Which size heat press is best for tshirt printing?

There is no 'one size fits all' when it comes to starting your t-shirt business.

T-shirts come in many sizes, and so do heat presses.

Ask yourself, what clothing size will you be heat printing?

If you are heat printing baby clothes or children's garments, a smaller heat press will be suitable. 

If you're heat-pressing clothing for adults, a small heat press will leave you very limited with the size of transfers you can press.

You can only print as large as your upper platen.

With larger size garments come a larger print area. In order to scale your heat transfers up to fit larger-sized t-shirts like XL, XXL or 3XL, you'll need an upper platen that fits all commonly purchased clothing sizes.

The Hotronix Auto Open Heat Press

The Hotronix Auto Open is a well-loved heat press for tshirt printing as you can set your application time and temperature on the digital display and it auto-opens when the time is up, avoiding over-application and garment scorching.

This press comes in 4 sizes.

The size information refers to the top platen which contains the heating element. While Hotronix are known for its interchangeable platens, an upper platen is not interchangeable.

It is static. And that's why it's so important to consider this when building your t-shirt printing business.

If you pick the 15x15cm Auto Open Heat Press, you will not be able to press designs bigger than 15cm. This means you're limited to small placements such as left chest or neck labels.

So which size heat press is best for starting a t-shirt business?

Based on Bella+Canvas' Unisex t-shirt range, in order to heat press full chest placements for most adult t-shirt sizes on the same press, you will need a 40x40cm heat press.

This covers sizes XS, S, M, L and XL, but if you're looking to print bigger designs for XXL and upward, you'll need a heat press size of 40x50cm.

Interchangeable Platens

One of the best things about Hotronix heat presses is the interchangeable platens.

That means that if you're producing a batch of t-shirts that only needs a sleeve or leg placement rather than a full chest print, you can swap the platen out for a smaller one to help isolate that print area better.

So there you have it, bigger is better if you're expecting to expand your tshirt business in the future.

A larger upper platen enables more heat printing opportunities and flexibility in your product range. 

Purchasing a press with a large upper platen to get started means you won't have to upgrade your press as your business expands.