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Why do white outlines happen?

Every one of our direct to film transfers consists of 3 parts: colored ink, white ink, and adhesive. A layer of white ink is placed behind all of the colors of your design, and this allows the colors to stay bright and crisp. The amount of white ink that is placed behind the design edge is called the “choke” setting, as it restricts how much white ink is placed on the edge of the transfer. Many DTF companies utilize a “one size fits all” approach when it comes to the choke setting, which may leave many designs looking much different than what you order. Here at Armor Ink, our printer technicians tailor the choke setting based on each order, minimizing the chance of white outlines.

What can you do to avoid white outlines?

Most of the time, white outlines are caused by poor printing practices, but there are some cases where outlines can occur due to things that are out of our control. In order to ensure the best quality possible, your design should be a minimum of 300 dpi. Also, designs should not have any transparent pixels, as the printer prints the faint color and then puts the full amount of white ink behind it, resulting in a white outline.