They're an asset to your business Ordering Pre-Made Transfers by Nathan Anderson E ver wish you had a team of talented elves that would show up and nish all your printing work without disturbing your slumber? Well I can't make that happen for you, but I can recommend the next best thing. Whether you are just getting started or already an established screen printer or embroiderer, building a strategic partnership with a heat-transfer manufacturer can help maintain your sanity and improve your company's bottom line. The decision whether to decorate exclusively with pre-made heat transfers or use them as a supplement to other decoration methods depends on your business model. Understanding the di erent types of heat transfers and their bene ts, though, will help you choose the most e cient and pro table decoration method. Before I dive into the speci c types of pre-made heat transfers, let me give you a general list of bene ts you'll realize by utilizing heat transfers as a primary decorating method: · Overhead reduction--When you embellish with heat transfers ordered from a reputable transfer house, you have a team of trained printing experts working on your project. And when you don't have print work in house, you don't have to worry about the payroll expense of these same printers. · Low start-up cost--Because of tremendous advances in our basic tool--the heat press--apparel decoration can have an incredibly low initial investment. A brand new heat press can be purchased for around $1,000. · Inventory reduction--When decorating with heat transfers, you have the ability to o er just-in-time ful llment when the exact sizes and colors of the blanks are not pre-determined. ere is no need to bottle-up cash- ow in inventory with preprinted apparel that may or may not sell. When ordering, consider getting a few extra transfers to accommodate any "one more" requests. · Versatility--Transfer manufacturers can incorporate di erent adhesive systems that allow you to decorate cotton, polyester, blends, nylon and even nonwoven polypropylene. Types of pre-made heat transfers Pre-made heat transfers fall into three basic categories: stock, template and custom. Each type of transfer has a speci c set of advantages Custom four-color process on a difficult to decorate substrate. and drawbacks that must be evaluated in relation to the needs of your business. Stock transfers are pre-printed and warehoused by a heat transfer supplier for fast and reliable delivery. Stock transfers can come in the form of athletic numbers for uniform decoration, general holiday, sport, event or location designs for T-shirts and more. With the exception of heatapplied names and numbers on uniforms, stock transfers will limit the amount of customization that you can o er to your customer. Most stock heat-transfer suppliers o er same-day shipment of the product and minimums as low as one piece. Some heat-transfer suppliers o er design templates that feature customizable text, colors and/or clipart. Heat-transfer design templates are often available in quantities as low as eight pieces and typically ship in one to three days of placing an order. Because the design work is done for you, such templates save both time and money. Some suppliers even o er catalogs and other marketing tools to help you provide a professional sales presentation to your customer. Custom heat transfers are produced from artwork that you supply. While this o ers great design exibility, you will need to have access to professional design software such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop or Corel Draw. Minimums for custom transfers vary widely from supplier to supplier. ey can range from eight to 500 pieces. Turnaround times usually begin at three days but can be longer based on the complexity of your custom artwork and your desired quantity. Stock heat transfer numbers. 14 Hot Graphics Annual Spring 2009 www.HOTGRAPHICSMAG.com