Custom Transfer Stickers
Custom transfer stickers — cut vinyl lettering and shapes with no background, delivered on a transfer tape so a whole word goes on straight in one motion — from 100 units. The sticker that looks painted on, because there is nothing around the letters but the surface.
Letters and shapes with nothing between them
- Vinyl
- Calendered or cast, solid color; matte, gloss, metallic; wall-grade option
- Layers
- Single color, layered registered colors, printed-and-cut
- Detail
- Letters from 0.25 in, lines from 1/16 in
Get a price for Transfer Stickers
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
How it is made, and applied
The design is cut from a sheet of colored vinyl by a plotter — no printing, the color is the film. The excess vinyl around the letters is weeded away by hand, leaving the shapes on their backing. A sheet of low-tack transfer tape is pressed over them, which holds every piece in its exact position. To apply: peel the backing, position the tape, press the letters down, and peel the tape away. The whole word lands straight, spaced and level, which no one can do letter by letter.
| Single color | One vinyl, one layer; the standard transfer |
|---|---|
| Layered color | Two or three vinyls registered on the tape; a logo in brand colors |
| Printed and cut | Printed vinyl contour-cut per element and transferred; a full-color logo with no background |
Where it is the right choice
What it does not suit is fine detail below about a quarter inch — thin serifs and small counters tear during weeding — and any design with a gradient, which needs the printed-and-cut version.
- Shop windows and glass doors, applied inside or out, read from the street.
- Vehicle doors and tailgates — a name and a number that look painted.
- Wall lettering in an office or a store, in a matte vinyl that reads as paint.
- Product marking on a hard case, an instrument or a piece of equipment.
- A logo on a laptop or a bottle where a background rectangle would look wrong.
Vinyl, and the life of the letters
Cut lettering is made from the same films as a printed vinyl sticker — calendered for flat surfaces, cast for curves — but with no print to protect, it needs no laminate, and it lasts the life of the film: 5 to 7 years outdoors on a calendered vinyl, longer on cast. The colors are solid pigments in the film and do not fade the way ink does. For a printed design that needs the same durability with a background, the laminated film on our vinyl stickers with a protective laminate page is the other route.
Letters under a quarter inch and lines under a sixteenth are the limit of clean weeding. We will tell you if a design needs simplifying before it is cut.
Applying it well
Transfer stickers go on best with a wet application on glass and a dry one on paint and walls. A squeegee presses the letters down through the tape; the tape peels back at a low angle so it does not lift a letter with it. We supply a short instruction with every order and mark the top of the tape so it goes on the right way up. On a textured wall or a matte paint, a wall-grade vinyl with a softer adhesive is used so it conforms and lifts clean later.
Transfer Stickers — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Vinyl
- Calendered or cast, solid color; matte, gloss, metallic; wall-grade option
- Layers
- Single color, layered registered colors, printed-and-cut
- Detail
- Letters from 0.25 in, lines from 1/16 in
- Life
- 5–7 years outdoors calendered; longer cast; no laminate needed
- Supplied
- Weeded, on backing, under transfer tape, top marked, instructions
- Sizes
- 2 in to 48 in on the long side per piece; larger in panels
- Minimum
- 100 transfers
On every job
- Print process
- Flexo on a roll for volume, digital for short runs and for variable data such as batch codes and names.
- Color
- CMYK plus spot colors. On clear film a white underprint is needed wherever a color must read against the product.
- Tolerance
- Die-cut plus or minus 0.5 mm, and the label drawn 3 mm inside the panel so a slightly crooked application still looks square.
- Tooling
- A cutting die per shape and size, made once and kept. A change of artwork on the same shape needs no new tooling.
- Food contact
- Food-safe adhesives and inks where a label goes onto food packaging or a food-contact surface.
- Sustainability
- Paper labels recycle with a paper pack. Synthetic labels come off first, and the spec says which yours is.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build transfer stickers on
A label is a face stock, an adhesive and a liner, and each is chosen from where the label lands. The face decides how it prints; the adhesive decides whether it stays there.
Matte paper face
The everyday label. Writable, recyclable with a paper pack, and the right ground for a barcode. Not waterproof.
80–90gsmGloss paper face
Brighter color and a sharper photograph, at the cost of glare and fingerprints. Never put a barcode under a gloss finish.
80–90gsmKraft paper face
Unbleached and tan. One or two colors and white ink; the artisan seal. Colors print warm and muted on it.
70–90gsmClear polypropylene
The no-label look on glass and clear packaging. Needs a white underprint wherever a color has to read against a dark product.
50–60 micronWhite synthetic
PP or PE film: waterproof, tear-proof and dishwasher-tolerant. For bottles, jars, chilled and frozen goods and anything outdoors.
50–80 micronDirect thermal
Prints black with heat and no ink, for shipping and batch labels. It darkens in heat and fades in sunlight, so it is not for retail.
60–80gsmAdhesives
Permanent for corrugated and long-stay labels; removable for a clean peel; freezer-grade for anything applied cold or stored below zero.
Water- or solvent-basedLaminate and varnish
A film or a coat over the print for scuff and moisture resistance. It also stops a pen working, which matters on a label meant to be written on.
Matte, gloss or noneNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
A label is finished for what will rub against it and whether anyone writes on it.
Matte laminate
Scuff and moisture resistance. Stops a pen working, so not for a label meant to be filled in.
Gloss laminate
Deeper color and a wipeable face. Never over a barcode.
Varnish only
A thin coat instead of a film, so a paper label still recycles with the pack.
Hot foil
On a small label the block is tiny and the effect is out of proportion to the cost.
Embossed label
Raised shape on a face stock, usually on a bottle or a jar where it is felt.
Textured face
Felt, laid or cotton label stock for wine and spirits. Prints softly and tears with a fiber edge.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing a label to the panel it sits on: transfer stickers
A label is cut to the surface, not to a standard size. Send the container or the box — or its dimensions and the panel you want covered — and the label is drawn to fit with the tolerance an applicator needs.
- Flat panel
- The panel less 3 mm each way, so a slightly crooked application still looks square. Rounded corners resist lifting.
- Wrap-around
- The circumference less 5 mm, so the ends butt rather than overlap. A wrap that overlaps its own print reads as a mistake.
- Corner radius
- 2–4 mm. A square corner lifts first and, on a shipping label, jams a sorter.
- Barcode area
- A white matte area with the quiet zone clear on both sides. Verified on the printed label, not on screen.
- Roll direction and core
- Set to your applicator: the wind direction, the core size and the number of labels per roll. Send the machine model.
- Application temperature
- Cold or damp surfaces need a specific adhesive. A standard permanent applied at 2°C often does not stay on.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Transfer Stickers
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a face stock and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about transfer stickers? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
What is a transfer sticker?
Vinyl letters and shapes cut individually with no background, held on a transfer tape so they go on as one piece. Only the shapes stay on the surface.
How do I apply it?
Peel the backing, position the tape, press the letters down with a squeegee, and peel the tape away at a low angle. The whole design lands straight.
Does it come with instructions?
Yes, with every order, and the top of the tape is marked so it goes on the right way.
Can it be more than one color?
Yes — layered vinyls registered on the tape, or a printed vinyl contour-cut per element for a full-color logo with no background.
How small can the letters be?
About a quarter inch, with lines from a sixteenth. Below that the weeding tears fine detail; we will tell you if a design needs simplifying.
How long does it last?
5–7 years outdoors on calendered vinyl, longer on cast. The color is in the film, so it does not fade like ink and needs no laminate.
Can I put it on a wall?
Yes, in a wall-grade vinyl with a softer adhesive that conforms to texture and lifts clean later.
Can I put it on a car?
Yes — cast vinyl for a curved panel. Names, numbers and logos on doors and tailgates are the classic use.
Inside or outside the window?
Either. Applied inside, the letters are reversed so they read from the street and are protected from weather. Applied outside, they read directly.
What is the minimum order?
100 transfers per design. Cutting and weeding are the work, so the set-up is small.
How long does production take?
Cutting is fast; weeding a detailed design takes time. We give a date with the quote once we have seen the artwork.
Will you send a proof?
A digital proof showing every cut element, and a sample transfer on request so you can apply one before the run.
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