Do I need an appointment to order t-shirts?
If you imagine your visit taking more then 15 minutes then it would probably be a good idea to schedule an appointment. This will give us time to wash the ink off and perhaps pull some samples to guide you. We also have swatches of t-shirt colors to choose from. Sometimes the catalog colors are not easy to see.

Checklist for your appointment:
Your art idea.
An idea of your budget.
Clothing sizes.
If names for shirts, please provide typed list.
50 percent deposit to order.
Contact information for person doing proof approval (paper or e-mail)
Tax ID letter if applicable.

If you are unable to come in during business hours we do schedule appointments for evenings and Saturdays.

My PTA has little money, what do you suggest?
If you don't have start up money there are a few things you can do to start the ball rolling. First you can make an order form. You can place the shirt design on the order form and begin collecting money in advance. When you begin you will want to remember to include the price of the screen and sales tax in the calculations. We will have to charge if you are unable to provide a tax ID number. When starting up it is best to keep the screen numbers to a minimum.

If you have a little bit of money, but not enough to fill the school store, you may want to come up with a few different designs and clothing selections. Samples can be screen printed in different sizes and photos can be used on posters or order forms. The samples can be taken to back to school night and open house for pre-orders.

If you aren't sure what to order you should check on your current inventory. Were things left from last years stock? Look at the sizes and colors you have on hand and go from there. Sometimes it is hard to predict what will sell. Unfortunately it is a bit of a guessing game.

What do kids like?
Children in elementary school are very different then those just a few years older. The younger children are interested in bright colors, cartoon figures/mascots and simple lettering. Middle school aged children are more interested in gender specific clothing, more realistic animal mascots and fun fonts. High School ages will be proud to wear the school colors, show off their sport or club and be proud to boast their varsity status and year of graduation. The lettering will be more collegiate, and the look will most likely match the branding of the school that is on the web site, building, newsletter and sport uniforms.

When do I screen, When do I heat press?
Heat press and screen printing are two entirely different types of decorating, and are used for different reasons. Sometimes it is difficult to tell them apart unless you do a side by side comparison. Heat press is often used when large quantities of the same print are not needed. For example, you are making a kiddie soccer team matching t-shirts. The shirts will have matching fronts, but on the back you want the kids name and number. The front of the shirt will be screened with team name and or logo, but the back will be heat pressed. It is simply not affordable to buy screens that you would only use one time. Heat press would also be used if you only wanted to order a shirt or two for a special occasion. Another time heat press would be an affordable alternative is if the multi-colored artwork has small details or tight color registration. Heat press shirts are much easier to resize then screened shirts. If you are not sure, we would be happy to give guidance.