So you’ve been chosen to purchase your company’s printed T-shirts or embroidered goods. Congratulations! Now what do you do? Well if you’ve never had any apparel customized before, here’s a quick guide to help you out.
1. Should you use an online company that’s out of state or should you buy local?
* Make sure to consider your deadlines first. If you need your order by a certain time you may need to add up to 5 days shipping otherwise you may have to pay for overnight shipping.
* Typical turn-a-round time for most screen printing companies is 7 to 10 working days depending on size and complexity of order. Consider when you need your order in hands by including ship time or you may have to pay a rush fee.
* If you have problems with your order and they need to replace the order for whatever reason, the above issues remain as issues.
* Orders shipped out of state used to be shipped tax free. The laws are slowly changing so orders shipped out of state are being taxed. Check into this before ordering to make sure.
* Are you the type that needs to look, touch and feel? Purchasing your custom shirts locally can help you with the ordering process by going to a showroom and checking out all of your printed garment needs.
Showrooms like Planet Apparel’s are fully equipped with ink charts, shirt samples, catalogs, examples of types of printing and more to ensure you get what you are looking for in an order the first time.
2. What is the custom T-shirt printers print defect rate?
* Most screen printing companies have a 2% to 5% plus or minus defect rate. This means if you order 100 shirts, they may misprint up to 2 to 5 shirts and not supply them to you when the T-shirt order is completed. Also sometimes, the manufacturer supplies defective shirts. Be up front if you need your order to be exact. You don’t want to come up short handed.
3. Screen Monitors and Ink colors don’t necessarily match correctly.
* Your computer monitor is probably not calibrated to exact colors unless you are a graphic artist. What you see on your screen may not be what the screen printer sees. Check with ink matching guide like the Pantone Matching System to make sure the colors are accurate. There are dozens of shades of blue including light blue, sky blue, baby blue, Carolina blue, Columbia blue, bright blue, peacock blue, cyan, reflex blue, royal blue, navy blue, deep navy blue and everything in between can totally be left up to interpretation. Work with a company like Planet Apparel that has accurate color matching systems that will get your order right every time.
4. Will the printer stand behind their work?
* What if a problem does arise? For whatever reason, make sure you choose an established and honorable silkscreen company that will take care of their orders and mistakes. There are so many horror stories where the local T-shirt guy made a mistake and didn’t honor fixing the order. There are other stories of the local garage printer that ran off with the deposit to never be seen again. Saving a few bucks and ordering on the cheap may have you spending triple the amount on your order because of this type of thing. Be careful!
5. Does the screen printer have a garment license?
* It is illegal to operate an apparel printing company in California without a garment license. This license ensures the screen printer is in compliance with state laws including workers comp, liability insurance and other regulating factors. If you buy from a company that doesn’t have this license you are supporting an illegal print shop. Check before ordering.
So enough of the scare tactics, ordering custom printed shirts or embroidery should be fun and easy when you choose the right company. Let Planet Apparel take care of all your print and embroidery needs and you’ll find you won’t need to concern yourself with any of these issues.
Start today by checking out are online catalogs, fill out a quote request or simply call us for a free quote at 888-682-9971. We look forward to hearing from you.
