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Hi I’m Josh Ellsworth with Stahls’ CAD-CUT direct and welcome to this production Tip
Jar. When I talk to decorators around the world lone of the items that they are most
intimidated to decorate is jackets. And with heat printing you don’t have to be afraid
of jackets. It’s actually very easy. In this video today, we’re going to show you
how to use 3M Scotchlite Reflective heat transfer film designs for customizing both polyester
and a nylon jacket on the Hotronix Fusion heat press. Come on over. My heat press is
already set to the accurate time, temperature and pressure for using the 3M Reflective material.
On the Hotronix Fusion it swings completely away from the workspace, which makes it really
easy when working with different designs and items. I’ll take my Dickies jacket, which
in this case is 65% polyester shell and 25% cotton, and I’m going to split that and
thread it onto the press. You want to make sure you have a completely flat surface and
any seams, zippers, etc. are hanging over the edge. In this case a threadable press
is quite beneficial because this zipper front is hanging underneath and not impacting the
applied pressure. As with any heat application you always start with the preheat to remove
moisture and wrinkles. After preheating for a few seconds I’ll grab my 3M Reflective
design, position it, the adhesive is already designed in such a way that it will adhere
to this polyester. Cover it with a cover sheet and press it for the recommended time, temp
and pressure. Once the application is complete remove the backing and the back of that jacket
is complete. Now when you’re decorating jackets a lot of folks want to decorate other
parts of the jacket like a front left chest. So for the front left chest application on
this particular jacket you can see it would be tough to accommodate on this 16 by 20 lower
platen because then I’m going to have the zipper in the way. So the Hotronix Fusion
features interchangeable platens. So I’ll place my jacket to the side. If I was running
an entire job of jackets I would press all of the backs first and then come back through
and do all the front placements. For the front placements I’m going to load my 11 by 15
inch platen. Depending on the seam structure and size of the jacket there’s also 8 by
10 inch platens, 6 by 10 inch platens and 7inch rounds. Something in the rectangular
shape usually works best. But I’ll split that thread it on, make sure my zipper is
hanging down over the edge and now I’m going to do a preheat on this side. When you change
your platen, sometimes you’ll need to adjust your pressure. Preheat for a few seconds,
grab your design position it. You want to make sure you don’t go too far underneath
the armpit of the jacket and keep it more towards the center for a left chest. Cover
your design and press it for the full time. Now heat transfer films are manufactured with
different adhesive sets, this particular product the 3M Reflective has and adhesive that is
compatible with both polyester and nylon. So I’ve just completed my polyester application
onto this jacket, that’s complete. That’s a really nice high margin item. It’s a retro
reflective product so when it’s outdoors and headlights are shining on it their able
to se the guy that’s working for the towing company here. You can use reflective for landscaping
crews different municipalities, police, fire there’s a lot of opportunity. But what I
was saying is when you start to get into nylon products you want to make sure you have an
adhesive that’s compatible with nylon. For basic heat transfer films there’s usually
nylon or a polyester product, but as mentioned in this case the 3M product will work on both.
So we’ll start with the front since I have this platen on already. This is a nylon-shelled
jacket. It has buttons along the side that need to drape over the edge, so the 11 by
15 inch platen will work perfect for this as well. Complete a preheat. Position my design.
In this case we’re doing an EMS jacket says Centertown. And press it for the recommended
time, temp and pressure. Now if I was doing this for a group of 10 emergency responders,
I would press all the front applications first and the swap out the platen and go back to
the full 16 by 20 platen for pressing the jacket backs. You can see it doesn’t get
much simpler then this. There’s no additives or anything like you have to do with screen-printing
nothing special to bond to nylon. Just source the film correctly the adhesives already made
for you to be compatible with nylon and you just have to press it on. The threadable press
really is critical to decorating all sorts of jackets and other items like bags too.
When you change your platen make sure you dial your pressure back in. Preheat. Position.
Cover and press. And we have another finished jacket all in the course of about 2 minutes
per jacket. So there’s a lot of profit margin to be made here as well. So in review if you
want to start decorating jackets in your business it helps to have a threadable heat press such
as the Hotronix Fusion. If you already own a Hotronix Auto Open Clam heat press we carry
a product called the Hotronix Caddie, which can turn that into a threadable design. So
you should look that up. So in addition to the heat press you also need the interchangeable
platens for accommodating the front placement. In this case we used the 11 by 15 inch platen.
You need the 3m Reflective Heat Transfer material or the heat transfer film of your choice.
You can get that from CAD-CUT Direct. And of course you need a cover sheet. This has
been a Stahls’ CAD-CUT Direct Production Tip Jar. Thanks for watching.