Custom Order FAQs

Start with the item and the artwork, not the method. Apparel splits three ways: screen printing for large graphics in volume, embroidery for logos on structured or textured goods, and direct to garment for full color artwork or small runs. Hard goods split by shape and coating: pad printing for curved or uncoated items, dye sublimation for full color on coated blanks, laser engraving for permanence on metal, wood and acrylic. Awards and commemoratives usually mean pewter casting or struck coins. Tell us the item and the art and we will recommend the fit.

No. We are happy to create your design from scratch, and a detailed description of what you envision is enough to begin. If you do have files, send the largest and cleanest version you have. Vector formats such as AI, EPS, PDF and SVG are ideal, but we accept almost any format including PSD, JPG, PNG, TIFF and WEBP, and our designers can adapt nearly any image to fit your order. A photograph of an existing piece is also a workable starting point.

A proof shows exactly what will be produced, and approving it is what releases the job to production. You normally receive an art proof showing the design at production scale with imprint dimensions and color callouts, paired with a mockup on your selected product. Approval is the last point at which a change is free, because once a die is cut, a screen is burned or a press run starts, a correction means starting over. Read every word, and check names, dates and spelling in particular.

It depends entirely on the method. Direct to garment printing has no minimums at all, because there are no screens or plates to set up. Screen printing, pad printing and struck coins all carry setup work that is the same whether you order twenty pieces or five hundred, so those are quoted per project and get markedly cheaper per piece as quantity rises. Tell us your quantity along with your item and artwork, and we will tell you which method makes sense at that volume.

Lead time depends on the method, the quantity and how quickly the proof is approved, so we quote it per project rather than publishing a single number. The part buyers most often underestimate is not production, it is artwork approval, because a design that needs several rounds of internal sign off can sit longer in review than it does in the shop. If you have a hard in hands date, an event or a ceremony, say so at the quote stage so the schedule is built around it.

Vector artwork is the safest answer across every process we run, because it scales to any size without losing an edge and gives production clean paths to work from. AI, EPS, PDF and SVG all qualify. Where vector is not available, send the highest resolution raster file you have, sized at or near the final imprint. A logo pulled from a web page or a slide deck is usually too small to hold up at print size. Include your Pantone references with the files.

Because a screen and a physical product are not the same medium. Fine lines that render cleanly on a monitor can close up in a mould, fill with enamel, burn out under a laser or vanish at embroidery scale. Colors that separate on a backlit display can flatten against metal or shift on fabric. Imprint areas are also physically limited, so a wide horizontal logo may need restacking to fit a round face. Every change we make is so the finished piece reads correctly in the hand.

On some methods yes, and on others the proof is the sample. Direct to garment printing has no setup, so a single physical sample is straightforward. Laser engraving on a supplied item can be tested on a sample piece, which is the reliable way to confirm how an unfamiliar surface will mark. Methods with real tooling, such as struck coins and cast pewter, use the art proof and mockup to stand in for a physical sample, because the tool has to exist before a piece can be made.

On coins, yes. As long as there are no changes to the design, a coin reorder carries no additional fees, because the die already exists. The same principle applies broadly across methods that involve tooling or setup: if nothing about the artwork changes, the expensive part has already been paid for. Changes to the design, the size or the decoration method mean new setup. When you first order, it is worth telling us whether you expect to reorder, so the file is prepared with that in mind.

You are. When you supply a logo, insignia, photograph, illustration or typeface, we proceed on the understanding that you hold the rights or permission to use it on the product being ordered. That is straightforward when the mark belongs to your own organization, department, company or school. It becomes more complicated with partner logos, licensed properties, commercial brands, sports marks and protected emblems, which carry their own usage rules. Confirm permission before the design stage rather than after tooling is produced.

Yes, and that is one of the practical advantages of running every process in house. A single recognition program might pair cast pewter awards with struck coins, embroidered polos for staff, screen printed tees for the event, and a wide format backdrop for the ceremony. Because the same art department prepares all of it, the mark stays consistent across every piece rather than drifting between suppliers, and there is one point of contact for the whole order.