How to Design a Custom Shirt That Actually Prints Well

A custom shirt design prints well when the artwork is high resolution, has real contrast against the garment colour, and is placed where the eye actually lands - roughly a hand's width below the collar. Ready to start? custom shirts.

What resolution does artwork actually need?

Enough pixels for the printed size, which matters far more than file size in megabytes. A large file that is blurry when enlarged prints blurry. The practical test is to view the artwork at the physical size it will print - if it looks soft on screen at that size, it will look soft on fabric. Vector artwork avoids the question entirely because it scales without loss.

Why does garment colour change the design?

Because contrast does the work. A dark navy design on a black shirt reads as a smudge from three feet away no matter how good the artwork is. Pick the garment colour and the design colours together rather than designing first and choosing the shirt afterwards - this single mistake accounts for most disappointing first orders.

Where should the design sit?

Higher than most people place it. A design centred on the chest often ends up looking like it is sliding toward the stomach when worn, because a flat mockup does not account for how a body fills a garment. Roughly a hand's width below the collar reads as intentional on almost everyone.

Common reasons a design disappoints

• Low-resolution artwork enlarged past what it can carry
• Design colour too close to the garment colour - no contrast at distance
• Placed too low, so it reads as sliding down when worn
• Fine hairlines that survive on screen and disappear on fabric

Is there really no minimum order?

None. One piece is a real order at normal pricing with no small-order surcharge. Traditional printers set minimums because screen printing and machine embroidery both carry a fixed per-job setup cost that has to be spread across enough pieces to be worth doing. Print-on-demand production has no per-job setup, so the reason for the minimum simply does not exist - which is why ordering one to check it before committing the budget is the standard advice here.

How long does it take to arrive?

Every order is made to order and ships in five to nine business days, and that window covers a single piece and a two-hundred-piece run alike - there is no separate multi-week queue for larger orders. Our fastest verified US delivery was three days on real carrier tracking, and our fastest verified international delivery was Latvia to New York in five days. For an event, order about two weeks ahead so there is room to check the first piece and distribute sizes.

Where to go next

Order one before ordering twenty - with no minimum, the first piece is a normal order and the cheapest possible way to catch any of the above. Start in the free design studio.

See the merch in real life

Real garments, printed and embroidered to order.