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Artwork to pickup
How a job runs.
Most printing horror stories come from the same place: nobody told the customer what was happening until the box showed up wrong. Here is every step, in order, including the ones where you have to do something.
You send artwork and a quantity
Design, quantity, which shirt, how many colors. If you already know the shirt colors and print size, say so; if you do not, we will work it out together.
File quality decides both your price and your turnaround. Vector (.ai, .eps, .pdf, .svg with text outlined) is best. A 300 DPI PNG at the size it will actually print, on a transparent background, is fine. We’ll take a screenshot, an Instagram save or a photo of a design too — low-quality files just mean a quoted redraw before it goes to screen. Full artwork specs, including how to export from Canva properly.
You get a quote in writing
The price comes off the published rate card, so there is nothing to negotiate and nothing hidden. If your files need prep before they can go to screen, that gets quoted separately at $65/hr with a 30-minute minimum — quoted before we start, never discovered on the final invoice.
Deposit, and the blanks get ordered
Custom runs take 50% up front. That money is not a formality — it buys the blank shirts and the screen materials, which is why your job can be ordered the same day rather than the day you eventually pay. Balance is due at pickup. Preorder storefronts skip this entirely.
You approve a proof
You get a private link showing exactly how the job will print: colors, placement, print dimensions, shirt color. Nothing touches a screen until you click approve. This is the step where changes are free, and the step where a typo is a five-second fix instead of a hundred ruined shirts.
Screens get burned, ink gets mixed
Your art is separated into one screen per color, output to film and burned into emulsion. Ink gets mixed to your colors. If you gave us a Pantone or a hex code, each mix is measured against your target rather than judged by eye under shop lights — and the recipe is logged against your job, so a reprint next year still matches this one.
The run goes on press
Registration gets set, the first shirt gets pulled and checked, then the run goes. Every shirt goes through the conveyor dryer at cure temperature — measured, not guessed. Under-cured plastisol looks perfect on day one and washes off on the second cycle, which is the single most common way a cheap print fails.
Counted, folded, boxed
The run is counted by hand against your order, including the size breakdown. Your order includes two spare blanks per size, which is what stops a single misprint turning into a short count.
You pick it up
We email you the moment it is boxed. Every order is will-call at 25A Carrington St., Lincoln, RI 02865. Balance is settled at pickup.
Timing
Five to seven business days — from approval, not from the phone call.
The clock starts when you approve the proof and the order is confirmed, because that is when blanks get ordered and screens get burned. If you need shirts for a date, tell us the date and we will work backwards from it and tell you the last day artwork can land.
Good to know
Things worth asking about.
Brand color matching
Send a Pantone number or a hex code. Each mix is measured against your target using CIEDE2000, the industry standard for color difference, instead of being eyeballed. If you answer to a brand guide, or you are reprinting and this run has to match the last one, that is how we hit it.
Print locations
Front, back, sleeve, pocket-size left chest. Each location in each color needs its own screen, so a one-color front and a one-color back is a two-screen job, not a one-screen job.
Shirt color changes ink
Printing light ink on a dark shirt needs an underbase — a white layer under your color so it does not go muddy. That is an extra screen. We will tell you before it becomes a surprise on the quote.
Over four colors
Not off the table, just off the published rate card. Photographic or gradient artwork needs process separation, which we quote by hand. Send it over.
Supplying your own blanks
Possible, and worth a conversation first. We cannot warranty a garment we did not buy, and odd fabrics behave differently under a cure. Call before you order a pallet of something.
Changes after approval
Once a screen is burned it is burned. Changes after approval mean a new screen and a new setup charge, which is exactly why the proof step exists. Take your time on it.