Any quality apparel decorator will always want to help make the process of getting an order in and completed as quickly as possible an easy and hassle free process; they do want your business after all!   However, not all projects are cookie-cutter affairs, and there are some situations where you and your decorator will want to coordinate on the best way to submit your order and files: we’re talking about orders with more than one design, more than one media type, and mix-media orders.

Why Is It Important to Separate by Design?

Before we touch upon this point, it’s important to clarify - this is in regards to projects where separate items are getting completely different screen print designs.  On your custom screen printers end, an order like this will be considered, and printed, as totally different runs per design.  As such, it is a big help to simply submit the order as separate jobs whenever possible.  Doing so will lower the amount of time the order takes to be processed & set up, and also lowers the margin for error or mix ups.  

Example:  72 shirts are getting design A silkscreened, and 72 OTHER shirts are getting design B silkscreened - they should be split up as they will be printed as two separate runs.

Please note, if you have a project that requires different designs, but printed on the SAME item, that is absolutely fine and would not provide any difficulties for your preferred screen print house.

Example:  144 shirts are getting design A silkscreened on the front, and the SAME 144 shirts are getting design B silkscreened on the back - they should be submitted on the same order and will be run together as one job.

Why Is It Important to Separate by Media

Assuming your decorated apparel manufacturer of choice offers multiple decoration medias under one roof, dividing your orders appropriately will assist them in providing a sleek experience for you.  As with the previous section, let’s examine this again - this point is in regards to projects where separate items are getting decorated with completely different methods.  In the same vein as keeping different designs apart, splitting jobs up by media type helps keep things moving smoothly throughout the decorating operation.  This ensures that each portion of the project is able to be quickly identified and brought to the correct department with no delays or issues!

Example:  144 shirts are getting silkscreened, and 144 other shirts are getting embroidered - they should be split up as they will be decorated as two separate runs in two different production departments.

Avoiding Inbound Bulk Shipments

A short note regarding submitting split orders to your decorator:  when sending in these orders, please also make sure that the blank goods will be sent appropriately divided by the blanks vendor as well.  You can read more about this crucial step here!

What is Mix-media?

Mix-media orders are a great way to really “wow” a client - these orders consist of items that are each receiving more than one type of decoration method on them.  Your custom apparel decorator will want to jump on these kinds of unique opportunities to showcase their capabilities and prowess.  Contrary to the theme of some of the earlier points,  when submitting mix-media orders, they do NOT need to be separated;  your decorator will coordinate internally with their production teams on moving the order through the different media departments.

Example:  144 shirts are getting embroidered on the chest, and the SAME 144 shirts are getting a specialty screen print on the back - this can be submitted as one run.

Now that we’ve gone over the different instances when it is appropriate to send in split up orders to your trusted decorator of custom apparel, you have the know-how to help them help you, and make it an easy step in from an idea on paper to maximizing the potential of your creativity and designs!