Printing shirts can be expensive. You want to mitigate the damage to your checkbook by taking any advantage you can, so you go out and price shop garments to find the cheapest option possible. The truth is, bringing in your own garments will not save you any money, time, or headaches. Let me explain.
Cost
At Twin City Tees we receive shirts straight from the manufacturer at prices well below retail. This allows us to keep your printing price affordable.
When you put in an order to have shirts printed with us, the first thing we do is work up a quote with your specifications. Let’s compare two quotes, one when you order your shirts through us, one when you bring in your own shirts.
For this example, we will quote 12 shirts with a one color print on 100% cotton garments.
Ordering Through Us Example (prices can vary)
12 - Economy Gildan 100% Cotton Shirts with One Color Print on Front:
Total Cost = 7.92 per shirt
Customer Supplied Garments Example (prices can vary)
12 - Customer Supplied Garments with One Color Print on Front:
Total Cost = 6.40 per shirt plus the price you paid for your garments.
True Cost
To find your true cost, add what you paid for the shirts you brought in, plus the price we charge you. If you are not getting your shirts for less than $1.52, then in this example, you would be losing money. This doesn’t factor in the time it took to go get the shirts.
Just to be clear, when we quote you a price per shirt, this price includes printing. You are paying for the time logged by each employee involved in the printing process, as well as ink, energy, and overhead.
Speed
The speed at which we can complete your order is rarely dependent on shirt arrival. We typically can receive shirts we order in 1-2 business days. Our print turnaround time is 7-10 business days. This time includes artwork prep, making screens, and the actual process of printing the shirts. Most importantly your order depends on where it stands in relation to our other jobs and deadlines in our print queue. So bringing in your own garments will not speed up your order completion.
Damaged Garments Cannot Be Replaced
Due to the complexity of the printing process, it is not uncommon for a garment to be damaged during printing. If this is the case, or a shirt has a hole in it, and you brought in your own garments, we are unable to reorder the shirt and replace it for you. This means that you assume the risk for any issues that occur during the printing process. If you order your garments through us, we are able to replace the defective garment at no additional cost to you.
Ink Choices
Many times customer supplied garments have been tagged with the store’s brand, and we have very little information about the garment itself. Without this information, it is unknown how waterbase inks and colors will look when printed until after it has gone through the dryer. For this reason, your ink choices will mostly be limited to plastisol ink. Learn more about our inks
Garment Choices
At Twin City Tees we have an extensive catalog withover one hundred thousand garment options for you to choose from. Most likely we can find what you are looking for and order it through one of our vendors. Browse our online selection
Still Want to Bring in Garments
We understand why you may want to bring in your own garments, and for this reason we will happily print on them. We just want you to have all the information to make an informed choice before having shirts printed with us. Here are a few things to keep in mind.
Customer Supplied Garments Must Meet the Following Conditions
All garments must be unworn and unwashed
All stickers, labels, etc. must be removed from garments.
Garments may not be folded or bagged. If garments are folded or bagged, the customer will be charged an additional $.25/per garment.
Garments must be clear of debris that will affect the printing process such as cat/dog hair, etc.
Orders that include an ink change (example - 20 shirts have logo in blue printed, 15 shirts have logo in green printed), should be stacked/ grouped depending on the color you want printed on your garments.
Material makeup information of garment is required. (example - 100% Cotton, 80/20 Polyester/Cotton, etc.)
Feel free to contact us at info@twincitytees.com if you have any questions about customer supplied garments.
If you are looking to have shirts printed with us, please fill out a quote form here.
If you liked or disliked this article and have any comments you would like to make, feel free to contact Dan directly at: dan@twincitytees.com. I would like to hear your comments to continue to put out quality, useful content.
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