Vinyl has a bad rap, that is widely undeserved. Many clients come in showing me a shirt that they got from ‘a friend’ or ‘someone in the neighborhood’ or even from Etsy, where the vinyl is cracked and peeling, or falling off the shirt. They want a shirt with the same design, but not in vinyl. I’m sure we have all seen this or know someone that has had this happened.  Here’s the thing – 9 times out of 10 it is not the vinyl that is causing these problems. These happen when there was an issue with the way the vinyl was applied. We do not use vinyl that you can buy at the local craft store. The vinyl we purchase is professional use heat transfer vinyl (HTV). It is has a longer life, more stretch, and many more colors than craft store HTV. We also have two large professional heat presses that we use to apply the HTV to all of our garments.  These two things mean that anything that we press with HTV will be around for a long time. Things to know about HTV:  -Most HTV is rated for 50 washes. That means that it will last at least that long. Some will last longer.  -Fabric softener is not your friend when washing shirts with HTV. It can affect the adhesive on the vinyl and shorten the life of the design. -High heat is also a no-no with vinyl. High heat is really not good for any garments, but it can melt the adhesive on the vinyl and reduce the life of the design. -Vinyl is going to be your cheapest option for a one or two color design on less than 10 garments. A screen print for one garment will cost you $100. -If you still don’t want vinyl, lets talk. I’m sure we can come up with something else that isn’t vinyl and won’t cost as much as a screen print.