Transfer Placement T-shirt Design Size Chart Guide

As a company owner who taunts in customization or just a brand itself using customized T-shirts for unique marketing and/or promotion events to ensure that the design is correctly sized and applied. This ensures that the text of the message is more easily perceived and positively affects the branding, giving customers a clearer understanding of personal communication, allowing them to consolidate trust in your brand and effectively promote products. In this blog post, It provides clearly T-shirt size chart and proper transfer placement guide to help business owners in executing their marketing activities correctly. The whole idea behind this resource is to uncomplicate the process of T-shirt printing for beginners. Comment below and keep reading!

Who is this guide for?

Today this post is for business owners who make use of heat transfer methods such as sublimation paper, DTF transfer, HTV, plastisol transfer and laser transfer to print designs on t-shirts. Design size chart and transfer placement reference for individual crafters, business owners of small- to medium-sized apparel companies. Designed and tailored for them to comply with best practices in the industry and gain better results.

List of Common T-shirt Design & Printing Terms

First thing first, another question that sometimes do not get a definite answer is before starting where the t shirt design and transfer placement are?

Print Location

This refers to where the print is, or what type of print category is. (i.e. left chest print or a full back print) Remember, placement and the physical print area may vary per print location.

Matrix Print Placement

This is the exact location of where you print your design on. The two or more inches thrown around for this figure can be a bit of an over simplification (we have heard casual suggestions trimming one or two extra inches based on size and what you want).

Print Area

How much space on the fabric is being ink coverage, vinyl, decal. Notice the pockets, seams, buttons etc.

Print Size

This is just the size of an artwork. Together with location, it controls the overall print area. Except for the film width, heat transfers / decal / vinyl with different size are not on this list

Common Size

There are standard or common sizes for each printing location These are a little different for adult, ladies and kids size garments. Regard it as baselines.

Oversize

Anything that is larger than standard but smaller than maximum allowable size goes in oversize. If we have a good understanding of these terms, this will guide us through the details fairly seamlessly

Placement Transfer & T-shirt Design Size Chart

So long story short, get to the T-shirt design size chart details. Note, these recommended values are for medium-sized shirts and only generic advice. You can make appropriate changes with the actual size, specific circumstances, or your preference

Print Location	Width	Height	Average Adult Size	Average Youth Size	Placement
Left Chest	2.5″-5″	2.5″-5″	4″ width 2″ height	3″ width 1.5″ height	3″ – 4″ from collar, centered over far edge of collar
Center Chest	6″-10″	6″-8″	8″ width 4″ height	6″ width 3″ height	4″ – 5″ from collar, centered – taller designs can start 3″ down
Full Front	10″-12″	10″-14″	11″ width 11″ height	9″ width 9″ height	3″ from collar, centered – designs 6″ or shorter can go 4″ down
Oversize Front/Back	12″-15″	14″-16″	13″ width 15″ height	10″ width 12″ height	2″ – 3″ down from collar, centered – oversize back placement 3.5″ down
Back Collar	1″-3″	1″-3″	2″ width 2″ height	1.5″ width 1.5″ height	2″ down from collar, centered for large designs, 1″ down for smaller
Upper Back	10″-14″	1″-6″	12″ width 4″ height	10″ width 2.5″ height	3″ – 4″ down from collar, centered, designs less than 2″ tall can go 5″ down
Full Back	10″-14″	6″-15″	12″ width 14″ height	10″ width 12″ height	3″ – 4″ down from collar, centered
Sleeve	1″-4″	1″-4″	2″ width 2″ height	1.5″ width 1.5″ height	1″ – 4″ from hem, centered on shoulder seam

Transfer Placement Guide: T-shirt Custom Printing

In addition to the general guideline provided by the T-shirt design size chart above, let's delve deeper. This is where our aim will be to tackle print location by print location, providing more specific tips when it comes to designing and positioning the transfers.

Left Chest

But it turns out the left gallon is primed for branding and promotions, making a perfect taxable asset to take standard clothing from plain-old-style boring to well-polished with a human touch. A standard spot to put logos on the branded merchandise with employees, event staff or renovations.

More than just a spot for T-shirts, this works with polo shirts and button-down tees to present small sketches and text without going overboard on the chest. A lot of them choose pocket tees as they can print the logo before the pocket in a classy manner; this is well-suited for pretty pocket designs, school or team uniforms, and company logos.

Ideal for both kids and adult sizes, as the width of a typical placement ranges anywhere from 3 to 4 inches and is placed about 3 to 4 inches down from the collar. With the shirt alone, you could probably adjust things to make sure it looks great nearly every time.

Print Location: Left chest
Print Standard Size: 2.5″ to 5″ in height & width
Average Adult Size: 4″ width x 2″ height
Average Youth Size: 3″ width x 1.5″ height
Placement: 3″ – 4″ from collar, centered over far edge of collar
Hint: Due to where it's placed, fine details may not be able to be appreciated as well, so it can work best with less.

Center Chest

The Center-Chest placement is perfect for when you want your brand to be seen and notice, this will definitely not be missed! The location allows for visibility even when a person is wearing a jacket, hoodie, or open button-down shirt. Twice as tall, this image is a significantly more prominent than the Left Chest but not quite as massive tab Full Front design.

Print Location: Center chest
Print Standard Size: 6″ – 10″ in width; 6″ – 8″ in height
Average Adult Size: 8″ width x 4″ height
Average Youth Size: 6″ width x 3″ height
Placement: 4″ – 5″ from collar, centered – taller designs can start 3″ down
Tip: Be sure that your graphic design is sharp work and not hard to read. Try other placements like the bottom-left or bottom-right for some unique creative ways.

Full Front

Full front is likely the most common placement, and in most cases, when someone starts talking about a "front,” they are referring to Full Front. Great to Big Printed — major, for instance, bands showing their albums or even the other end of the spectrum printing epic graphics file fan art or artist capitalizing on this printable spot. Depending on the design that can be pretty large, and would give a very thick print not to mention it would be close to impossible to make an oversized screen for printing!

Print Location: Full front
Print Standard Size: 10″ – 12″ in width; 10″ – 14″ in height
Average Adult Size: 11″ width x 11″ height
Average Youth Size: 9″ width x 9″ height
Placement: 3″ from collar, centered – designs 6″ or shorter can go 4″ down
Pro Tip: Give a little balance to your design with a left chest print on the front for some coordination and polish.

Oversize Front/Back

The Oversize Front is even bigger than the already large Full Front, certainly living up to its name. It is bigger than what usually gets printed a T-shirt. A print larger than the standard dimensions of a Full Front is considered Oversize.

Print Location: Oversize front/back
Print Standard Size: 12″ – 15″ in width; 14″ – 16″ in height
Average Adult Size: 13″ width x 15″ height
Average Youth Size: 10″ width x 12″ height
Placement: 2″ – 3″ down from collar, centered – oversize back placement 3.5″ down
Tip: Go over-print a printed template on your garment to make sure the colors of your design match with the garments', when it is something seamless and subtle like this.

Back Collar

One of the tamer options is to keep the back collar in placement one or two inches away from the edge of a jacket's collar. If you want an innovative method of grabbing the eyeballs, you can go with placing t-shirts on top of regular size novelty over the back collar tag. This provides a low-impact, delicate placement of the designs as they often rest right below the neckline and look almost like swaggy calling cards for more effective branding. This is something seen often with popular high-end fashion brands and sports teams, they advertise but aren't trying too hard.

About 1″ to 3″ in width on the back of a collar, smaller than Left Chest. It is a good idea to keep the design simple and avoid as many distractions as you can For a placement like this Although optional, remember that this is frequently an area highly visible to others—be it waiting in line or seated next.

Print Location: Back collar
Print Standard Size: 1″ – 3″ in width; 1″ – 3″ in height
Average Adult Size: 2″ width x 2″ height
Average Youth Size: 1.5″ width x 1.5″ height
Placement: 2″ down from collar, centered for large designs, 1″ down for smaller
Tip: Ensure the label is large enough to make your brand visible, but keep it small enough so that it doesn’t overshadow the actual shirt design or interfere with the fit.

Upper Back

This is a middle of the road size in the placement area, much like the front chest area. Meaning it covers the width of the back further down by about 4 inches below the collar (all for that visibility), with an design extending in to cover around shoulder blades. Further, It is great for type designs making it ideal for business events or a campaign.

Print Location: Upper back
Print Standard Size: 10″ – 14″ in width; 1″ – 6″ in height
Average Adult Size: 12″ width x 4″ height
Average Youth Size: 10″ width x 2.5″ height
Placement: 3″ – 4″ down from collar, centered – desings less than 2″ tall can go 5″ down
Tip: Alternatively, try to place them in the low back for a special touch.

Full Back

The Full Back is a classic and top printing area to use, coming in second only after the Full Front. Although it is a back print location that also shares masterpiece status, it is typically on the larger and lower side than other back print locations. For 12″ x 14″ it is about right for most purposes, essentially the standard print size. If necessary and the shirts grant it we can get up to 14.5″ W x 16.5″ H

Print Location: Full back
Print Standard Size: 10″ – 14″ in width; 6″ – 15″ in height
Average Adult Size: 12″ width x 14″ height
Average Youth Size: 10″ width x 12″ height
Placement: 3″ – 4″ down from collar, centered

Sleeve

The sleeve is a great place for representing forms, logos, and messages and it stands out on any T-shirt. Opposite to short-sleeved clothing, the long sleeve placement also provides you with more area over which your custom design can be printed. These are something that could be extremely useful for brands looking to have their name or message shown on both kids and adult tops.

Due to the limited dimensions in this area, it is advised that the graphics and logos here are kept to simplistic. Our standard width is generally 4″ – but we can do as wide as 4.5″ wide and also as narrow at 1″ wide This is also a prime location that business sponsors like to have.

Print Location: Sleeve
Print Standard Size: 1″ – 4″ in width; 1″ – 4″ in height
Average Adult Size: 2″ width x 2″ height
Average Youth Size: 1.5″ width x 1.5″ height
Placement: 1″ – 4″ from hem, centered on shoulder seam
Tip: Remember that you want to make sure your design is centered on the sleeve so it looks the best! Select the left sleeve to offset a print on your right chest or choose any sleeve for an all-over impression.

T-shirt Standard Size Guide

It is important to note that The recommended filled size and transfer placement for an average sized garment establishment. You may have to increase or decrease the size of the image, or move it around if your specific size is different from mine. Is that about how all it is with T-shirt sizes, if you are a little bit confused right now then breathe easy and also go through this convenient Nettousieer shirt size graph to be on the resolving end:

T-shirt Custom Printing Tips

Although the T-shirt design size chart and transfer placement to all but guarantee a business gets the proper files needed as well as where to do their printing, it could be another thing altogether for getting great looking prints. But, don't worry since we prepared professional advice here so you will get your desired design ( And if using DTF for shirt printing please get our step-by-step guide with extra pro tips for you and walk through the whole process).

Printing Tech Matters

Remember, a design can look different at print depending on the printing approach. Before moving into creating your design file, you should be making sure that what you design is actually possible to fabricate with the materials which have been chosen. DTF, for example, is ideal in bold colors and intricate details and plastisol transfer works better with simple designs without fine details but color blocks.

Suit the Fabric

While it may seem like a no-brainer to printing beginners, selecting the right fabric is ground zero for a number of favored kinds. DTF transfers are flexible, depending on the fabric and are best suitable to use for all types of fabrics. In contrast to this, sublimation papers are specialized and they only and exclusively work on polyesters. This means that HTV is perfect for cotton, polyester, and all of their blends but it will not form a proper bond with fabrics such as nylon.

Choose High-Resolution Vector Graphics

The use of high-resolution graphics is important to ensure a crisp and detailed print. As the name suggests, vector filetypes contain mathematical data that describes lines, shapes, and colours for graphic elements on a print. This also makes it easier to alter the size for various apparel sizes and areas.

Don't Use Small Text or Details

you should try and make sure to not use small text or intricate details too often in your designs. Heat transfer might not catch these tiny details due to which the clarity and the legibility go missing. Instead, opt for bigger, bold elements to make sure that design translates properly on the t-shirt and retains the desired quality and visual effect as I mentioned earlier.

Pre-heat the Shirts

A short blast of heat that only lasts a few seconds will pull any moisture out of the shirt and knock down any wrinkles to make your shirts flat and ideal for adhesion of the film. This fast preheating process provides a surface without distortion and ensures the final print is of highest quality and durability.

Using Alignment Tools

These can be seams or certain measurements that help you achieve the proper placement. It may also be wise to purchase things like alignment tools or guides that promote consistent, and precise application over multiple garments.

Secure transfer in place with Tape

Once your iron or heat press is ready, use some heat-resistant tape to keep the transfer where you want it. This is to ensure that between time goes on top and the bottom you used, there are no shifts or movement during the heat press application.

Try Optimal Settings

Suppliers normally provide rough setup values, you can perform print tests and maintenance for better results.

Teflon Sheets

You can also use Teflon sheets to cover the transfer material if you find the press that is directly making contact with it, disturbing your result. While this is a basic step, it still has a big effect on the quality of the transfer.

Conclusion

This post may just be a trusty companion to an experienced T-shirt custom printing business runner as well as to someone new and stepping into T-shirt creation for the very first time. You have delved into T-shirt design size charts; you now know the secret to good prints. Well now that you have these information the power to print perfect is on your hand. So, for now on you know that by using the placement and sizing you can create great TEEs telling a little of yourself. If you enjoyed this post, be sure to share this post on the thread above with your friends and let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.