- What kinds of products do you print and embroider?
We can print just about anything you will ever want or need. T-Shirts, Jerseys, Greek Shirts, Pledge Jerseys, Corporate Apparel, Workplace Uniforms, Athletic Uniforms, Towels, Bags, Totes, Blankets. If you can think of it, we can probably print on it!
- How much do promotional products cost?
This depends on the type of product, the color, the number of colors in your design, and the total quantity of products you will be ordering. Some products are as cheap as a few pennies each and can range upwards greatly from there. We will help you find products that fits your purpose and budget.
- What is the minimum number of products I can order?
This varies with the product. Some are offered as low as twelve and occasionally there are products that can be done in even smaller quantities.
- Who creates the Art Design?
You can bring in your own art or you can leave it up to our professional artists to create a design for your use. If you choose to have one of our artists develop a design for you will be asked to describe in as much detail as possible. You will proofread and approve all art before we embellish your products.
- When do I pay?
We require payment at the time of order.
- What are "outlines" and why is it important for me to create them?
Background: Fonts are normally very important to maintaining the quality of a design. There are also thousands of fonts available already with many more being created every day. One computer can not read a font from a file correctly if the computer does not have that font installed. By creating outlines in adobe illustrator (most commonly used art program) your font is no longer a font, it is an image. Now the image cannot be modified without recreating it to ensure that the person you are submitting your design to sees exactly what it is you want them to see.
- How detailed can my embroidery be?
That depends on the material that you are embroidering on. A general rule is the finer the material the finer the embroidery that can be sewn on it. For instance a pique polo (looks like a waffle up close; typical of most many golf shirts) is fairly rough and very fine lines will look choppy and poor because of the texture of the material> On a fine jersey knit (standard t-shirt) or silk the exact same design will look very nice. It is important to know what kind of materials you will be using before a job is started so that a design can be "digitized" to look best.
- What is digitizing?
Digitizing is the process of turning a graphic design into thread. It can be very time consuming depending on the design and often takes many revisions and test "sew-outs" to get it just right.
- What is a sew-out?
A sew out is a sample sew of a particular design. Sew outs are done the first time a design is digitized to ensure that the digitized design looks good when it actually sews.
- What is the difference in vector and raster art?
Vector images (illustrator, freehand, corel draw) are graphics files that are made up of a set of mathematical points stored by their position on a grid. Because vector files are mathematical the images can be changed in size infinitely and maintain their integrity. Raster images (photoshop, jpeg, bmp, png, etc) are made up of pixels. When raster images are enlarged in size, the pixels get larger and their edges become jagged and uneven. While raster images can be stored at very high dpi (dots per inch) in order to allow them to be blown up, they may not be increased in size infinitely and are thus much less useful in design applications. Most raster images can not be blown up much bigger than you see them on screen before they begin to pixilate. For purposes of promotional products raster images often have to be recreated to vector art to ensure the best quality. Enlarge your image and print it out to see if the edges are crisp, clean and sharp.
- What is dpi?
DPI is dots per inch (square inch). It is used to measure the quality of raster images at a certain size. Standard web images are saved as 72dpi. Midgrade images are saved at 150dpi. High resolution images are stored at 300dpi or higher. When you enlarge an image, the dots or pixels increase in size. Thus the number of dots that fit in a square inch is reduced while expanding an image. Most times raster images must be recreated (tracing a raster file in illustrator or another vector file to get a replication of the file in vector format) so it will print well. In order to trace an image, an artist must be able to see the image. As a raster image is increased in size the square edges of the dots become more pronounced and the image becomes choppy. This is why in order to maintain high quality it is important that an image of the highest resolution possible, preferably 300dpi (at the dimensions it is desired) is provided to recreate from.
- What is recreating an image?
Recreating an image is the process of tracing a raster image file while placing vector points in order to create a vector replica of the design. We do this to get the best quality image to print. The process is done so that the film which is a positive can be printed in clean lines. Then we burn the film into a screen. Vector files have substantially cleaner lines than raster files. Another reason is that it may be necessary to modify the file. While it is possible to "Photoshop" a raster file it offers substantially less flexibility in most situations.
- How long will the print last?
If the ink is cured correctly it should last longer than the garment that it is printed on.
- What is a PMS color?
A PMS color is a Pantone Match. The pantone color system was developed as a matching system for graphic designers that is comprised of hundreds of colors from across the spectrum. Pantones are labeled with a single numeric or alphanumeric code and are the common link between paper, web, paint and other types of design. While PMS are a great reference to use they DO NOT always match up perfectly especially when moving from one material to the next. Furthermore some PMS colors simply will not display on a computer screen (ex. fluorescent colors). For these reasons it is important that PMS colors are not relied upon solely for pure color matching. When using PMS colors it is important to match to UNCOATED PMS colors.
- What is the difference in silk screening and screen printing?
There is no difference. The name silk screening was derived because traditionally silk has been used for the mesh in a screen as it was the only material fine and consistent enough in pattern to achieve a nice print. Only relatively recently (in relation to the life of screen printing) has synthetic mesh become more cost effective and reliable to use in screens.
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