Can I create my own artwork or design for custom t-shirt printing?
Absolutely! However, if you are attempting to do design work on a computer, there are several rules that apply. These are different depending on which process will be used to print the shirts. Screen printing requires a more professional type of computer art file. Please feel free to call our frinedly art staff to answer all your questions about creating digital images for custom tee shirt reproductions.
Can I bring in my own shirts & garments for customizing or do you supply them?
These are both options as long as you meet our twelve piece minimum order for screening and sewing. We do not offer digital printing on supplied goods at this time. While we are glad to print & embroider your supplied goods, you might want to check our pricing before buying from a retail store, we can save you a ton of money.
Can we see the shirts or try them on before we buy them?
Yes, we want to make sure you get the right goods. We have several catalogs with real color swatches and samples in our garment showroom to see. It’s no problem to pre order items for you to make sure they fit and feel right before you order and print a bunch.
Do you offer a same day or print while we wait service?
Unfortunately no. We are not a retail store experience, we are a factory or production faculty. Typically we have too many custom tshirts orders in schedule to get jobs done same day or while you wait. However, during slow seasons we have been known to produce digital direct tee shirts in one day, we do not offer a guarantee.
I work Monday-Friday, 8-5 and can't get there during regular hours. Can you help?
Absolutely, as a small company we understand. We’re glad to stay late or even come in on a weekend. This is by appointment only of course.
Are you a real screen print shop and store, or just a pretty website for some home office or marketing company?
We are a silk screen printing factory and store. Customizing apparel from the same location for over thirty years. We have a showroom of imprinted and embroidered garments and clothing accessories. All work is performed in house at our screen print shop. We do not farm out work and mark it up.
Are you really located in Colorado or just a site that says so with a 1-800 number and no address.
We are located in the greater Denver metro area of Colorado. Our 303 local number is posted on every page and you can get directions to our Lakewood factory and store in the contacts page here.
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What are the hours of your store?
This information is also available in our contact us page. Our shop hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM If you cannot make it to our shop during these hours, we are more than glad to stay late or come in on a weekend by appointment only.
Do you print items other than clothing & garments?
We can print on any and all textile materials. From cotton to nylon, lycra and polyester. We print & embroider both clothing and apparel accessories like hats, bags, coats, jackets, bandanas… the list goes on. if it has to do with fashion or apparel… even attache or brief cases and lunch bags.. we can get the goods and customize them for you.
How fast can I get my custom shirts?
This depends on the time of year. Typically we guarantee a two week turnaround on embroidery & screen printing and three to four days on digital direct. We offer a rush service for an additional charge.
Can you do rush orders?
Yes we offer a rush order service for a fee, You’ll need to call us for charges associated with this.
Do you print and embroider individual names and numbers on stuff?
Yes, call us or fill out a quote form for pricing on individual names and numbers for everything from hats and jerseys to bandanas..
Why choose digital printing over traditional silk screening?
Digital direct apparel printing really fills a need for printing art or photos with tones of colors on just a few t-shirts. Traditional screen printing has a charge for each color, this charge gets absorbed in the per goods cost of large runs so the more shirts you order the less per shirt. Whereas it would be cost prohibitive to print just 12 shirts with 15 colors. Digital is the same for one color or one million colors, hues and tints.
Why are screen printers charging me for art when I supplied the graphic?
Silk screen printing requires an actual screen mesh stencil for each color used in printing your shirts. A light sensitive film is applied to the screen and a film positive of each color of the design is used to develop the silk screen stencil. Set ups are to cover the cost of the film positives and the light sensitive stencil as well as the process of creating the screen.
How do I get my design to you?
Email, fax or you can bring it in. If it’s a large computer file, our artist will help you file transfer it to our world wide web server. Additionally, we have created a new website with a design lab and upload area for dtg digital direct.
Can you print specialty inks like neon or glitter?
Yes, we print using custom inks like metallic, crystalline, clear, puff, glow-in-the-dark, neon and many, many more.
Will you print " anything" on a shirt for me?
While we do reserve the right to choose not to print anything that is hateful or hurtful, in thirty years we have yet to see anything that was too shocking to print. You the user take responsibility for any copyright infringement of your work .
Can I bring in a hand-drawn image or photo to be printed on shirts?
Yes, we can scan in any image and make it screen print or digital ready for printing on any or all apparel and garments.
Why is the sky blue and the grass green?
There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomized words which don’t look even slightly believable. If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.
How many colors can I use in my design?
Our presses currently only print eight colors. However, we can generate ” tertiary” colors on press. This means we can mix two or more of the actual printed colors to generate a new color. Like red and yellow will make orange or yellow and blue make green etc. So the possibilities are endless.
Why is the sky blue and the grass green?
There are many variations of passages of Lorem Ipsum available, but the majority have suffered alteration in some form, by injected humour, or randomized words which don’t look even slightly believable. If you are going to use a passage of Lorem Ipsum, you need to be sure there isn’t anything embarrassing hidden in the middle of text. All the Lorem Ipsum generators on the Internet tend to repeat predefined chunks as necessary, making this the first true generator on the Internet.
Can I mix shirts sizes, styles & colors in my order?
Yes. As long as you meet our 12 piece minimum order. ( 12 with the same image ).
Do you offer quantity discounts?
Yes. Our price breaks are 36,72,200,500,1000,1500+The more you order the cheaper we can get them.
How much does it cost?
Pricing is determined by several factors. For embroidery, we use a stitch count or run time. This count is estimated free upfront. Silk screening is determined by the number of colors in the design, the number of print locations and there is a small charge for printing on darker garments. DTG starts at $25.00 ( this includes the shirt and printing) Our design lab shows the pricing as you go.
Do you have samples?
Yes, we have a showroom of goods and actual decorated garments using the various techniques. Please feel free to come in and feel the material or see our finished work. We are happy to order samples of your exact garment for you to try on and see first.
What is the best computer file format to supply art with?
The best format for the silk screen process is “Vector” (Post Script) based like Adobe illustrator or Corel draw. created using spot colors, rather then CMYK or RGB.
We can accept “Raster” ( Bit-Map) based files like those in Adobe Photoshop. However, art that is not photographic in nature like solid graphics or text should not be mixed with halftones. This format as well requires SPOT color! See graphics FAQ’s for details about file structure & exact extensions.
Can you print clothing other than cotton?
Yes, we can print on any textile, be it nylon, polyester, Lycra, sweat, deodorant and many others.
What is embroidery?
Embroidery is the process of sewing a digitized design onto garments. It involves applying a pattern to a fabric using a needle (usually sharp-end), and thread of the stitcher’s choice. The fabric might be linen cloth, needlepoint canvas, or pretty much any other type of fabric that will take a needle pushed through it. Wikipedia, the website, gives a reasonably good description of the various types of embroidery. Wikipedia.
Once we have your logo or design digitized in an embroidery software format, it can be loaded into our computerized embroidery machines for sewing.
Each product that comes off one of our machines is individually checked for compliance with our quality standards. Our goal is to ensure that your products are representative of our highest quality service every time.
Embroidery creates an impression of quality & style. Excellent for polo’s, jackets, caps, knitwear etc. Embroidery will normally outlast any garment onto which it is applied. Recent advances in embroidery software mean that design /set up costs can be low and the new generation of embroidery machines run quickly with any number of colors being applied in a single operation. However large designs can be time consuming to produce & so costs can increase significantly relative to the size.
Embroidery creates an impression of quality & style. Excellent for polo’s, jackets, caps, knitwear etc. Embroidery will normally outlast any garment onto which it is applied. Recent advances in embroidery software mean that design /set up costs can be low and the new generation of embroidery machines run quickly with any number of colors being applied in a single operation. However large designs can be time consuming to produce & so costs can increase significantly relative to the size.
PROS – long lasting, looks expensive, full color at no extra cost.
CONS – more expensive than printing, especially for large designs & not always suitable for very light materials.
How do I know how many stitches are in my design?
You can either have it professionally estimated by someone you have used before or you can send your image along with information about your order (amount of pieces you plan on doing, time you need it by, etc). You will receive a response within 48 hours of your submission either with the stitch count, or advising you that more time is needed in order to have our digitizer ‘trace’ it for accuracy in stitch count. Fill out our embroidery quote page with file uploader.
What is a Digitizing or Punching a tape?
Digitizing – Historically (and colloquially) referred to as punching, the digital means of converting artwork into the vector commands-readable by an embroidery machine’s computer-that determine needle penetrations, color changes, stitch characteristics, start and stop points, etc.
Tape – Archaic (rendered largely obsolete by digital technology) means of storing embroidery-design information on a paper (or other media) tape with holes actually punched through its surface which are then ‘read’ by an automatic embroidery machine; sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for ‘diskette.’
Can I provide my own embroidery punch tape?
Absolutely, but if you do, it must be requested on your PO and we cannot be held responsible for how it sews. A swatch will be sewn out, and you will be proofed with it. Should any corrections/adjustments be needed, you need to let us know at the time of proofing. If you need to touch and feel the swatch, let us know, as well and it will be mailed to you. There may be a charge for editing your file.
How small can my typography, text or lettering be sewn?
The minimum size lettering is often a concern when converting your printed artwork or color sketch into an embroidered emblem. We recommend that your lettering height be a minimum of .25” (one quarter inch) depending on the product being sewn, to assure nice clean legible lettering. If our artists find it necessary to reduce the size of your lettering they will make every effort to keep it crisp, clear and legible. We have been told by many of our customers that we offer the smallest, cleanest and clearest embroidered lettering in the industry, no matter what the size. If you’re not sure what size works best, just leave the lettering size decision up to our highly experienced artists.
Can you embroider large items like luggage and golf bags?
Yes. we embroider most large apparel accessories.
What is dtg Direct-2-Garment?
Digital t shirt printing called “direct to garment” or “print on demand” uses a giant inkjet printer with custom inks to print directly from a computer onto the garment.
Can DTG print any color garment?
Yes. Our DTG viper print system uses white ink allowing us to print any color including black and dark shirts.
Currently they have not developed a white ink that will adhere to polyester. We can only digitally print white and light colored poly shirts. no white ink will print on the light garments.
How many colors does Direct-to-Garment print?
Because this system uses four color process also called CMYK it will literally print millions of colors.
What are these “set-up” charges I keep hearing about?
Silk screen printing requires an actual screen mesh stencil for each color used in printing your shirts. A light sensative film is applied to the screen and a film positive of each color of the design is used to develop the silk screen stencil. Set ups are to cover the cost of the film positives and the light sensitive stencil as well as the process of creating the screen.
What format should I supply my artwork in?
This is a multi part answer depending on which process we will use to print your shirts.
A.) you can bring in a sketch, drawing or photograph of your design to be scanned in.
B.) you can supply a digital file of your design ( See next tab for more info)
What digital format should I supply my artwork in?
We can read any graphics file format like jpeg, png, gif, tiff etc.
We can sometimes open office products to use as reference to recreate art like word, excel, power pint etc.
For dtg digital tee shirts, art needs to be either jpeg ( joint Photographer Expert Group)
or png ( portable network graphic)
Art digitally printed on anything other then white must be png with a transparent background or the white page background will print like a square page.
These files must be to size and should be 300 ppi ( pixels per inch) for best quality.
**DO NOT DESIGN USING RGB COLOR SPACE!! these bright neon colors cannot be reproduced with the digital cmyk (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow Black) print process.
For silk screen printing please see next tab.
What is production ready artwork for screen printing?
In order to supply art that will not require an art charge it must be a production ready file.
Production ready art is allways SPOT COLOR as opposed to rgb, cmyk, index, lab etc.
Black and white ( Grayscale) is considered SPOT.
Art that is not photographic like typography and simple clean graphics should be Vector based not Not pixel based.
We can use both pixel based and vector based Spot Color files….
