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Why halos happen (and how to kill them for good)

A halo is that faint outline — usually white or gray — around your design after pressing. It's almost always in the file, not the press.

Where halos come from

• Leftover background pixels. Quick background removers leave a 1–2 px fringe of the old background. On a dark shirt, a white fringe glows.
• Semi-transparent edges. Anti-aliasing, feathering, drop shadows and glows create pixels that are part-way transparent. DTF lays white ink under them anyway, so they print as a ghostly ring.
• Low-opacity layers. A "50% opacity" element doesn't print at 50%. It prints as a speckled mess.

How to fix them

1. Zoom to 400% on a dark background. Put a black layer under your art and look at the edges. Halos jump out.
2. Choke the edge. In Photoshop: select the layer's pixels, Select → Modify → Contract by 1–2 px, invert, delete.
3. Make the alpha hard. Get rid of in-between transparency so every pixel is either fully solid or fully clear.
4. Replace glows and shadows with halftones. Dots of solid ink fade beautifully on fabric. Try our free halftone tool.