Looking for the best printable heat transfer vinyl for creating personalized clothing? Take a look at our top 5 rankings and buyer's guide for helpful information before deciding on the right product for your printing needs.
Have you ever dreamed of creating your own clothing company? Do you want to create some fun T-shirts, hats, or bags for a party? Does your company have a retreat that requires custom shirts?
If the answer to these questions is “yes,” you might be thinking of hiring a company to make some custom clothing for you. However, before you do, look into printing the graphics yourself. You’ll have far more customization options, and you may find a new hobby for yourself in the process.
Learning to prepare, cut, and print heat transfer vinyl isn’t as difficult as you might think. In fact, many people are turning to heat transfer vinyl printing for custom logos instead of searching online for a private company. Also, who knows, you may create something so powerful that other people would want to buy it!
If you already have a heat presser and are exploring heat transfer vinyl, this article should cover your needs.
We compiled a list of the best printable heat transfer vinyl that will give you the best quality, most durability, and largest customization options.
Most people use heat transfer vinyl for clothing, but you can also use it to make some decals and stickers.
Furthermore, the process is relatively simple once you have a heat presser. All you have to do is buy some heat transfer vinyl, cut it into the right shape, apply your design, and press it onto a shirt or hat.
Moreover, the adhesive on the vinyl allows it to stick easily to fabric, though some products hold better than others (more on this ahead). These designs are perfect if you want to make custom shirts, hats, and jerseys for fun or profit.
Accordingly, many people who have created shirts and hats as a hobby have developed businesses out of their crafts.
Finally, if you have a unique design idea that resonates with people, there’s a chance you could make a living selling the heat transfer designs you create.
We strive to have the most accurate reviews on the internet and took several elements into account while reviewing the best heat transfer vinyl.
Hence, here are some of the biggest factors we considered before making our top five list. Hopefully, this will give you some insight into how we made our selections.
Durability is one of the primary characteristics we looked at while reviewing printable heat transfer vinyl products.
Significantly, whether you’re interested in starting a T-shirt business or want to make some graphics clothing for you and your friends, you’ll also want a heat transfer vinyl that will stand the test of time.
Furthermore, some of these vinyl products look spectacular when you make them, but fade after one or two sessions in the washing machine. Additionally, the best printable heat transfer vinyl products will last years before they start to fade, so there’s no reason to settle for anything less.
Undoubtedly, professional-grade vinyl is available for home use, so you shouldn’t accept vinyl with poor durability.
Furthermore, if you’ve seen your designs fade with the vinyl you’re currently using, try one of the options on this list and see if you have better results.
The quality of the adhesive these companies use is another substantial determining factor in our rankings. Correspondingly, adhesive quality is similar to durability but is instead focused on the design lasting through several washes.
Also, this category refers to the ability of the design to stay attached to the fabric.
Many who are reading this are, without a doubt, interested in printing T-shirts, hats, and other clothing with their heat transfer vinyl. So they have to know that when the adhesive is of poor quality, the design will start falling off of the shirt or hat well before it starts to fade.
Moreover, this element is almost more important than durability since a faded design is still a design. Finally, if the vinyl won’t stick to the shirt after months of wear, it isn’t worth spending any money on.
The quality of the adhesive these companies use is another substantial determining factor in our rankings. Correspondingly, adhesive quality is similar to durability but is instead focused on the design lasting through several washes. Also, this category refers to the ability of the design to stay attached to the fabric.
Many who are reading this are, without a doubt, interested in printing T-shirts, hats, and other clothing with their heat transfer vinyl. So they have to know that when the adhesive is of poor quality, the design will start falling off of the shirt or hat well before it starts to fade.
Moreover, this element is almost more important than durability since a faded design is still a design. Finally, if the vinyl won’t stick to the shirt after months of wear, it isn’t worth spending any money on.
Customers always know best; which is why we take their feedback into account while creating all of our reviews. Also, we can only test so much when it comes to printable heat transfer vinyl, so we rely on customer reviews to fill in the blanks as they appear.
Furthermore, customers can sometimes have a variety of experiences with heat transfer vinyl. Correspondingly, some of the variances have to do with their heat presser, though, so we carefully reviewed some of the feedback to make sure this wasn’t the case.
Unquestionably, you need to own a powerful heat presser if you want to make professional T-shirt designs, so keep this in mind if you want to get the most from the products we included on this list of printable heat transfer vinyl.
| Item | Image | Rating | Check Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| | |||
| |
Since color variety and durability are two of our strongest ranking factors, we couldn’t help but put the Frame Cuts Heat Transfer Bundle at the top of our list. While this bundle doesn’t have as many colors as some of the others we’ve looked at - 12 different colors - it still provides a wide variety of different designs that you can explore.
Altogether, where the Frame Crafts Bundle shines, the brightest is in its durability. This vinyl can sustain hundreds or even thousands of washes before fading.
Furthermore, all graphics eventually decay, but these will stay on far longer than some of the competition.
Also, the polyurethane Frame Crafts use for their vinyl is thin as well, meaning you can cut and press your designs easier than products that use thicker materials for their vinyl. This will make precision cutting easier on those who are new to the space of printing.
Rating: 5/5
PrimeCuts’ adhesive vinyl is one of the options we’ve selected for those who want to get the most value out of their printable heat transfer vinyl. Correspondingly, they offer 65 sheets for a lower price than competitors who provide 12 sheets.
Furthermore, in these 65 sheets, you’ll receive 32 different color styles as well. Also, you can decide whether you want your printed graphics to have a matte or glossy finish with the PrimeCuts package.
PrimeCuts also heavily focuses on the adhesive quality of their vinyl, meaning it will stick to the surface longer and sturdier than some of the other vinyl you’ll find online. Moreover, it will last quite a few washes before fading, and you’ll never have to worry about your graphics peeling off of the shirt or hat you created.
Rating: 5/5
If you’re just getting started using heat transfer vinyl for the first time, Siser NA provides a fantastic 12-color vinyl that should serve all your needs.
Additionally, the bundle offers the 12 most popular colors Siser NA has to offer. And the package should get you started before you decide to move onto something more advanced.
However, being a starter bundle, we wouldn’t recommend this product to those who have had years of experience printing shirt and hats. Although it can meet your needs, you probably want something a bit more advanced.
Still, Siser NA provides heat transfer vinyl that is thin and easy to cut. So tracing designs will be a breeze with this product. Moreover, the designs you create will last quite a while after you wash them, but not as long as the two above options on this list.
Although, you may find these vinyl designs start to fade a bit quicker than you expected. However, they’re a fantastic way to practice and get the hang of heat pressing and working with a heat transfer material.
Rating: 4/5
If you want more control over your color palette, Oracal Vinyl Rolls might be the product that would interest you the most. Certainly for around the same price as the competition.
Additionally, you can choose from 47 color options to make sure your design come out the way you imagined it would.
Furthermore, these types of vinyl are also extremely durable and can withstand scratches. It also washes alongside the best heat transfer vinyl on the market. In fact, the thick vinyl in the Oracal rolls means scratches barely affect the design.
Unfortunately, thicker vinyl means it’s more difficult to cut with precision.
For this reason, if you’re inexperienced with cutting vinyl, we suggest a lighter option to get you started. However, if you don’t mind thicker vinyl, or don’t need to make precise cuts. Then Oracal is a durable option with multiple colors.
Rating: 4/5
Angel Crafts provides another Siser EasyWeed option which is extremely thin and easy to cut. Additionally, if you require thin designs that hold up when added to the fabric, these thin EasyWeed vinyl are some of the better options.
Furthermore, these types of vinyl come in a variety of colors. And will give you enough of a selection to get started in making almost any design you can imagine.
Also, the smaller size of the Angel Crafts product also means that it’s easier to manage when making designs for T-shirts.
However, if you want a bigger vinyl, this one won’t be up to your standards. Still, Angel Crafts provides a solid option that we had to include to round-off our list of the best printable heat transfer vinyl.
Rating: 3.5/5
Now that we’ve outlined our top 5 heat transfer vinyl. We’ll give you some tips on what to look for while doing your shopping. These options should give you a significant starting point. But take a look at our advice before you pull the trigger on one of the included products in this printable heat transfer vinyl review.
Not everyone needs every shade of every color in the rainbow to create engaging designs. If you’re printing T-shirts for fun or a company retreat, you probably don’t need to spend extra money to get an option that allows you to print a variety of colors.
If you’re aspirational with your designs, however, buying a bundle that contains a variety of colors will be the best option for you. Those with fewer colors will probably come as a disappointment. And you’ll end up buying another bundle to get a larger pool of color choices.
Consider what you’ll use your heat transfer vinyl for most frequently before you decide on which bundle is best for you. If you’re printing intricate designs that require precision cuts, you’ll need a lightweight material that makes it easy on you.
Likewise, if you’re printing shirts, lightweight vinyl is almost always the best option. Heavier vinyl tends to stay rigid once placed on clothing. After a few washes and wears, you may find that the adhesive starts to peel on heavy vinyl.
On the other hand, if you want to print decals and stickers. Heavy vinyl will be the better selection of lightweight vinyl. Heavy vinyl stands up to the elements better and is less affected by scratches. Lightweight vinyl doesn’t make good decals and will wear down far quicker than heavy vinyl.
Hopefully, this guide and review gave you a solid foundation of information to get started with your shopping. Vinyl paper can be expensive, so it’s essential to know what you’re looking for before mistakenly buying the wrong product.
Both beginners and veterans should find value in some of the options we presented. Once you have the product selected, all you have to do is to get your design ready and start printing!
There are indeed many ways to print designs on pretty much anything that you want. But for us, printable heat transfer vinyl is one of the best, if not the best, materials you can use.
Now, there’s no stopping you from making cool custom t-shirts for your friends and family. And who knows, if you happen to stumble upon a good heat press and vinyl cutter, it might even be the start of a lucrative business opportunity with custom heat transfers for anyone who needs them.
If you’re still curious about printing your own designs and want to learn more, check out some of the other articles we have available. We have other reviews and tutorials that cover everything you need to know about printing decals, clothing, and much more!