DTF transfer size chart

How to read the chart

Width is the number you order by. UploadDTF measures it across the widest part of the design, and DTF suppliers sell transfers by width, with the height set by the shape of your artwork. Where a supplier gives a height, the chart shows it: “up to” is a ceiling the design has to fit under, “about” is the usual height at that width.

Every size comes from one supplier's published guide, named under the row, with the other suppliers' figures for the same spot. They do not always agree. A large adult shirt gets 10 inches from UploadDTF and from Sam's DTF Transfers, and 10 to 11 from DTF Transfers Now. None of them is wrong; each is a house style. Pick one and keep it across your shop, so a design looks the same size on every order.

One transfer for every shirt size, or one per size?

Sam's DTF Transfers lists one size for every garment as a common mistake: a 10 inch design looks right on a medium, small on a 3XL and overwhelming on a toddler tee. The suppliers draw their lines in different places. UploadDTF keeps 10 inches from small to large, steps up to 11 for XL and 2XL, and to 13 for 3XL and 4XL. DTF Transfers Now changes the width at nearly every size.

UploadDTF's three bands make a practical set when one design sells in many sizes: three adult widths, plus a youth and a toddler transfer. That keeps a gang sheet short and the print in proportion on every shirt.

Where each print goes

Measure from the collar seam, down the centre line. Folding the shirt in half lengthwise finds that line; Sam's DTF Transfers also suggests a heat press ruler or a laser guide. These are the distances ScreenPrinting.com publishes for adult shirts:

• Full front:the top of the design about 3 inches below the collar. Sam's DTF Transfers says 2.5 to 3.
• Left chest: the centre of the logo 2.5 to 3 inches below the collar and 3.5 to 4 inches across from the centre line.
• Back: a full back print starts 3 to 4 inches below the back collar, an upper back band sits centred 4 inches down, and a small collar logo 1 to 2 inches below the seam.
• Sleeves: 1 inch above the hem on a short sleeve; a print down a long sleeve ends about 3.5 inches above the cuff.

On youth shirts the design moves up, to 2 to 2.5 inches below the collar. On 2XL and larger it moves down, to 2.75 to 3.75 inches, so the print stays on the chest instead of riding up toward the neck.

Press on flat fabric only. Sam's DTF Transfers warns that a transfer does not stick well over seams, zippers and pocket edges and can crack or peel there, and that ribbed collars, cuffs and elastic stretch it out of shape in the wash. On a hoodie that puts the front print above the kangaroo pocket.

How many pixels a DTF file needs

Transfer Superstars and t-shirt.ca both ask for 300 DPI at the printed size, so the pixel width is the transfer width in inches times 300.

The rest of the file matters as much as the pixel count:

• A transparent background. Transfer Superstars asks for true transparency, not white: a white background ends up as a white rectangle on the garment.
• Solid pixels. Glows, soft shadows and feathered edges rely on semi-transparent pixels, which on DTF film either drop out or print muddy. t-shirt.ca asks for fully opaque colours.
• Lines you can print. At least 0.5 mm thick, says t-shirt.ca. Transfer Superstars draws the line at 6 pixels at 300 DPI, about the same, and calls text under 8 to 10 points risky.
• Trimmed to the artwork. Empty canvas around the design is wasted film and makes sizing harder, says Transfer Superstars: crop to the edges of the artwork, with 1 to 2 mm to spare at most.
• Not mirrored. Upload it the right way round; t-shirt.ca produces the transfer in the correct orientation for pressing.

Colour mode is where printers part ways. Transfer Superstars wants CMYK with the FOGRA39 profile, while t-shirt.ca lists the RGB-to-print conversion among the reasons colours can shift and suggests a small test print for colour-sensitive work. Ask your printer which it wants before a large order. The sizer at the top of this page checks the resolution, the background, soft areas and empty canvas for you, in your browser.

Sizing is the easy part

A chart settles the transfer in a minute. Deciding which design deserves a gang sheet takes longer, and it decides whether the shirts sell. Trendlytic, the research tool I build, reads Etsy, Redbubble, TeePublic and Amazon Merch in one search and shows which themes are selling and how crowded each one is, with Rising badges on designs gaining ground now. Plans start at $19.99 a month after a 3-day trial, and every plan opens a library of t-shirt and hoodie mockups for the listing photos. The free hoodie mockup generator shows the same idea on a few of them.

Choosing between print methods first? The guide to DTG, DTF and sublimation compares feel, durability and fabrics.