# Size imprint for S-3XL



## cirenosral (Mar 10, 2015)

Hello everyone,

I am printing new here and have been designing shirts professionally for about a year. My question is what is the standard size for printing across all sizes? I know it depends on the design and style preferred.

The design that I have created is 11"Wx 12.8"H.
I was afraid to make it "too large", but now that I see the 2XL and 3XL I feel I should've made it at least 12" W

Thoughts?


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## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

If you are talking the basic unisex tee shirt then that size should be fine. I wear 2x, when I buy a shirt at the store the design size is same as on the small,med,large and xl. I have found it always best to design when you have had a chance to actually look at the garment and measure the design area(s).


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## cirenosral (Mar 10, 2015)

Leg cramps said:


> If you are talking the basic unisex tee shirt then that size should be fine. I wear 2x, when I buy a shirt at the store the design size is same as on the small,med,large and xl. I have found it always best to design when you have had a chance to actually look at the garment and measure the design area(s).


Thank you for responding! I feel like I should've enlarged the art size from 11"W x 13"W to 12"W x 14"H..

Do you like it? Should it have been enlarged?

Thanks guys!


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## veetwincowboy (Mar 14, 2015)

The size in the picture looks fine, it probably wouldn't be worth it to burn another screen just for a few 3x shirts.


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## cirenosral (Mar 10, 2015)

veetwincowboy said:


> The size in the picture looks fine, it probably wouldn't be worth it to burn another screen just for a few 3x shirts.


Yeah, I wouldn't do that for just (4)2XL and (3)3XL - I just feel like it didn't print well across the range of shirts. Any tips for next time?


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## NoXid (Apr 4, 2011)

I print women's small to men's 5XL. Realistically, you don't sell many at either of the extremes, so I design for the middle. It ends up being a bit large on a W-Small and a bit small on a M-5XL, but I'm not making screens especially for those low volume sizes.

The max image size I do is 12 x 15 ... which is about perfect for M-XL, so W-Small is getting more image than it should.

You have to make the decision based on your own customer demographics. If you sell a lot of small sizes or a lot of big sizes, then it might be worth shifting the size of your design toward that end; if you sell a lot of both, then 2 sets of screens may be worth it.

Too large of a print on a small shirt is really more of an issue than all that empty space on an extremely large shirt.


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

You need to settle on a size that works best across the size range. And like NoX (HEY I SHOULDN'T BE ON HERE) stated somewhere in the middle. Although I am at times surprised by how many men's XX and XXX I sell. 

The problem with too big is when it comes to ladies tees. You can get the design reaching up into and around the arm pits where the shirt creases and such. No bueno. Looks terrible. Design height can cause issues too because women are usually not as tall and you don't want some massively tall designs that reach down past the waist.

With that in mind, if I'm going to do a shirt that I think will mainly sell to men or BOTH, I'll probably settle on a 11.5-12" width. If it's designed ONLY for men then 12-13".

Now if it's designed speficially for WOMEN in mind, I might be looking at 11" width max. 

I usually float ladies tees prints "up" a bit too. Instead of 4 fingers, I may do 3. Cuz of the ladies parts and all. Tank top I float it much higher up because the neckline on a tanks is obviously cut much lower.


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## cirenosral (Mar 10, 2015)

porkchopharry said:


> You need to settle on a size that works best across the size range. And like NoX (HEY I SHOULDN'T BE ON HERE) stated somewhere in the middle. Although I am at times surprised by how many men's XX and XXX I sell.
> 
> The problem with too big is when it comes to ladies tees. You can get the design reaching up into and around the arm pits where the shirt creases and such. No bueno. Looks terrible. Design height can cause issues too because women are usually not as tall and you don't want some massively tall designs that reach down past the waist.
> 
> ...


Thank you, Sir! This shirt is unisex. Would you have made it at least 12"W x 14"H? I am realllllllly over thinking this haha


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

I don't think 12 x 14 is a bad size. About average for that style of design on a uni-tee. Which is really just a men's tee. 

Like mentioned, or rather should be mentioned, a lot of design comes down to what I call "workable compromise". Unless you want to make a different screen for each tee size, then I think you have a good compromise. 

On a tee like that, I might float the print up a bit higher on the smaller sizes maybe, like 3-ish fingers. And then down to the normal 4-ish fingers on the larger sizes. Easy enough to do, just slide the tee back or forth farther on the platen before you print it.


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## cirenosral (Mar 10, 2015)

Yeah, the production printed it at 4 fingers throughout. I got a lot out of what you said, porkchopharry!


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## porkchopharry (Mar 4, 2012)

cirenosral said:


> I got a lot out of what you said, porkchopharry!


I'm glad, cause sometimes I think I'm crazy. 

Sometimes, even on a XX or XXX men's tee, I may even cheat a bit further and float it down to like 4 1/2 fingers. But that depends on the design height and width. 

You'd be surprised how cheating it down that tiny bit can make it fill in a huge tee much better.

Again though, that all depends on the design. Somtimes it can work great, other times not so great. Have to judge it from design to design I guess.


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## cirenosral (Mar 10, 2015)

We should all just print two hands down on everything and make the art 2"W x .5"H - I think that will solve everyones dilemma.


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## Leg cramps (Feb 9, 2009)

this was 11" really should have been 8" but trial and error...


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