7 Questions To Ask Your T-shirt Printing Supplier
Very often customers approach us without asking any questions and only after the order is complete they will decide to get more knowledge about printing t-shirts. This is why we decided on creating this simple guide about things you should ask your print shop before making your first order.
This will help you decide if your printers are suitable for your order, what can you expect and what you should avoid during this process. We advise you to check the following information since it can help you save more money and get the best out of your printed order.
Quick Links:
- Ask For A Final Quote
- Current Turnaround Time
- Sample And Preview
- Is My Design Ok?
- Washing Instructions
- How Can I Drop The Price
- Guarantee
Ask For A Final Quote
The most important question you should be asking your t-shirts printing supplier is a quote, a real quote with a final price, no hidden fees or surprises.
How often did you find an amazing price online, a company advertising printing 2.20£ per t-shirt!! So you decided to contact them, who wouldn’t with such low prices, right?
The problem is the final price per garment is more like 14£ after they added Service charges, Design modification, ink cost, delivery and Vat. Oh, also, that initial price, is only for order of 1.000+ T-shirts, the discount is not for your smaller quantity one.
This is why you have to ask for the final price, and if you don’t see Vat added, then ask: So this is all I will have to pay, can you confirm this, please. This way you will put your printing supplier on the spot to tell you the real cost of goods.
If a printing company is trying to sell your custom t-shirts for a super low price, that is either a lie, or the product is so cheap that you will never be happy with it.
Current Turnaround Time
The amount of work a print shop has will affect the turnaround time, be sure to check with each order since this is something that will fluctuate very often.
The best way to deal with the issue is to give yourself at least 2 weeks of time before you need your garments. Plan in advance and remember that delivery of blank garments to your supplier and shipping to your address is not under anyone’s control. Delays will often happen and not much anyone can do about it besides ordering with plenty of spare time.
Sample And Preview
It can be very confusing to order a custom t-shirts, especially if you are new to the market and have 100 questions. If you place your order over 4 long weeks, change your mind 10 times and supply 5 different files, eventually your print shop will get confused too.
For this reason many printers use electronic previews, just like the one above, to confirm your final order. This will often show the type of garment, colour, your design, position and dimensions. It’s a sure way to avoid any confusion and the awkward moment when something wrong is printed.
If they don’t provide you with a preview, then question your print shop before printing t-shirts with them.
The second option is a Sample, quite often your printing supplier will advise you to order a single t-shirt before your bulk order. This is in case they think your order might not work, and you should see the final product yourself or they believe you might not be 100% happy with your choice.
Sampling the same design over few print shops is also a very good way to find your best local print shop, without spending a fortune on badly printed garments.
Is My Design Ok?
With so many printing techniques, and print shops using different equipment, is not always easy to know the right file type to supply. Each requires a different type of file or alterations required in order to print well.
Ask your printer if your file is good and, if they can advise you on how to improve it, so it will print better with their equipment. This is not something they will always let you know about since it can take extra time, and this is not something print shops want to happen.
We always advise our customers on the quality of the supplied files, and if we think that it requires more work to be done. After all, if your design prints to perfection, it will make both of us happy. Want to check your file? Contact us here.
Washing Instructions
Remember to ask for specific washing instructions and best practises to keep the garments new as long as possible, not just for you, but also for your own customers.
Different printing techniques and equipment also mean variations in washing instructions. Inform yourself first, but remember to let your own customers know by adding those instructions on your printed custom labels or with information posted on your website and social media.
Here are the basic washing instructions for Direct to Garments (DTG) in case you decide to use this printing technique.
- DO NOT tumble dry.
- DO NOT hand wash.
- Machine wash COLD, max 40C. Lower the better.
- Always turn garment inside out.
- Iron garments inside out
How Can I Drop The Price
This is something you have to ask since there are often ways to save money, but without knowing how, you will never be able to save money. Some methods are quite obvious, such as printing only one side of your garment instead of 2.
Other ways are not so obvious, like printing slightly smaller images. Always ask your print shop on methods to drop the price, since they will not let you know about them unless you ask.
We are always trying to help our customers, which is why we made a guide on how you can save money on your order, check it out to find out more. 11 ways to print t-shirts and save money.
Guarantee
The last question you should be asking your t-shirt printing supplier is a guarantee or conditions under which you can return your garments or get your money back in case something goes wrong in the process.
There are 2 reasons you should know if your print shop offers a guarantee. The most obvious is in case something goes wrong, if you can get your money back. The second less obvious reason is that, only printers that have confidence in the quality of their services, will offer such guarantee.
A company that keeps getting returns and complaints will never offer a guaranteed way to get your money back. Take this as a sign of good quality and have a bit more faith in your supplier if they promise your money back, after all, you get it all back if you are wrong.
We are a London printing company, if you want your garments created by us, ask for help or more information then get in touch with us here.
