A direct thermal and thermal transfer label combination is provided. The label includes a substrate, and the substrate includes a thermal print coating applied to a front side of the substrate. The label also includes a liner attached to a backside of the substrate along a first side of the liner. Further, an aqueous resin-based thermal transfer coating is applied to a second side of the liner. The front side of the label is capable of being imaged through direct thermal printing while the second side of the liner represents an opposite side of the label that is capable of being imaged through thermal transfer printing.

A direct thermal and thermal transfer label combination is provided. The label includes a substrate, and the substrate includes a thermal print coating applied to a front side of the substrate. The label also includes a liner attached to a backside of the substrate along a first side of the liner. Further, an aqueous resin-based thermal transfer coating is applied to a second side of the liner. The front side of the label is capable of being imaged through direct thermal printing while the second side of the liner represents an opposite side of the label that is capable of being imaged through thermal transfer printing.

A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet has a primer layer and a receiving layer. The primer layer contains binder resin and metal pigment. When a value obtained by dividing the mass of the metal pigment by the mass of the binder resin is A and the thickness of the primer layer is B, A is 0.5 to 3.5, and A/B is 0.15 to 6. When light is made incident on the surface on the receiving layer side at an incident angle of 45°, ΔL* between L* at a light-receiving angle obtained by tilting specular reflection light, generated when light is made incident on the surface on the receiving layer side at an incident angle of 45°, toward the incident light side by 15° and L* at a light-receiving angle obtained by tilting the specular reflection light toward the incident light side by 110° is 110 or more.

A printable hook and loop engaging structure is configured to create a temporary bind as one half of a hook and loop connection with another half of the hook and loop connection. The printable structure includes a substrate and a print-receptive topcoat coupled to the substrate. The substrate includes a fastening surface that is one of a hook fastening surface and a loop fastening surface of the hook and loop connection. The print-receptive topcoat is opposite from the fastening surface of the substrate.

There is provided a thermal transfer sheet having satisfactory peelability when a transfer layer is peeled off without being affected by a peeling environment when the transfer layer is peeled off. A thermal transfer sheet 100 includes a substrate 1 and a transfer layer 10 provided on one surface of the substrate 1, in which the peeling force in a stable period is in the range of 4.6 g/cm or more and 23 g/cm or less when the transfer layer 10 is peeled off at a peeling temperature in the range of 30° C. or more and 70° C. or less and at a peeling angle of 90° while the surface of the transfer layer 10 on the side opposite to the substrate 1 is made to serve as a peeling interface.

There is provided a thermal transfer sheet capable of being identified by a thermal transfer printing apparatus, as well as being capable of preventing color property changes in high-resolution printing and reducing production cost. The thermal transfer sheet 5 of an embodiment includes a dye layer 52 and a protective layer 54 on one surface of a substrate 50. The protective layer 54 contains an invisible light absorbing material and is provided with an identification mark 55 having at least one of a recessed portion and a protruding portion.

Provided are a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet capable of providing a print having pearly designability and a method for producing a print.

A thermal transfer image-receiving sheet 100 including a layer constituted only by a receiving layer 2 or two or more layers including a receiving layer provided on one surface of a support 1, the receiving layer 2 being located on the outermost surface, wherein any one of layers constituting the thermal transfer image-receiving sheet contains an inorganic pigment, and when light is allowed to enter the surface on the side of the receiving layer at an incident angle of 45°, λL* between receiving angles of 110° and 15° with respect to the specular reflection angle of the incident light is 25 or more and 50 or less.

A method for manufacturing a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet support that can be used to obtain a thermal transfer image-receiving sheet that maintains its gloss and that has excellent handleability and high condition uniformity while preventing the formation of air bubbles in an adhesive layer. A resin is supplied to one side of a substrate, which is passed between a cooling roller A and a rubber roller A. A porous film is stacked on another side of the substrate through a resin, and the substrate is passed between a cooling roller B and a rubber roller B. The cooling rollers A and B have surfaces with a ten-point average roughness (Rz) of 5 to 30 m and 0 to 20 m, respectively. The rubber rollers A and B have a rubber hardness (durometer (Type A)) of 60 to 95 and 50 to 80, respectively.

An example of an imaging medium includes an image-receiving substrate, a donor ribbon attached to the image-receiving substrate, and a registration mark. The donor ribbon includes a donor ribbon substrate, a release layer disposed on the donor ribbon substrate, and a color-forming layer disposed on the release layer. The color-forming layer includes a repeated pattern. A repeat of the pattern includes at least three adjacent color-forming stripes including a cyan-forming stripe, a magenta-forming stripe, and a yellow-forming stripe, or a grid of four color-forming sections including i) a color-forming section selected from the group consisting of black-forming, cyan-forming, light cyan-forming, yellow-forming, magenta-forming, and light magenta-forming, ii) a cyan-forming section, iii) a magenta-forming section, and iv) a yellow-forming section. The color-forming layer is in contact with the image-receiving substrate.

A thermal transfer apparatus includes a fixture, a foil securing film, a film retainer, a foil transfer tool, and a carriage conveyor. The fixture retains a transfer object. The foil securing film is disposed above the fixture. The foil securing film allows light to pass therethrough. The foil securing film presses, from above, a thermal transfer foil on the transfer object so as to secure the thermal transfer foil onto the transfer object. The film retainer retains the foil securing film. The film retainer moves the foil securing film in an up-down direction relative to the fixture. The foil transfer tool presses the foil securing film and the thermal transfer foil on the transfer object. The foil transfer tool emits light to the foil securing film. The carriage conveyor moves the foil transfer tool relative to the fixture.