Use our gang sheet builder & receive DTF transfers at Just £8.50 +VAT per linear metre. Free delivery on orders over £150 +VAT
COLOUR GUIDE
Colour matching and swatches for DTF transfers
We print the colours carried in your artwork, and nothing is adjusted at our end. That matters to anyone matching a brand colour, printing dark on dark, or moving a job over from another supplier. Here is how colour works on our transfers, what we can and cannot promise, and how to get a colour right before a full run.
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How colour works on our transfers
Our transfers are printed with a CMYK plus white process, and the colour that prints is the colour carried in your file. We do not colour-correct artwork, apply adjustments of our own, or interpret a Pantone reference on your behalf. Whatever values the file holds are the values that go to the printer.
Every transfer is printed with a solid layer of white ink behind any part of the design that is not fully transparent, so the garment colour does not show through the print. The colours should therefore come out the same on a black garment as on a white one.
Printed colours may vary slightly from those shown on screen. Please supply artwork without any embedded colour profiles.
We have put a good deal of time into developing our print profiles and refining our RIP software to get as much vibrancy as possible from a five-colour process. The easiest way to judge that is to see the transfers for yourself: request a free sample pack.
Will it match my Pantone or brand colour?
This is the colour question we are asked most, and the honest answer is that an exact match to a Pantone or brand reference cannot be promised without printing a test first. DTF printers each use their own print profiles and RIP software, and the way those are set up affects how a given set of colour values comes out in print. Entering the values alone does not always produce an exact match to the reference.
We do not keep a Pantone book, and in any case it is the printed result that matters rather than the reference. Where a colour has to be right, the reliable route is a printed swatch, described below, or one or two of the actual transfers run first so that they can be compared against the reference in person.
If a near match will do, tell us when you order and we will say whether we would expect the file to print close to it. That is an opinion rather than a promise, and we will not know for certain until the transfers are printed.
Printed swatches: the way to be certain
A swatch chart is a set of colour patches printed on our film: the colour you are aiming for, plus a range of shades either side of it, each labelled with its values. We print the chart and post it to you, and you or your customer compare the patches against the reference in person, pick the one that prints correctly, and update the values in the artwork before the job comes to us. In our experience, that really is the only way to be certain of a proper match.
The chart itself comes from you, as it needs to carry the colour values your artwork will use. If you are not sure how to set one up, email us and we will talk it through.
The same approach works when you are matching a transfer to an existing embroidery thread, to garments decorated by another method, or to transfers from a previous supplier.
An opinion on how your colours will print
No charge. Email your artwork before you order, with the reference you are working to, and we will tell you whether we would expect it to print close, and say so if we think a colour is likely to cause a problem. There is no charge for advising on artwork suitability.
Printed swatches or a test transfer
Usually free of charge. If you are colour matching and can send us your selection of swatches, we will usually print them and post them out to you free of charge, before the full run goes into production. There is no rush on the order while you compare them.
Dark colours on dark garments
Contrast is where a screen is least reliable. A dark grey that reads clearly against black on a monitor can print close enough to black that the two are hard to tell apart on the garment, and the same applies to other dark-on-dark combinations.
If a design relies on a subtle difference between two dark colours, we would suggest lightening the paler one more than looks necessary on screen, and, if the job matters, printing a swatch or a single transfer first. We are happy to suggest a shade, but please bear in mind that it is an educated guess, and we cannot be certain of the exact shade a colour will print at until it has been printed.
Metallic, neon, and speciality finishes
Our DTF printing is a CMYK process, so we are not able to reproduce a true chrome or metallic effect. Gold and silver can be printed as flat colours, which suits many designs, but they will not have a metallic sheen.
We are not able to print neon or fluorescent colours.
Glow-in-the-dark film is a speciality film that is not in the gang sheet builder. It is produced to order and quoted by email, so please ask if a job calls for it.
Changing the colours in your artwork
If your file is a PNG or another flattened image, we are not able to simply change the colours within it. Our designer would first need to carry out a full redraw of the artwork, after which the colour changes can be made. A redraw is chargeable design work, and we will quote for it before anything is done.
With a vector file there is more to work with, but a colour change is still design work rather than part of the print, and we can only confirm what is involved once the file has been looked at. Full details are on our Artwork requirements page.
Ordering
Happy with the colours? Use the gang sheet builder
If your artwork carries the colours you want printed, upload it to our online gang sheet builder, set the sizes and quantities you need, and check out. The file prints exactly as supplied, at the flat rate of £8.50 plus VAT per linear metre. Please remember that the grey background in the builder preview is not printed; it is only there so the transfers are visible on the page.
Colour has to be right? Email us before you build
If a colour needs to match a reference, email the file to info@raptorprinters.co.uk before you build your sheet, with the reference you are working to, and we will tell you what we think and arrange swatches if you want them. Once the colour is settled, go back to the builder to place your order.
Full pricing is on our DTF Transfer Printing page.
Ready to order? Open the gang sheet builder.
If the colours in your file are the colours you want, upload it to the builder and check out. If a colour has to match a reference, email us first and we will take a look, with no charge for the advice. If you have not pressed our transfers before, request a free sample pack and judge the colour on your own garments.
Open the gang sheet builder Email your artwork Request a free sample pack