Little known, but extremely important facts about printing
Seams, pockets, and zippers OH MY!
For the best quality prints it is best to print over a flat surface. Simple garments such as shirts usually have no problems with this. Other garments such as sweatshirts, hoodies and zip ups pose some potential problems. Because the seams, pockets, and zippers don’t lay flat, printing becomes inconsistent when a graphic prints over these areas. Zippers can also draw attention to a design that is a little off-center but is considered normal.
We'll do our best to adjust your graphics and make sure they're not printed on the seams, pockets and zippers.
Not all labels are created equally…
You may notice that not all garments are available for label removal/inside label printing. That's because some labels are made as tear-away labels for easy removal while others are sewn into the seam. Labels that are sewn into the seams are difficult to remove without leaving behind some of the label pieces in the seams or creating a hole in the shirt. The garments we offer with tear-away labels have been tested by us and have proved to be the best option for rebranding.
Innie or Outie?
We provide both inside and outside label printing. They're a great branding tool. The difference between the two is that Inside Label Printing is only available on garments that have been approved for tear-away labels.Â
Only graphics for inside label prints must include the following:
- Size
- Origin of Manufacturing
- Material information
- Care instructions (recommended)
Here are a few things you need to keep in mind if you're printing on lighter color shirts.
Using darker colors in your label design will result in your label being seen on the other side of the shirt.
Be aware of the color combinations – make sure your brand is clearly visible on the product.
Ribs with that order?
Some garments such as Racerbacks, Crop Ts, and Onesies are ribbed. Ribbed garments are more form-fitting and provide a little more stretch, which may be flattering to the person wearing them, but can be problematic when printing on them.
The problem with ribbed garments is that the ribs are raised. When a ribbed garment is stretched out the ribs usually even out with the rest of the garment.
When they are printed, ribbed garments are not stretched causing ink to only print on the tops of the ribs, so as the ribbed garment is worn the print will stretch and reveal these gaps.
As the saying goes, “No Garment is Perfect.”
Garments are as unique as you and me. Garments are not like other products that are made by machines. Shirts, sweaters, hoodies, etc, are all sewn together by human hands and it’s because of this Human element that variations in the garments may occur.
For example, two shirts of the same size, may actually be cut and sewn differently causing a slight variations in actual size. This also goes for Hoodie pockets and seams. We try to inspect each shirt for obvious variations and/or defects due to the garment’s manufacturing, but sometimes these issues slip through our hands. If you receive any garments that you are not 100% satisfied with due to rips, holes, or inconsistent seams, please let us know and we will work with you to correct the problem.
New-school printing
We're taking garment printing into the 21st century with DTG (direct-to-garment) technology. It's perfect for ecommerce—no setup fees and no minimums.
DTG is the technique we use for most of our garment prints. We use eco-friendly water-based inks that provide unlimited color combinations and make detailed prints pop.
Colors can look different in real life
There aren't many things our incredible DTG process cannot achieve! However, when choosing the colors for your artwork, it’s important to note that they may look different on a real product than what you see on your computer monitor. Even if you have calibrated your monitor to a specific color profile, there are various factors that influence the final appearance of colors on a printed product. Because of this, we can’t guarantee 100% color accuracy.
Our printers will convert your submitted print file from RGB to CMYK color space. This color conversion process changes the color gamut or range of colors that can be expressed. You must be very cautious when using bright neon and pastel RGB values in your print files. Some examples include hot pinks, lime greens, construction orange, highlighter yellow, Easter egg shades, etc. You should also consider other factors like fabric material, garment color, and whether your print will require a white under base layer when choosing colors.
If color accuracy is important to you, we suggest ordering product samples to see how your designs look when printed on a physical product. We also recommend exporting your print files in the sRGB color profile, sRGB IEC61966-2.1 specifically.