Are you getting ready to print some shirts for your business, band, or just for fun? When it comes to custom t-shirt printing, we at Slant Merch are all about making sure our customers get the help they need. We’ve put together this quick guide on t-shirt printing file requirements. This way, you can be sure that your design will print perfectly on your custom t-shirt.

File Prep

We know that getting your design or artwork file ready for printing can be daunting, but our graphics team is here to help. Ensure you have the correct file types and actual sizes to avoid printing mishaps. Whether you’re a first-time designer or an experienced pro, these tips will help you create a shirt that looks great and prints perfectly.

Screen Print File Format Requirements

At Slant Merch, we take great pride in the quality of our t-shirt screen printing services. We understand that our customers rely on us to provide a high-quality product, and we take that responsibility very seriously. That’s why we have strict minimum requirements for our customers’ artworks.

We know that the quality of the artwork will directly affect the print quality on the t-shirts, so we only work with quality files that meet our high standards. As a result, our customers can be confident that they will receive a t-shirt with a high-quality print that they will be proud to wear.

File Types / Requirements

Before sending us your file for printing, there are a few things you’ll need to do to ensure that everything comes out just the way you want it.

When you’re planning to print artwork on a garment, you must provide the file at the actual size you want it printed. This ensures that the acceptable file format meets our requirements and that the accepted print file format will be the correct size. If you’re unsure of the file size, we recommend you provide a basic visual mock-up of the art on a garment so we can choose an approximate size for you.

We continually strive to improve the file formats we accept to serve our customers better. And because we use high-quality inks, your t-shirt will look good wash after wash. Below are our accepted file types in order of preference, as well as what we do not accept:

Vector Art

Creating a high-quality screen print file requires saving your design in vector format, but the results will be worth it when your shirts look amazing. We prefer vector design files the most, as they can be resized without losing quality. If you’re looking to get your T-shirt printed, here are some examples of vector format files that you can send to us:

Adobe Illustrator CC files (.ai)

When a file is saved in Adobe Illustrator format, it retains all of its layers and can be easily edited at any time. This is important because often, t-shirt designs need to be changed or updated after they are first created.

Vector-based (.pdf) or (.eps) files

Another option is to save your file as a .PDF files or .EPS files, which can also be resized without losing quality. Along with Adobe Illustrator (.ai) files, vector-based files (.pdf) or (.eps) contain defined lines and curves that will print correctly at whatever size every time.

Fonts must be outlined.

Make sure that any fonts you’ve used have an outline stroke, so we can access them. This means that the fonts have been converted into a vector file format, which ensures that the text will retain its sharpness and clarity during the printing process. Once you’ve got your file ready, send it to us, and we’ll take care of the rest!

Raster Art

Slant Merch is all about accommodating your needs. We understand that not everyone is familiar with vector graphic files, and we’re happy to work with raster files. While vector art files are ideal, raster files can also produce high-quality results.

Adobe Photoshop files (.psd)

Adobe Photoshop CC files (.psd) give us the most information to work with and let us get your design looking it’s absolute best. Slant Merch has a team of skilled graphic designers who can take your vision and turn it into a reality.

Common image files

We understand that not everyone is an Adobe Photoshop expert, so we’re also happy to work with other acceptable file types such as .JPEG, .TIFF, and .PNG files.

Make sure it must be at least print size and have an ideal resolution of 300 DPI. Fonts must be rasterized. Just send us whatever you have, and our team of designers will do their magic. No matter what, we’ll ensure you end up with an apparel design you love.

Files Not Accepted

Slant Merch is committed to providing our customers with high-quality finished products and services. To ensure that we meet this commitment, we must occasionally decline orders for certain items.

One file type that we are unable to print is Microsoft Office files (Word, Paint, etc.). While we understand that these files may be important to our customers, they do not meet our high standards for print quality. We know this may be inconvenient for some customers, but it ensures that everyone who uses Slant Merch will be happy with their purchase.

Reach Out & Say Hello!

Slant Merch is here to make your life easy, so let us know how we can help you achieve your merch goals. We love working with our customers to create unique and amazing apparel designs, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you need anything. You can contact us here or email us at jeff@slantmerch.com. We can’t wait to hear from you!