DESIGN GUIDELINES & BEST PRACTICES

General Design Considerations

It’s very important to prepare your art files properly to optimize the quality of your final product. A high-quality art file will yield a high-quality final product. Taking the time to prepare your files properly will not only save you time & money in the long run, but it will help you maintain a great reputation for your online store. We’ve created this guide to help you avoid basic print file mistakes.

Product Decoration Details:

Each item in our catalog has a designated print method -- we offer three: Digital (DTG), Embroidery, & Dye Sublimation.

Our apparel products are generally decorated by either DTG printing or embroidery (though there are a few special garments decorated by dye-sublimation). Details about the decoration method for a particular product can be found in the product description.

Recommended File Formats (.png & .ai)

For the highest quality results, we recommend submitting transparent.png files or .ai files at 300 DPI, regardless of decoration method. Photos taken from a cell phone at 72dpi will also produce high quality results.

We will also accept vector formats .ai, .svg, .eps & high quality jpeg and .pdf files.

Design Guidelines & Best Practices

Colors: RGB vs. CMYK

Put simply, RGB colors are from a wider color spectrum than CMYK colors.

RGB: Generally, when designers are creating images for use on screens, they will use an RGB color profile. RGB colors come from a wider spectrum & take into consideration that a screen is backlit – RGB profiles can create very bright & vibrant colors. Using RGB color profiles to design your artwork will result in beautiful on-screen color that may not translate accurately to print.

CMYK: When printing, Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, & Black inks are added together to create the print color. When a printer converts a file created with an RGB file into CMYK colors for print, they can lose quite a bit of their vibrancy unless the files were created with that process in mind. We recommend designing in CMYK color profiles or CMYK-safe RGB colors for the most accurate on-screen representation of the print colors you'll see on a garment. When saving your artwork as a .png file, it will be converted into an RGB profile (but your colors will maintain more accuracy on screen). We recommend using a CMYK color profile or CMYK-safe RGB colors to create your design files.

Copyright Images - Use your own original artwork or obtain the rights to print copyright images. We do not assume responsibility for copyrighted images. By downloading the app & opting for our terms & agreements, you are stating that you are authorized to manufacture products with any copyrighted designs you submit. We reserve the right to reject orders based on violation of copyright. If this occurs, you will receive an email notifying you that we are unable to fulfill your order based on rejection of your design.

Direct-to-Garment printing was developed as an alternative to Screen Printing in order to allow for printing of customized & complex designs like photographs & multi-color artwork. To achieve a high-quality DTG print, a specialized pre-treatment is applied to your garment to prepare the fibers to accept ink. Next, a layer of white under base is laid on the areas your design will be printed to prepare any color garment for a vibrantly printed design. Lastly, the colors in your design are printed & immediately cured to bind the ink to the fabric, ensuring a beautiful & long-lasting custom garment.

Adult Shirts & Sweatshirts: 37.4cm x 40.6cm (14.7” x 16”)

Adult Hoodies: 32.3cm x 26.4cm (12.7” x 10.4”)

Youth Shirts & Sweatshirts: 24.1cm x 27.7cm (9.5 x 10.9”)**

Youth Hoodies: 22.4cm x 12.4cm (8.8” x 4.9”) 

**Please note that some smaller ladies apparel will use max print dimensions of 9.5” x 10.9”

If you would like to submit artwork to be printed in the exact size of your art file, you can use our CSV

Ordering process with a Design URL & select “Exact Artwork” during order submission. For more details about the CSV ordering process, please visit our tutorial at customcat.com/tutorials/csv-tutorial/.

The In-App “Exact Artwork” option in the bulk uploader will not be honored for DTG Garments.

**When using the Exact Artwork option with CSV ordering, it is vital that you prepare your files exactly as you want them to print. They will not be scaled up or down & awareness of your artwork positioning is critical.

Minimum Art File Dimensions:

We recommend art files used for DTG printing are a minimum of 2000px wide & the file resolution is set to 300DPI.

Resolution / DPI: Please submit high resolution files of at least 300 dpi (dots per inch) & at least 2000 pixels wide for the best quality outcome.

Here is a simple calculation to determine your DPI: Divide the number of dots wide by the number of inches wide 2100 dots wide / 7 inches wide = 300 dots / 1inch = 300 DPI

For example, let’s say we have a digital image that is 2100×2400 pixels (dots) & 7 ×8 inches in size. That means our digital image is 2100 dots high by 2400 dots wide (7 inches wide by 8 inches high). Our digital image has 300 DPI.

Design Considerations:

With Direct-to-Garment printing, black ink will not be printed on a black garment. During the printing process, all black elements of your design will be removed to show the garment color beneath.

Submitting an all-black design on a black garment may result in a blank garment being shipped to your customer.

Advanced Design Considerations:

When using fine line detailing in your artwork, please ensure that design elements surrounded by transparency on all sides are at least 6 pixels wide. Conversely, if you are using small areas of transparency in your artwork, be sure those areas are at least 6 pixels wide to ensure ink is not printed in those areas.

Recommended Colors for DTG:

Red: Hex #ED1C24 RGB (237, 28, 36) CMYK (1, 99, 97, 0)
Dark Red: Hex #990000 RGB (153, 0, 0) CMYK (0, 100, 100, 40)
Orange: Hex #ED5B2C RGB (237, 91, 44) CMYK (2, 79, 94, 0)
Athletic Gold: Hex #EBBA30 RGB (235, 186, 48) CMYK (8, 26, 95, 0)
Yellow: Hex #FFF200 RGB (255, 242, 0) CMYK (3, 2, 96, 0)
Light Green: Hex #6DB94A RGB (109, 185, 74) CMYK (62, 3, 96, 0)
Green: Hex #00A651 RGB (0, 166, 61) CMYK (83, 6, 96, 1)
Forest Green: Hex #055E35 RGB (5, 94, 53) CMYK (90, 36, 94, 33)
Teal: Hex #39BCB1 RGB (57, 188, 177) CMYK (69, 0, 37, 0)
Light Blue: Hex #0885C6 RGB (8, 133, 198) CMYK (82, 38, 1, 0)
Dark Blue: Hex #0D3267 RGB (13, 50, 103) CMYK (100, 89, 32, 21)
Purple: Hex #82539B RGB (130, 83, 155) CMYK (57, 79, 4, 0)
Hot Pink: Hex #EC008C RGB (236, 0, 140) CMYK (1, 99, 1, 0)
Light Grey: Hex #D0DBDA RGB (208, 219, 218) CMYK (18, 7, 12, 0)
Black: Hex #0C0C10 RGB (12, 12, 16) CMYK (75, 69, 64, 83)
White: Hex #FFFFFF RGB (255, 255, 255) CMYK (0, 0, 0, 0)
Brown: Hex #945137 RGB (148, 81, 55) CMYK (31, 71, 81, 23)
Tan: Hex #E2B67B RGB (226, 182, 123) CMYK (11, 29, 58, 0) 

Design Artwork in an Actual Print Size

Designs that are low resolution will print with low quality. That means resizing can affect the overall image as well. Ensure the edges of your artwork are clean & crisp at print size, without being blurry or jagged.

When using transparent glows or gradient effects on dark garments, the white under base beneath the design will be visible, removing a lot of the design’s color.

Use 100% Black or White Color (or a Recommended Color) Depending on the garment color, off-black & off-white inks print may print inaccurately. 

DYE-SUBLIMATION GUIDELINES

Dye-Sublimation printing is a specialized decoration method that allows for decoration of solid materials like ceramic mugs & synthetic fibers like polyester. In order to decorate your custom sublimated products, we print your designs on specialized paper with a specialty ink & apply that paper to your products. When heat & pressure are applied, the ink enters a gaseous state & is accepted into the material that’s being decorated. Sublimation printing is incredibly durable & will not fade, flake, or crack, as the dye truly becomes part of the product itself.

**No white ink is used in dye-sublimation. If you have white elements in your designs, it’s important to be sure that the blank product you’re printing on is white. Our only non-white blank sublimation products are currently Silver Travel Mugs & Silver Dog Tags. For these products, no white design elements should be used.

Safe Area - All important design elements should be placed within the noted “Safe Area” on the design template. Design elements placed within the Safe Area can be expected to print on your final product. If elements of your design are positioned outside this safe area, they may not be printed.

The Bleed “The Bleed” is the outer edge of the design area on our Art Templates. In order to ensure there are no white unprinted areas on your final design, it’s vital that you fill the entire template (including the bleed area), submitting a design in the same dimensions as the template itself.

If you forgetto fillthe entire template, your final product will not be printed from edge to edge.

EMBROIDERY GUIDELINES

When creating artwork for use in embroidery decoration, it’s vital that you consider the decoration method. Embroidery looks best with large, solid designs with thick lines -- it’s less able to include intricate details than decoration methods like sublimation or DTG printing. This document will outline our recommendations for creating an eye-catching design that will translate beautifully to embroidery.

The Process:

When you sell an embroidered item from your store, your artwork goes through a “digitization” process to prepare the file for embroidery. In some cases, this may involve modification of the original design to simplify your image or modify the colors to the closest available embroidery thread color (see below for available color options & examples of design modification). This process takes 24-48 hours. Once your file has been digitized after your first sale of that design, it will not need to be digitized again. Each subsequent product sold will use the same digitized file & you can expect the same result.

Embroidery Detail:

There are physical limits to how intricate details can be within your artwork. The smallest a single stitch can be is 2mm or ~.07". If your artwork contains details smaller than 2mm, our artists will update your file to ensure your artwork can be created as embroidery. This may alter the look of your design.

We will not be able to process designs that are overly intricate for embroidery. We suggest using a simplified design. We’ve included pictures below to illustrate designs that are too complex for embroidery & how they would be modified to fit our design guidelines.

Stick to fonts that are larger than .18 inches (4.75mm) in height, solid font (no distressed fonts if smaller than 1”), No drop shadow or outlines around the text if it is smaller than .5 inches in height.

**NOTE: Distressed fonts may be simplified without notice to the seller or customer. 

Make sure to fill all objects containing negative space under. 2”W x .2”H (transparencies) with a solid color. Leaving objects with negative space in your design will produce poor results. The Printer reviews all art submitted for production & will notify us within 24-48 hours only if there is an issue with your logo.

Recommended File Size / Type: We recommend you submit high-quality .png or .jpg files of at least 1200 × 720 pixels (for hats) or 1200 x 1200 pixels (other products).

Embroidery Size:

For custom embroidered t-shirts, jackets, hoodies, & bags, the maximum embroidery size is 4" X 4".

For custom headwear, the size of the embroidery is limited to 4" X 2.4", because hats require special hooping which limits embroidery size. Your design will be scaled to be as large as possible within that area while maintaining the original aspect ratio. Embroidered Photos are NOT Recommended

Generally, photos will be rejected by our digitization team. Even if accepted, photos will be highly modified into simple shapes and WILL NOT resemble your original image. We recommend NOT submitting photos for use on embroidery garments.