Anatomy of a Jersey

360 degrees, set; 4 second pre-press, set; 6 second press, set; The heat press is set and warming up for the Clifton Park Mite and Mini-Mite Hockey teams jerseys. So what's next?

Each jersey initially received the front Eagles logo. These logos, although not screen-printed in house, were created using a screen printing method. We sent the image to a company who screen prints the logo onto sheets of transfer paper using plastisol inks, partially cures them and ships them to us. We generally refer to these as "tranfers". As these prints were to adhere to polyester mesh jerseys, specialty inks were used. With added opacity and durability, the prints were lightweight and had a very soft feel.

Once the prints arrived, the heat press was set and a logo was pressed onto the front of each jersey. For printing 124 jerseys, I was getting toasty standing over the heat press for 2 hours! The initial step in the mission was complete!

Now that the basics were finished, I was waiting for the names and numbers going on each jersey. The setup was to be a 2.5" tall name and 8" tall number across the back, and a 3" number on each shoulder. Since the coaches weren't going to have a final list until 3 - 4 days prior to needing the jerseys, the same transfer method used for the front logo was not going to work for the rest of the jersey!

Although this meant a bit longer process for finishing off each jersey, I ordered a 50 yard roll of white vinyl material. Each name and number was prepared in the computer using our graphics program and sent to the "cutter", a Roland GX24. As the jersey specifics arrived from the coaches, I began cutting in a somewhat organized fashion (cut a few names, weed a few names, cut a few numbers, weed a few numbers, press a few jerseys; repeat).

Once the vinyl was cut it needed to be weeded. The remaining vinyl (everything except the name or the number) was removed using a pick (a dental pick believe it or not). Once the names and matching numbers were complete, I pressed the jersey. There were 4 pressings per jersey. Each sleeve was done separately, followed by the back name and number.

With each "mini-step", the total time to complete each jersey was around 8-10 minutes. This of course, is not the most time effective way to complete a jersey, but for a coach requiring a short turn around time, this is what works. With a few stragglers joining the team, using this printing method allows us to turn around a jersey within the hour. A superior addition to our customer service!