The invention relates to a hot peel carrier for decorative graphics and lettering applied to a substrate wherein the carrier has a film having opposite surfaces and an adhesive having a peel strength which decreases with increasing temperature, the adhesive being on a surface of the plastic film. The invention also provides a laminate for use in applying graphics to a substrate which incorporates the carrier, methods of using and methods of using the carrier and laminate disclosed herein. The various embodiments disclosed herein incorporating the aforementioned hot peel carrier have significant advantages stemming from the fact that immediate after a graphic is heat applied to a substrate, the adhesive of the carrier has substantially no adhesion to either the substrate or to the heated adhered graphic.