The BEST Heat Transfer Vinyl For Shirts: Iron-On & HTV Review [2022]

*** This post was updated in April 2021 to reflect the best HTV vinyl currently on the market! ***

What is the best heat transfer vinyl?

We have been using HTV for many years now, and have worked with a wide range of brands.

In this post, we’ll begin with a heat transfer vinyl review, and offer recommendations based on our personal experience. Find out what makes good HTV so good, and make heat transfers that will last.

Best Iron On Vinyl

Easter project with standard black Siser EasyWeed

For those of you who just want to know what is the best heat transfer vinyl, then compare prices with a few of the options in this table. They are in general order starting with the best, and we do think Siser is #1 for quality HTV.

This list contains both HTV vinyl rolls and HTV sheets. Mostly they have a width of 12 inches to suit Silhouette and Cricut cutting machines, but towards the end of this article we’ll show you where to get larger rolls of wholesale HTV.

	Siser EasyWeed Heat Transfer Vinyl	Applies at a comparatively lower temperature to competitor vinyls Uses a low pressure setting for application Hot or cold peel	View On Expressions VinylView on HPN
	WALAKut Heat Transfer Vinyl	Variety of finishes - puff, metallic, neon, glitter, and soft (our fave!) Get just what you need - sheets up to 50 yard rolls! Responsive customer support from HTW	View Exclusively On Heat Transfer Warehouse View all HTV at HTW
	Cricut Iron On Vinyl	Iron on heat transfer vinyl Best iron on vinyl for Cricut cutting machines Use your heat press or EasyPress for even better adhesion	View On MichaelsView on Cricut
	Chemica HTV	Great option if you are looking for bulk HTV rolls Specialty HTV including glitter stretch  Low temp HTV will adhere to a range of fabrics including nylon	View On Heat Transfer Warehouse
	Specialty Materials HTV	Quality commercial use HTV Range of varieties: Sport, Flex, Ultra… Available in large quantities	View On HPN
	FireFly Craft Heat Transfer Vinyl	Works with all plotting cutters Wide variety of vibrant colors and types Vinyl is for use with a heat press or can be applied with an iron	View On Amazon
	Happy Crafters HTV	Quality selection of iron on vinyl Frequent sales and discount codes on homepage Siser, screen printed transfers, patterned HTV, glitter	View HTV Range on Happy Crafters

Whether you’re making custom t shirts for friends and family, or for customers, you want the design to stay on the t-shirt! The last thing you want is the heat transfer vinyl to peel and come away.

It takes time and effort to create a design, cut and weed the vinyl, and then press it onto a tee. You want it to last as long as possible. The main way to ensure that it does is to use the best HTV.

What makes good vinyl good and bad vinyl bad? And what is the difference between heat transfer vinyl brands? After the following HTV recommendations, see our criteria for determining good heat transfer vinyl from bad.

1. Siser EasyWeed Heat Transfer Vinyl

2. WALAKut Heat Transfer Vinyl

Cricut sell many different types of vinyl in a range of colors.

Cricut calls their HTV ‘iron-on’, and their adhesive vinyl ‘vinyl’ – so make sure you’re getting what you need. You don’t want to order adhesive when you actually want heat transfer (I have done this more than once)!

You can also get Cricut machine bundles that come with a selection of iron on, vinyl, or both!

Cricut iron on vinyl can be applied with an iron, the EasyPress, or heat press machine.

Their range includes:

• Cricut Sportflex – project here
• Standard Cricut Iron-On – project here
• Cricut Foil Iron On – project here
• Patterned Cricut Iron On – project here

An alternative to Cricut HTV is Infusible Ink Transfer Sheets – similar, but so different.

4. HTVRONT HTV Vinyl

We were recently able to try out HTVRONT vinyl while making this Father’s Day t-shirt.

We were really impressed (truly) by how easy it was to use, and how great the final result was. We won’t say much more here because we’ve written up a full review of the product here. But this is possibly preferable to Cricut Iron On! It’s also a nice option if you’re looking for a heat transfer vinyl bundle starter pack with lots of different colors!

Amazon certainly has a huge variety of HTV available. Jandjpackaging has over 12,000 great reviews and could definitely be worth a try! We tried another cheap variety of adhesive vinyl from Amazon and did a full cheap vinyl review here – find out if we thought it was worth the savings or not.

5. Stahls’ Heat Transfer Vinyl

Stahls’ has a really wide variety of HTV available. You can purchase it by the foot or in large rolls by the yard which is great if you’re doing a large project!

We recently used Stahls’ for a batch of 70 shirts for a family reunion. We learned a lot of lessons in the project (including don’t make 70 shirts with HTV, go the screen printing route!) but overall we liked working with Stahls’ HTV.

6. FireFly Craft Heat Transfer Vinyl

FireFly Craft HTV is another good option. This is well-priced heat transfer vinyl, and you should check out the Amazon reviews! It’s available in 34 awesome colors, selling in 12 x 20 inch rolls.

Some reasons you should try this vinyl:

• Use with Cricut, Silhouette, Brother, & every other cutting machine
• Easy to weed (especially if using something like the Cricut Brightpad)
• This vinyl is for use with a heat press or can be applied with an iron
• The amazing reviews and a high star rating on Amazon

Firefly Craft HTV is well worth trying out. It’s generally cheaper, while still being excellent quality.

HTV Vinyl Rolls

If you’re planning to do larger jobs heat transfer vinyl sheets might not be cost effective for you. In that case, larger rolls of heat transfer vinyl should do the trick and you should consider visiting Heat Press Nation or Heat Transfer Warehouse.

They both supply Siser and Specialty Materials HTV. They have HTV’s suitable for larger cutting machines.

For example:

• 15 inch x 30 yard rolls
• 19 inch x 5 yard rolls
• 20 inch x 50 yards

The other great thing about shopping at Heat Press Nation is the support you can receive if you need it. Get in touch with them via the chat box on their site, or phone during business hours. Both HPN and HTW have awesome tutorials for their wide range of products.

Heat Transfer Vinyl Guide

The following is what makes good heat transfer vinyl good!

Siser HTV scores very positively in every area – that’s why we think it’s the best.

1. Cuttability: Cuttability might be a word we just made up, but it means ‘how easy is it to cut the heat transfer vinyl’? Good HTV will cut simply in your cutting machine. A good backing sheet (also known as a carrier sheet) allows it to be easily manipulated by the cutter. Cheap heat transfer vinyl might tear, warp, or just simply not cut well even when you’re following all the instructions for your vinyl cutter. While not all cutting machines cut the same, low quality HTV can thwart even the best craft cutters.

2. Weeding: How easy is it to weed? This makes a big difference to me; for example, we find Siser EasyWeed so easy to weed! And Cricut vinyl much more difficult, you’ve got to really pay attention to make sure it doesn’t rip. The latter snaps/breaks as you weed it away and just isn’t as easy. The EasyWeed will easily pull away in as large a chunk as is available. In our opinion the adhesive backing on the carrier sheet can sometimes make weeding more difficult. While it can be nice to have a bit of adhesive on your carrier sheet for placing the design you can also use heat resistant tape to hold your design in place.

3. Heat Transfer Application Temperature: Some have a higher recommended application temp and some are lower. For example, Siser EasyWeed HTV has the lowest application temperature. This affects the vinyl and the t-shirt material less. The hotter you need to press the vinyl the harder it is on the tee and and vinyl. Look for low application temperature to avoid fiber damage and always use a protective teflon sheet or parchment paper.

4. Heat Transfer Pressure: Another difference between vinyls is the heat press pressure. For similar reasons as the temperature, the less pressure needed the better. The vinyl and garment will be less affected if not as much pressure is required. It is really important to have the best heat press possible to give you lots of customization and flexibility on applying HTV for a wide range or products.

5. Adhesion: The better your vinyl, the better your adhesion and the less likely it will peel around the edges. All HTV should adhere and do what it’s supposed to do, but you’re less likely to have problems with a better quality vinyl. Especially if you’re making t-shirts or sweatshirts to sell, you want permanent adhesive!

6. Durability: Higher quality vinyl will be more durable than cheap vinyl. Not only will it wear better if you are rough with your clothes, but it will also last through many more washes. Better vinyl will not crack or flake, as you might have seen t-shirts or hoodies do. You should also consider how much wear the finished product will get, you might be fine with the results of a cheaper vinyl if it’s on something like a fabric banner that isn’t going to be subject to much wear and tear.

7.  The Look And Feel: Some vinyls are really thick (and ugly), and others are thin (much nicer). Can you imagine those tees that have awful thick vinyl which doesn’t flex? It feels like you’ve got a piece of cardboard attached to your top! And then imagine really nice thin vinyl that you can hardly tell is on your t-shirt. We know which we prefer! Additionally, keep in mind that glitter heat transfer vinyl is going to have a grittier feel – we love sparkle HTV to get the glitter without the grit!

8. Chemically Safe: Is your heat transfer vinyl safe? Some vinyls have been lab tested to ensure safety, and others have not. The certification is known as CPSIA (The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) Certification. Siser EasyWeed is one vinyl that has this tick, meaning it’s safe for kids and everyone else. It won’t contain lead or phthalate (but we still wouldn’t eat it). The more eco-friendly we can be in our lives the better for everyone!

The Best Vinyl For Shirts

What is the best heat transfer vinyl for shirts, t-shirts, and everything else?

You can’t go wrong with Siser HTV. It covers all the bases and you can rest assured that your finished product will be excellent – provided you follow the instructions of course! As with all things DIY, don’t give up if the first time things don’t go as planned.

Let us know your experiences, and give us your thoughts on which is the best brand of heat transfer vinyl for you in the comment section below.

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