What does made-on-demand mean?
It’s a manufacturing method where items are made only when an order is placed. Printful is a print-on-demand company, which means we print, embroider, and fulfill orders as they come in.
How Printful works
Come up with any design you’d like with our built-in Design Maker, even with no design experience
Pick your favorite products to add to your store—we don’t charge you until you get orders
As soon as your customer makes an order, we’ll fulfill and ship it anywhere in the world
Wear what you want, not what’s available!
And share your designs with others by creating your own store
The challenges of the fashion industry
Meaningful solutions need to come from both sides of the fashion industry—consumption and production
Overproduction
Fashion companies are often incentivized to produce more than can be sold. In most cases, leftover stock is either disposed of or burned without ever being worn.
Overconsumption
According to McKinsey & Company, 1 in 5 garments is thrown out without ever being worn. We are buying more than we used to and wearing what we have for a much shorter time. Clothing has become very cheap, so we often buy things we don’t even like.
How made-on-demand can help
The truth is, there will never be one perfect solution to fashion waste. But the fear of not getting it right shouldn’t be stopping us. The European Environment Agency recommends the on-demand production model as one of the key circular business models to combat textile waste. Made-on-demand companies don’t have excess stock to discard, so product waste is limited to production scraps and damages.
Printful’s goal is to make on-demand manufacturing the norm for a planet with finite resources and people with infinite ideas.
To meaningfully address the challenges of fashion waste and climate change, this needs to go hand-in-hand with recycling/reusing clothing and thoughtful regulation.
Why choose Printful?
Produce less waste
Since we only keep blank products in our inventory, there is no leftover stock to dispose of. The only fabric waste comes from material scraps or production errors.
Create unique pieces
You have the freedom to completely customize your clothes to your liking. Simple or intricate, patterned or minimalist—our built-in Design Maker is versatile.
Work with a like-minded partner
You can be sure you’re partnering with a company that cares about the planet and considers sustainability an essential part of its business model.
Pursue continued progress
We’re always working on sustainability initiatives like introducing more eco-friendly packaging and partnering with more eco-focused brands.