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(music intro)
(music)
Hi I'm Josh Ellsworth General Manager with Stahls' CADCUT direct.
With a vinyl cutter and a heat press customizing apparel is easy.
But how about customizing shoes?
If you could learn how to customize shoes, huge profit opportunities await.
In this video we'll show you some of the does and the don'ts, and teach you about the tools
and accessories you need to capitalize upon this opportunity.
One of the first things you'll need is a source of heat, pressure and time to apply applications
to the shoes.
For that you'll need a heat press with an attachment that allows you to accommodate
the shoes.
In addition you also need a tacking iron with an adjustable temperature for accommodating
those tough to reach places that don't even fit on a heat press.
Next, in addition to the heat press you'll need a few accessories.
A flexible application pad... a print perfect pad... a ruler... pair of scissors... and
of course some sort of transfer.
You can order a CadPrintz Digital Transfer from us or you can order the heat applied
film and cut it on your vinyl cutter.
We'll show you both techniques.
First things first, cut you print perfect pad to the size of your shoe platen.
(natural sound)
Once that's complete, preload your shoe so you can take a measurement of the printing
area.
Be sure to push down on it to feel what areas are receiving pressure and what areas are
not.
If I want to do a placement here on this shoe, I can see I have about 2 inches of pressing
area.
So I'll size my design to 2 inches in my graphic software and cut a design.
Load your heat applied film and send over your file.
This is a great way to use scrap material that you may have lying around from other
jobs.
Once the design is cut, let's weed away the excess.
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Once the excess is weeded away, trim out your design.
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Be sure that all the green is removed, and then we'll position it onto the press.
Now I'll position the design.
Make sure the press is set for the proper time, temperature and pressure.
And then lock it down.
After you press it simply remove the backing according to the recommendations for the film.
This particular material peels when it is cooled off.
Once completely cool, remove the backing. As you can see, I have a completed piece.
I'm going to press it one more time with a cover sheet just to ensure a good application.
(natural sound)
That's it the basics with a customized shoe.
Now let’s do a few more.
Remember, load your shoe on ahead of time to feel for the pressure areas... take a measurement... and we'll cut a design
for this shoe.
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And we'll press it on.....
Position the number and I'm going to use my flexible application pad to cover some areas
that look like they may melt under the heat.
I'll just add an extra layer of protection here.
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And with the Fashion-FILM Electric you can actually peel the backing hot.
In this case it just kind of fell off for me onto the pad.
So this is a completed shoe.
Now let's take the right shoe from the same set, and let's try to place a CadPrintz on
this area of the shoe.
Now the first thing I'll show you, is that you’re not able to get a really firm pressure
on this area of the shoe because it's kind of falling off and also the sole
of the shoe extends out a little bit and takes some of that pressure.
So this is where the tacking iron comes into play.
You can use your platen to hold the shoe or you can use an oven glove or some sort of
t-shirt to hold the shoe in your hand.
Take your CadPrintz Transfer
position it in the place that you want it onto the shoe.
And I'm better applying pressure with my right hand so let me cover my left hand up insert
it into the shoe here and then I take my tacking iron and I just apply
direct pressure without moving.
You don't want to slide the tacking iron...you can roll it a little bit but you just want
direct pressure.
And apply that for about fifteen seconds or so.
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Then remove the backing.
If you see any areas on the corners here that may not apply all the way down, because you
didn't hit them with enough pressure just cover it with your flex application pad
and position those down.
But this looks like a really good adhesion.
Now as you can see here the reason we went with CadPrintz is because it's a two color
design.
Otherwise we would have had to lay two colors of heat applied film.
Likewise, if you want a multiple colored logo like the one I have here, or this three color
design here, you'll want to utilize CadPrintz or a print cut device.
And let's press this design down.
Now for this particular shoe I'm not going to use a pad because it has a lot of padding
in the shoe so that's going to act as a pad for me.
I don't really need to raise the print area up because there is really nothing in my way
of an even pressure.
Position my design and I will cover it up with the flex application pad just so this
doesn't melt on me.
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Just to shoe you that anything’s possible, let's do an application on the back of this
shoe.
Position my design into place.
Make sure that I have a good grip on the shoe, remember press and hold, don't slide the tacking
iron.
And remove the backing.
Of course cleats and sneakers are a huge market in the sales for team business, but how about
kid's shoes.
Let's customize this small pair of Batman sneakers with a child's initials.
And also these echo sneakers for a kid.
Now for this particular design I've cut it out of our Super Film material it does not
have a sticky backing.
So I'm going to need to use thermal tape in order to hold the design into place.
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So I'll cut a piece of thermal tape
and tape it into the print location I want to use.
I can put my hand in there or I can actually use the platen in this case as a nice area
to press down.
Make sure some of these tough spots in between these raised areas are receiving a full pressure.
It's also a cold peel material so I'll let it cool down before removing the backing.
Once cooled down, simply remove the backing and then I've cut a piece of flex application
pad to lay over it.
Just to give it a second hit to make sure it's down.
With cold peel materials, sometimes it's nice to give them a second hit to ensure they are
adhered adequately.
Cause the Mylar kind of lifts the lettering when you're peeling it away from the shoe.
And this shoe is complete.
Now let's show you how to do this small pair.
We're going to do initials of a child for a back placement here.
Once again I'm going to use my platen to aid me with getting a good pressure.
Position the design I've cut.
This is a sticky back material so it holds nicely into place.
(natural sound)
Remove the backing...and for good measure I'll cover with the flex pad and apply a little
more temperature, time and pressure.
And, completed shoes.
So as you can see, shoe customization is pretty easy when you have the right tools.
You just really need to know about the challenges, the different types of footwear presents,
the print locations that you can accommodate, and items that will
melt on a shoe and how to accommodate those.
You also want to pick a heat applied product that applies at a low temperature.
At Stahl's we have all these products for you in our heat applied films that we manufacture
and also in our CadPrintz digital services.
I encourage you to visit cadcutdirect.com to learn more about our heat applied film
and customizing shoes.
Thanks for watching.