T-shirt flocage (heat transfer): what you actually order, and what it costs

T-shirt flocage (heat transfer): what you actually order, and what it costs

At tknp.io, a t-shirt "flocage", the French word for a logo applied with heat, is ordered online as a DTF transfer: your logo is printed in colour on a film, then fixed onto the t-shirt with a heat press. For a logo in A6 format, that is 10.5 by 14.8 cm, B&C's TU03T (#E190) decorated this way comes to €5.45 excluding VAT per unit for 50 units, according to its product page of 3 November 2026 and for guidance only, and a run starts at 10 units.

Price of a t-shirt decorated with a logo as an A6 DTF transfer, per unit, excluding VAT, t-shirt and decoration included:

These amounts come from our product pages, checked on tknp.io on 3 November 2026, and are given for guidance only: excluding VAT, shipping extra, with the 2-week standard production time, on each model's lowest-priced colour, in regular sizes. Unless stated otherwise, the prices quoted here apply to a single t-shirt model ordered as one run, with one logo in one position, at the public rate shown on the product page. Some colours and the largest sizes cost a little more: the product page displays the extra as soon as you pick them.

One word covers three decorations: someone who asks for "flocage" may receive a cut film, a transferred print or a velvet-feel decoration, with results that have nothing in common. Knowing what lies behind the word means choosing, with your eyes open, the look of your club's or your company's merch, and the budget that goes with it.

Flex, flock or transfer: what the word flocage means on a t-shirt

On a t-shirt, the French word flocage today most often means flex: a coloured polyurethane film, cut to the shape of the logo, cleared of its offcuts, then bonded to the fabric by the heat of a press. Originally, it named another technique, true flock, with a velvet feel, which is still made today.

Flex is cut with a plotter, the excess material around the letters is then removed (this is called weeding), and the design is pressed. True flock follows the same path, with a film covered in short fibres, viscose for instance, which gives a very soft, suede-like finish.

That confusion is worth knowing before you ask for a quote: if a print shop talks about "flocage", ask which technique they actually mean, because the finish and the budget are not the same.

What tknp.io applies when you ask for flocage

At tknp.io, a "flocage" t-shirt is ordered online as a DTF transfer, an artwork printed on a film then applied with heat, just as flex is: neither flex nor velvet flock is among the 12 decoration techniques we offer, and other transfers, digital, screen or reflective, are available on quote. DTF transfer takes three steps: the artwork is printed in full colour on a film that is dusted with an adhesive powder, a heated press applies it to the garment, then the film is peeled away.

Where flex needs one film per colour, DTF transfer prints every colour at once, photos and gradients included, with no weeding and crisp edges: our flex or screen printing comparison comes back to this point and to the reasons we set flex aside. Two things to know: the feel stays slightly film-like on large solid areas, and the finish is less tactile than embroidery or screen printing. Our DTF printing guide covers the technique in detail.

On the product pages of the four t-shirts in this article, the TU01T, the Man Regular, the TU03T and the Creator 2.0, two other decorations can also be ordered online: screen printing, for a dense solid colour, and embroidery, which gives a small chest logo some relief and which we recommend from 180 g/m². A different name or number on each t-shirt, as on a team's jerseys, is not something we offer; our guide to jersey printing covers that case separately. The same word comes up for the polo shirts, sweatshirts and trousers of a field team: our guide to custom workwear answers it for those garments.

How much does a "flocage" t-shirt cost by quantity?

A "flocage" t-shirt as an A6 DTF transfer costs from €7.41 excluding VAT per unit at 10 units down to €3.65 excluding VAT at 500 for B&C's TU01T (#E150), the cheapest of the four t-shirts we compare here at every tier. The price of a run is the tier price multiplied by the quantity: 50 TU03Ts (#E190) come to €272.50 excluding VAT, 100 TU01Ts to €414.00 excluding VAT and 25 Stanley/Stella Creator 2.0s to €259.75 excluding VAT. These prices, read on our product pages on 3 November 2026 and given for guidance only, exclude VAT and shipping, with one logo placed once, the standard production time, the cheapest colour and regular sizes.

Ten decorated t-shirts of the same model make the minimum, whatever the split between sizes and colours, and the price goes down tier after tier up to 1,000. The A6 format is enough for a chest logo; a larger design, on the back for instance, gets its price in the designer as soon as it sits there at full size, since DTF transfer is priced online at any quantity. For the rest, our guide on where to put the logo and how big gives the benchmarks. We recommend two decorations at most per t-shirt, on the chest and on the back for instance, always in the same technique.

For a one-colour logo, screen printing matches the DTF transfer price at 50 units on these four product pages, then drops below it from 100: our DTF or screen printing comparison explains that tipping point.

As for timing, a run at the standard lead time takes 10 working days of customisation; for delivery in France, our FAQ then adds one or two working days of transport. Before paying, you see the estimated delivery day in the basket.

Which t-shirt should carry a DTF transfer?

DTF transfer can be ordered online on all four t-shirts in this article, and it holds on almost any fibre, from cotton to polyester. The choice is therefore about the t-shirt itself: B&C's TU01T (#E150, 145 g/m², 41 colours), JHK's Man Regular (155 g/m², 84 colours, the widest choice of the four), B&C's TU03T (#E190, 40 colours), the heaviest of the four at 185 g/m², or Stanley/Stella's Creator 2.0, whose organic cotton weighs 180 g/m², in 58 colours from XXS to 5XL, and whose product page lists GOTS certification; its Heather Haze marl colour blends in 30% recycled cotton.

Whichever t-shirt you choose, the transfer weighs the same in the price: on these four product pages, the gap between two models is the same on the blank t-shirt line and on the DTF transfer line. At 50 units, the Creator 2.0 costs €4.01 excluding VAT more than the TU03T, blank or decorated; we read both amounts on their product pages on 3 November 2026, and they remain for guidance only. For a t-shirt that will be worn all season, it is therefore the garment that deserves your budget.

The logo file and washing a "flocage" t-shirt

For a t-shirt decorated with a DTF transfer, the logo is uploaded straight into the designer: a high-resolution PNG is usually fine, and a vector file looks even better. Our guide to logo files for printing shows how to get either one ready.

In the wash, our decoration comparison rates the durability of DTF transfer as "very good", one notch below screen printing and embroidery, rated "excellent". The habits that make it last are set out, technique by technique, in our article on caring for a heat-transfer t-shirt.

See your logo as a DTF transfer in the designer before you order

DTF transfer should give you the "flocage" look you had in mind: a clean logo, in all its colours. The designer lets you check this on screen before you order, starting from the product page of the TU01T, the Man Regular, the TU03T or the Creator 2.0. First pick the colour that matches your club or your company, then upload the logo in its final version, the one that will be printed on the film. A contrast too weak between the logo and the fabric, or a detail too fine to stay legible at the scale of the t-shirt, shows up at that point and can be fixed at no cost, since the account that opens the designer is free.

For a request that goes beyond the product page, a technique on quote for instance, the Request a quote page gets you a priced quote within one business day.