Screen Printing Forum

Just wondering how this works in other shops.

Where in the process, and by who, determines the placement of a design on the garment, whether it be unique or standard placement.

The customer SHOULD decide where the print goes.
I ask these questions as soon as they come in:
#1 How many shirts?
#2 How many colors?
#3 Full front or Left chest?

From there the conversations is usually rolling on its own.
There have been times when they customer wanted a left chest and I thought it would look better as a full front and so I talked them into it.

CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT BUT NOT ALWAYS THAT SMART!

I have a free layout grid available.

Let me know what press you are using, I have one specific to Vastex and a generic version.

e-mail doug@thegrendel.com

The Grendel


I will have the files in the download section of www.thegrendel.com soon.

Pretty much what Roadside said. The customer decides where they want whatever it is. I offer whatever advice I can about certain aspects, for instance, one thing that really gets on my nerves (yeah, it's a personal issue) is when they want a full-back design with nothing on the front. I usually talk them into at least putting something on the left chest, unless there's a compelling reason not to - I'll even throw it in for free if they're on a tight budget. I'd rather have underpriced, yet good looking, shirts go out of my shop rather than spewing garbage.

As far as just exactly WHERE a print goes, we have some general rules of thumb, but it's really up to the press operator where the image is placed.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Very helpful.

My shop has been doing a ton of unique placements, with popular fashion designer inspiration (wannabes). Like, off centered, shoulder blades, hip, lower hem etc.

We always try to have them limit such designs to specific garment sizes. For example an off centered design looks great on a large shirt, but misprinted on a small shirt, when using the exact same placement measurements. Sometimes we restrict certain sizes but that isn't always practical.

I'd love for our Production Dept. to figure out what looks best on press but I also don't want to burden them with a task that could be done earlier in the process.

Does anyone prefer to figure this stuff out on press rather than guessing ahead of production?

Am I going on to long about this stuff. Argh!

THANKS!

as for where to print is going... thats usally the customers call in general...
they say Full front you put it on the front... unless they say "I want it 3.5 inches down from the collar" its a judgement of the printer... within reason, there is a little leway...

as for unique prints... my shop does some, but I have never heard of a size specific print. so can't really help on that...

General guidelines:

Centerchest -- three fingers from bottom of collar

Backprint -- four fingers from bottom ov collar

Left chest -- four fingers from collar to center of print, four fingers from center to edge of print

1/2 inch over allowable for large size shirt Left chest print

I have this on my site for people to download. I will share it here too. Just a basic guide for design placement. Of course its a general placement for large shirts, other sizes may need to be moved some. But it gets you in the right range.