Screen Printing FAQ

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How do I place an order?
Placing an order is simple if you know what you want and have the information to get started. Here’s what we need:

1. PRINT READY ARTWORK.
• If you don’t have print-ready professional artwork, we’ve got the skills to help you out. We charge $40 per hour and can help you bring your ideas to life. 
• If you think you have print-ready professional artwork send it our way!

2. APPAREL STYLE(S), COLOR(S) AND SIZES.
• We offer thousands of styles, hundreds of colors and a variety of sizes, let us know what you’re looking for and we’ll get you a custom quote, but remember we can’t give you a complete quote without seeing your artwork and knowing the number of ink colors, print locations, and estimated quantity. Contact Us with the garment styles and colors you’re looking for and we’ll get your some options to fit your needs.

3. ORDER DEADLINE.
• If you have a specific event or date that you need your printed garments, we need to know that date when you place your order.

4. SHIPPING + PAYMENT.
• If we’re shipping your order – we need to know where to send it!
• Once we have your order details confirmed and you’ve approved your art proof, we can get your order invoiced. We accept cash, business checks, and credit cards.

When will my order be ready?
Our standard turnaround time is 12-15 business days based on our current workflow. That period of time begins the day we receive approval on D's Duds-supplied artwork proofs and final garment quantities. Shipping is not included in our standard turnaround time; all standard shipments go out UPS Ground, please plan accordingly or make other arrangements.

How do Rush Charges work?
We will do everything we can to accommodate your deadline without a rush charge. However, in some cases we may require a rush fee if overtime is needed to meet your deadline.

What are the costs associated with my order?
We try hard to eliminate hidden costs, setup fees, screen charges, etc – however every order is unique and requires different needs and thus potentially different costs. We charge for the following services and products, but few orders get charged all of these:

Professional Graphic Design and Illustration – Artwork is billed at $40/hr

Garment Cost + Printing – The cost of your garment and printing are combined, together this becomes the majority of the cost of your printed order. On many orders, this is the only charge on your invoice. This price varies with every garment style, order quantity, print locations, and number of ink colors per location. Please contact us for a custom quote and feel free to send over your print-ready artwork if you have it. If you still have artwork to finish or have us design, that’s not a problem either.

Color Change Fees – When our customers request us to change the ink colors during the print run for different ink colors on different garments during a single order, we charge $10/color for color change fees. We waive color change fees on larger orders.

Can we get samples?
Blank garment samples are encouraged if you are looking for a specific color, style or fit. Provided you place an order with us using the sample(s), we bill the samples with your regular order. However, if you decide not to order the samples or not to order at all, then you will be required to pay a sample cost for the blank piece and any necessary shipping.

Printed sample costs are the equivalent of ordering one t-shirt and will always be subject to setup charges. Screen printed samples are subject to the same processing times as regular orders so please plan accordingly.

Can you ship my order?
Of course we can ship your order, UPS loves taking our customer packages when they deliver our goods. We ship via UPS or USPS depending on the size of your order and your deadline. Shipping times are not factored into our standard turnaround times. If you need an order to arrive on a certain date, please provide us with that date when you place your garment order. Shipping charges based on order details. We are not responsible for lost or stolen garment orders and we always insure shipments for the replacement cost.

What are my garment style options?
Fortunately for our customers we offer thousands of garment options, styles and colors from a variety of manufacturers and suppliers. If you’re an indecisive person, this can be a problem, but we’ll do our best to guide you through the options or set you free to browse websites for an endless evening of indecision. Unfortunately there is not a single website or catalog we can provide to view all available garment options and their prices. Our staff does have a wealth of knowledge and resources so we encourage you to contact us to help you find your ideal garment style. While most printers work with just a handful of manufacturers or suppliers, we specialize in custom printing and are focused on working with customers to deliver the right blend of garment style and function. We offer Bella/Canvas, American Apparel, Royal Apparel, Alternative Apparel and a variety of other specialty garment options in addition to the more standard Gildan, Anvil, and similar product lines. We print on a large variety of items including t-shirts, sweatshirts, long sleeve shirts, polos, youth shirts, infant onesies, shorts, sweatpants, jerseys, handbags, totes, patches, jackets, bandannas, scarves, napkins, wine sleeves, burlap sacks, head bands, hats, and even fabric books. We also work with specialty suppliers for restaurant industry options, workwear, sports apparel, and hats

How do you need my artwork?
All artwork is preferred in vector format, saved to CS5 at full size as Adobe Illustrator or Illustrator pdf files with all fonts outlined. Raster graphics must be created at full size, at 300 dpi or higher and should have each color on its own layer. We accept the following hi-resolution file formats: ai, pdf, eps, svg, psd, tiff, and some hi-resolution jpgs. Vector files and color-separated, print-ready artwork is strongly encouraged and will eliminate or minimize all art charges. All fonts must be converted to outlines or the font file(s) must be included with artwork. If you have questions regarding the print readiness of your artwork, please contact your graphic designer or our art department. Please do not send any Microsoft documents for printing. There are no Microsoft programs that allow users to create hi-resolution graphics for professional screen printing. If you do submit your artwork as low-resolution graphics, it will be subject to design charges necessary to re-create your artwork as a print-ready graphic.

What are your graphic design capabilities?
We are experienced graphic designers and illustrators whom work with a variety of print mediums on a regular basis, with a focus on custom graphic apparel design for our customers. Beyond t-shirt design, we offer a variety of graphic design, illustration and marketing services to small businesses and non-profit organizations. Please contact us if you’re interested in our other design and marketing capabilities. Our creative design rates are $40hr based on the extent of your project. If you’re having trouble determining exactly what you want, please contact us to discuss your design needs and we’ll help walk you through the process.

Do you offer embroidery?
Yes we do offer embroidery. Embroidery is quite different than screen printing and comes with its own opportunities and limitations, please contact us for a custom quote for your embroidery project.

What is your payment policy?
Payment is required in full at the time your order is finished unless other arrangements are made in advance. We accept Cash, business and local checks, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover. 

What is your misprint policy?
We inspect all garments before, during and after printing to ensure the highest quality; but we are human. We do our best to provide the highest quality garment possible. All of our shirts are hand-printed and sometimes there are some print or color variances. Through our specialty printing processes there is a possibility that not every shirt will be exactly the same. Subtle difference between each printed shirt is part of the brilliance of screen-printing. From time to time human error surpasses our limits of professional printing and misprints occur. We do not charge for misprinted shirts that are brought to our attention immediately. If you have a complicated order and are in need of an exact number of shirts, we recommend that you order a few extra. Any misprint issues must be brought to our attention within 2 weeks of garment delivery and garments must be unworn.

Will you print this artwork?
Our world views are quite diverse, and we are very open-minded, but we reserve the right to refuse an order if we find it to be of a questionable nature. 

Will you sponsor us and give us a discount on our order?
Probably not, but maybe. We’ve been asked by hundreds of organizations, individuals, sports teams, friends, fundraisers, political campaigns and small businesses to put our logo on their shirts in return for a discounted or free shirt. Sorry, but giving away our service is not a sustainable marketing strategy for any small business and a logo by itself does very little for us. There are ways to get a discounted price on your shirt orders and the most reliable ways are through referral discounts, non-profit discounts and taking advantage of our special offers.

If you’re looking for a FREE order or heavily discounted order, please be prepared to offer us some equally great and FREE advertising and marketing services in return and we’ll consider it

If you’re already a loyal customer working on an awesome community-focused event, you’ve already got our ear. Let us know the details and we’ll be happy to see how we can help!