting on the shirt. A faint glue line around the artwork. Edges starting to lift. White branding slowly taking on the colour of the polyester underneath.
Heat transfer printing has come a long way from that.
When it’s the right branding method for the job, we print with Supacolour.
And the part we really rate is that there isn’t one transfer pretending to work on everything. A cotton tee, a sublimated sports shirt, a softshell jacket and a cap all need different things, so we can match the transfer to what we’re actually printing.
The one we use on tees, hoodies and everyday uniforms
Supacolour Wearable is the all-rounder.
It works across cotton, polycotton and non-sublimated polyester, which covers a huge amount of the custom uniforms, branded workwear, tees, hoodies and team apparel we print.
It gives us sharp detail and bright colour on light or dark garments, stretches with the fabric and can be Pantone matched when brand colour matters. It’s also independently tested to last more than 80 washes before showing signs of fading or cracking.
The finished print feels much more like it belongs on the garment, which is really the point.
Then there’s SupaDTF
Not every job needs 50 of the same logo.
Sometimes we need one shirt.
Or twelve different names.
Or a giant back print.
Or artwork full of gradients, tiny details and colours.
That’s where SupaDTF is really useful.
There’s no minimum, it can handle oversized artwork, half-tones and fade-outs, and it works particularly well for smaller runs and personalised pieces. Supacolour currently independently tests SupaDTF to 80+ washes as well.
So if you need a few custom printed tees, individual staff names, sports numbers or a detailed full-colour design, we don’t have to simplify the artwork just to make the printing work.
Polyester likes to cause problems
This is one of those things you probably don’t need to know when you order uniforms.
We absolutely do.
Some polyester is prone to dye migration. When we heat the garment to apply the print, the dye in the fabric can reactivate and start migrating into the logo.
A white logo on red polyester can turn pink. A nice clean print on black can start looking grey or muddy.
So for sublimated, patterned or bleed-prone polyester, we can use Supacolour Blocker.
It has a blocker layer beneath the artwork that stops the garment dye coming through, while still giving us full-colour printing, Pantone matching and a flexible finish. It’s also tested to 80+ washes.
This one comes up a lot with sportswear, team uniforms and polyester workwear.
Some fabrics hate heat
Then you get technical fabrics that don’t necessarily bleed, but don’t particularly enjoy being put under a hot heat press either.
Too much heat can leave shine, scorch marks or a visible press mark on some fabrics.
For those we can use Lo Melt, which applies at a lower temperature.
If the garment is heat-sensitive and likely to have dye migration, there’s Lo Melt Blocker, which handles both. It’s designed for things like performance wear, technical fabrics, stretchy fabrics and sublimated polyester blends.
Basically, we can be a lot more specific than “here’s a transfer, hope for the best”.
Softshell gets its own transfer
Softshell jackets and vests are another one.
Their fabric, dyes and coatings can make them awkward to print well, particularly when there’s a risk of the garment colour coming through the logo.
Soft Shell Blocker is made specifically for softshell apparel and creates a barrier beneath the print to help prevent that colour migration.
So yes, even your jacket gets its own Supacolour.
Caps are surprisingly annoying
Try putting a flat transfer over a curved cap with a raised seam running directly through the middle of your logo.
That’s why standard DTF can struggle on six-panel caps. If the transfer can’t get even contact across the seam, that’s where cracking and lifting can start.
Supacolour Headwear is designed to flex and bridge those seams.
It gives us another way to brand six-panel caps, trucker caps, bucket hats, beanies and other headwear, including detailed, full-colour artwork that might not suit embroidery.
This is a good example of why the transfer itself matters just as much as the artwork.
And it’s not only for clothing
This is where it gets interesting for us because we do a lot more than uniforms.
Supacolour has a Promotional transfer specifically made for the different fabrics and surfaces you find on promotional merchandise.
That opens up products like backpacks, bags, cooler bags, umbrellas, lanyards, shoes, ripstop products and other custom branded merch. It can even work on suitable non-traditional materials such as cardboard and wood.
A bag isn’t a T-shirt. The coatings and materials are different, so it makes sense to print it with something designed for the job.
Workwear that gets seriously washed
Some uniforms get a much harder life than others.
Hospitality, mechanical, medical, pharmaceutical and industrial workwear may go through commercial laundering at temperatures and chemical levels way beyond a normal household wash.
For those jobs, we can use Industrial Wash.
It’s designed for commercial laundering and tested to withstand at least 50 industrial washes without fading, cracking or peeling. There’s also Industrial Blocker for garments that need that wash durability plus protection against dye migration.
That gives us another option when we’re working with branded workwear and uniforms that actually have to work for a living.
Fluro, if subtle isn’t the plan
There’s also Fluro Wearable.
Proper fluorescent yellow, orange, pink or green can be added to full-colour artwork for sportswear, teamwear, workwear, event apparel and branded tees.
If the fabric is likely to bleed, there’s a Fluro Blocker version too.
So when the brief is bright, we can actually make it bright.
Reflective branding
SupaReflective gives us a reflective print option for uniforms, activewear, teamwear, bags and branded apparel.
It’s useful when the reflective element is part of the design itself.
It’s worth being clear that reflective branding is not a replacement for certified hi-vis tape or required safety markings. It’s another creative print finish we can use where appropriate.
Metallic without the chunky metallic vinyl
This is probably one of our favourite parts of the range.
SupaMetallics gives us 28 matte metallic colours that can be added to almost any Supacolour transfer except SupaDTF.
We can make an entire logo metallic, or just pull out one small part of the artwork in gold, silver, bronze or another metallic shade.
And there’s no additional charge for adding the metallic finish to an eligible transfer.
Used well, it looks very cool.
Want the embroidery look?
There’s even a SupaStitch effect.
This takes artwork and gives it the visual texture of embroidery, then we print it as a heat transfer.
It works best with bold logos, solid areas of colour and larger designs, and can be used across the Supacolour transfer range.
It doesn’t replace embroidery. It just gives us another way to get that stitched look when a printed finish makes more sense for the garment or artwork.
So why do we use Supacolour?
Because the transfer matters.
The same logo can be going onto five completely different products, and we don’t think all five should automatically be printed the same way.
We look at the garment, the fabric, your artwork, the colours and how it’s going to be used.
Sometimes we’ll embroider it.
Sometimes we’ll screen print it.
Sometimes sublimation makes the most sense.
And when heat transfer is the right option, we print with Supacolour and choose the transfer that suits the job.
You don’t need to know the difference between Wearable, Blocker and Lo Melt Blocker before you order your uniforms.
That bit is ours.
If you need custom uniforms, branded workwear, teamwear, promotional merch or Supacolour printing, email hello@gearpromo.co.nz.