Hot peel is the term used for transfers that can be removed from the textile immediately following application while they’re still hot. They stand in contrast to cold peel transfers, which cannot be removed before sufficiently cooled.

Hot peel transfers provide numerous advantages such as less time-consuming manufacture, softer ’hand’, superior stretchiness, and stronger durability. These helpful traits are achieved by way of shorter application time and the concomitant possibility of bringing about thinner prints.

Cold peel transfers, on the other hand, will through their more extensive contact with the textile leave more ink and give rise to thicker and harder prints with a more rubbery hand. While they grant more opacity – a good trait – the thicker layer effects a harder hand and an increased risk of life-shortening decay when the prints are stretched and extended during everyday use.

Another germane difference between the two manufacturing processes is that hot peels generally give the print a matte finish, while cold peels result in a glossy one. Such an outcome is often not beneficial for apparel prints, as the superior light reflection of glossy prints can accentuate greasy fingerprints and grime, disturb the aesthetics, and potentially undermine the prints’ desired conveyance.

Matte colors provide better contrast and fulness, making them better suited for use with HD images with substantial richness of detail and thousands of individual colors, but for such products our digital prints should be the preferred vehicle.

Consequently, as they — all else being equal — are quicker and less expensive and produce softer and more durable and stretchy products, hot peel transfers should generally be preferred over their cold peel cousins.

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