Flex material is softer and more flexible than vinyl. Flex material can be printed on and recolored using specialized industrial printers. These printers basically operate like any other inkjet mechanism, but the printers are designed specifically to accept flex material. At first glance, flex and vinyl printing can seem very similar; however they generally have different usage and the materials appear slightly different under close inspection. Once flex material has been printed on it can be applied to T-shirts, jackets, sweaters and flex boards. Flex material is usually attached to these end products by applying heat with special tools or press that make sure the material is bonded to the surface.