Pactimo Heat Transfer Program

Positioning Statement

For performance-driven teams and riders who value a modern, minimalist aesthetic, Pactimo's Custom Heat Transfers offer a sleek, pro-level look in select bibs and suits. This is made possible by fully dyed Lycra and ultra-premium heat transfers from 3M. While sublimated bibs offer vibrant, full-graphic customization, Pactimo's new heat transfer offering gives teams a clean, timeless option with unmatched fabric richness and elite-level, subtle branding. This is perfect for those who believe less truly is more.

Purpose of this document

• Design Specifications
• Placement Guidelines
• Best Practices
• Things to Avoid
• Template Use
• Sample Artwork

What is a Heat Transfer?

Heat transfers are a durable and minimalist method for applying logos to performance apparel. Pactimo has been using industry-leading heat transfer materials from 3M for over five years across its entire product line, including reflective details, branding elements, and logo applications. These embellishments are engineered for stretch, wear, and repeated laundering, and have shown a negligible failure rate across tens of thousands of garments.

While custom heat transfers are a new option in the Custom program, they are not new to Pactimo's production standards. This application method is already a core part of how Pactimo builds premium apparel, and the team is highly experienced in managing the technical and aesthetic demands of heat-applied graphics.

Why Heat Transfers?

While sublimation continues to offer incredible flexibility for bold, color-rich designs, some teams prefer a more refined look. Fully dyed Lycra provides a deep, uniform black that gives a kit a professional, elevated finish. The challenge is adding logos and team branding without compromising the fabric's look and feel.

Design Overview

The design guidelines for Heat Transfers are more strict than those for sublimation-printed counterparts. The heat transfer is a single-layer, single-color film that needs to be cut and processed before being applied to the garment with pressure and heat to adhere.

Due to this heat-applied method, heat transfers, while durable, require specific attention to detail in design to ensure the best durability possible.

File Requirements

• AI (Adobe Illustrator) or EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) are the only vector file types that can be used for this process.
• Vector outlines are used as the cutting template to cut the heat transfer.
• If artwork is not available as vector, Pactimo's art team will need to use art-time to trace any logos/artwork.

Design Guidelines - Color, Text, Corners

• Due to being an applied film, logos can only be a single color.
• No gradients, shading, or any variation in shade or tone will be translated.
• Text must be outlined (vectorized) to be used for cutting the heat transfer.
• No acute angles or sharp corners. Acute or sharp corners do not adhere as well and are prone to catching on clothing, hard surfaces, velcro, etc., which can cause premature peeling.
• All corners should be radiused to a minimum of 0.5mm; 1-2mm is a safe radius.

Design Guidelines - Best Practices

The primary principle for heat transfer logos is SIMPLE IS BEST. Simple wordmarks, logos, and icons will be more durable for the end consumer. The more complex the logo, the less durable it will be.

Design Guidelines - Things to Avoid

The following examples show logo designs to try and avoid:

Template Use - Heat Transfer Only

The templates for these new Heat Transfer garments will look familiar, with a notable change in the "bounding boxes" where customers can place artwork. While sublimation allows for nearly limitless edge-to-edge design, heat transfers need to be contained strictly within the visible dotted-line boxes to ensure they are not cut off on smaller sizes.

Customers and/or AMs must indicate both the base Lycra color and the heat transfer color (either reflective black or non-reflective white).

Template Use - Heat Transfer Only - Art Example 1

This example is the simplest and best application for heat transfers: bold, simple forms with no hard corners.

Template Use - Heat Transfer Only - Art Example 2

This example uses the same text on the vertical portion and adds a row of stars as the secondary graphic.

Template Use - Sublimation and Heat Transfer

This template is for the new Aero Mesh Flyte Suit. This suit can be sublimation printed on top, as standard, and can only have heat transfers applied to the bottom. All of the same template principals from the previous slide apply to the bottoms, and the tops can be designed for sublimation.

Template Use - Sublimation and Heat Transfer - Art Example 1

Wordmark / Font Suggestions

These fonts, with some radiusing of corners, are generally good choices if a team does not have a logo that will work with the restrictions of this heat transfer process.

Gallery

[Image gallery showcasing Pactimo custom apparel with heat transfers.]