10 Things To Ask Any Custom Clothing Printer Before You Order

A buyer's checklist for getting great-looking sustainable merchandise without the guesswork

Ordering custom clothing should be straigh­tforward. You have a brand to represent,­ a deadline to hit and a budget to stick to but the number of printers out there with different processes, different price structures and wildly different ideas about what good quality means makes the whole thing feel way more complicated than it should be.

Most ordering regrets come from questions that never got asked before comitting. Hidden setup fees, garments that shrink after a single wash, prints that cracked or came out the wrong colours and  sustainability claims with nothing behind them.

These are all too common problems but also easy to avoid. Whether you are looking at Live Ink or anyone else to print your design onto tees, hoodies, caps, mugs or other merchandise these are the ten questions worth asking before you commit to a single unit.

1. What inks do you use and what does that actually mean for the finished garment?

This is where a lot of printers can be vague as there is more conversation about waterbased inks in the industry now than there used to be and a lot of print shops still prefer to use cheaper plastisols. The two main categories are plastisol and water-based.

Plastisol inks sit on top of the fabric, are bright and durable and they have been the industry default for decades but they contain PVC and plasticisers and can leave a heavier hand feel on the garment. Water-based inks can absorb more into the fibres or sit on the top depending on which base is used  and result in a print that is also bright and durable but with a softer feel on the garment. The main difference is waterbased inks don't require any chemicals or solvents to clean up and do not contain PVC.

For brands that care about how their merchandise feels to wear and what it does to the environment water-based is really the only choice. But it's worth asking your printer specifically which inks are being used because "eco-friendly inks" is a phrase that crops up in a lot of marketing chat without any verifiable evidence..

At Live Ink we use water-based inks exclusively across all our print work. Our prints are soft to the touch from the first wear and they do not compromise on vibrancy or wash durability.

2. What garments can I choose from and who makes them?

The blank garment is you choose is really important. A brilliant print on a cheap scratchy shirt that will lose it's shape in the first wash is still a cheap scratchy shirt once you've put your design on it and is likely to end up in landfill way quicker than it should. Ask which brands and ranges the printer offers, what the fabric weights are and whether there are responsibly sourced options available. 

Your printers should  be able to tell you exactly who manufactures their blanks, where they're made  and why they chose them over other options whilst offering you enough choice to find something that fits your brand perfectly.

We work primarily with Stanley/Stella, Earth Positive and AS Colour all known for exceptional fabric quality, fit and construction. Stanley/Stella and Earth Positive are GOTS certified meaning the organic cotton in their garments has been verified from field to finished product. AS Colour are respected globally for their retail-weight fabrics and consistent sizing and are expanding their certified organic range. Between the three manufacurers we can cover everything from lightweight fitted tees to premium oversized cuts and heavyweight fleece.

3. Do you have any certifications I can verify?

Sustainability claims are easy to make and hard to evaluate. The word "eco" appears all over websites of printers whose processes would not stand up to any serious scrutiny. Ask for the certification not just the claim.

The certifications that carry genuine weight in this industry include GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) for organic fibre supply chains, OEKO-TEX for chemical safety testing and B Corp for broader business responsibility. These are not self-awarded, they involve third-party audits and they can be verified.

We are always looking at our processes and ethics to make sure they are the best they can be and these are operational commitments that run through every job we produce.

4. What is your minimum order quantity and can I mix sizes?

Minimums are one of the most common friction points in custom clothing. Some printers require large runs before they will touch a job and others have no minimum at all but price single units accordingly. Neither is automatically right or wrong for your project but you need to know before you start working towards placing an order as this can affect your unit cost hugely now and in the future.

Equally important is whether you can mix sizes within an order. Most printers will allow a mix of sizes in an order and also a mix of garment colours but always check to see if you can change ink colours too before assuming this is possible without affecting the ost.

For screen printing our minimum is 20 units and you can mix sizes freely across that run. Embroidery and digital print methods carry no minimum at all which works well for small-batch projects or sample runs before a larger order.

5. Will I see a proof before anything goes to print?

A surprising number of ordering disasters are easily avoidable at the proof stage. Ink colour not matching the reference, artwork scaled up or down in a way that changes the ratio or the wrong artwork altogether. A signed-off proof catches all of this before any garments get printed so check it, then check it again.

Ask whether the proof is a digital mockup only or whether a physical strike-off is available for larger orders. Ask what the approval process looks like and what happens if you want changes after the proof is sent.

We send digital proofs on every order as standard and we do not begin production until the proof is formally approved. 

6. Is the printing done in house or is it subcontracted?

Some printers act as brokers, passing your order to a third-party facility you have never heard of and have no relationship with. The quality control, inks used and turnaround time all become somebody else's concern that you are one step further away from and you could find that your order has been produced in an entirely different country with different standards to quality, ethicsand environment.

In house production means the people quoting your job are the same people printing it and this  accountability produces better results for you. It also means the money you have paid for the job is going to the people producing it for you rather than being skimmed diverted to a third party.

Everything at Live Ink is produced in our Bristol studio. Our team handles artwork preparation, screen setup, printing and quality checking from start to finish. When you email us a question about your order the person answering it is in the same building as the presses.

7. How do you handle artwork and what format do you need?

Artwork preparation has a huge affect on the end product. Low-resolution files, incorrect colour modes and fonts that have not been outlined can all delay your job or produce a print that does not match what you intended. Your printer should clearly tell you exactly what they need upfront and  flag any issues with your files before production begins.

Ask whether artwork setup support is included or charged separately and whether they can help convert your files if needed.

We accept vector files as standard and can advise on the best format for your specific design and print method. If your files need adjusting we will tell you clearly and wherever possible will sort them without an additional charge.

8. What is your turnaround time and what affects it?

Turnaround quoted on a website and turnaround at the busiest point of the year are often very different numbers. Ask specifically what the current lead time is at the point of ordering not what the standard claim is. Ask what factors might push that time out such as a complex number of colours in the a job or the time of year.

If you have a fixed deadline make sure this is clearly conveyed to the printer at the start of the conversation rather than at checkout.

Our standard screen printing turnaround is typically five to seven working days from proof approval and invoice payment. For on demand and DTG printing it's typically 3 to 5 working days and embroidery is seven to ten working days. You can also find up to date turnaround times at the top of our home page and  we are always upfront about current capacity so if a deadline looks tight we'll flag it.

9. What is your policy if something goes wrong?

Misprints can and do happen, to everyone, and garments occasionally arrive with a defect. Garment deliveries from the warehouse can be delayed by weather or a crash on the motorway. What separates a reliable printer from a frustrating one is not whether problems ever occur but how clearly they are handled when they do.

Ask specifically: what is the process for a misprint? Who carries the cost and how quickly is a resolution offered? A printer who answers this question confidently and specifically is far more likely to be worth your trust than one who deflects or makes the answer conditional.

We take responsibility for anything that leaves our studio and if something is below the standard it should be we will address this quickly for you. If a print is defective we reprint it, if there is a garment issue we replace it and if this isn't possible we will refund you for the defective items.

10. Can you support repeat orders and is anything stored on file?

When your new merchandise line takes off you're going to want more and as your brand grows you will need to reorder. Ask how the printer handles repeat business: whether artwork is stored, whether pricing is consistent on reorders and whether you will need to start the whole process from scratch every time.

Consistency across orders matters, particularly for branded clothing where the second batch needs to match the first.

We store artwork and order specifications for all clients which means repeat orders are straigh­tforward. Our pricing is transparent and we alwyas highlight price brackets before an order is finalised to make sure you are getting the best unit price. Clients who order regularly tell us that consistency is one of the things they value most.

A good custom clothing printer can answer all ten of these questions clearly and their answers will tell you everything you need to know about how seriously they take their processes, clients and  environmental respon­sibi­lities.

We built Live Ink around the idea that ordering sustainable high-quality custom clothing should not be confusing or unexpectedly expensive. You should know exactly what you are getting, from the organic cotton in the garment to the water-based ink on the print to the conditions in the facility  where it was all made.

If you want to talk through a project or get a quote we'd love to hear from you.