# screen printing problems



## allan46 (Jul 23, 2006)

Hello :

I have been ordering screen printed t-shirts for about one year now. I have dealt with three different printers and have met with mixed results. 

The logo has four colors in it . The first order had 25 of 110 with problems with the logo being off centre . They were redone. 

The second printer did up a larger order for me and the logo was off as in the colors being not consistent in size on the logo and as was another smaller order with a different logo.

I moved to a third printer and received the order and had 30 of 300 with a problem of the colors not being consistent as in blank areas where there should be a certain color.

The consistent answer I have received is you can't get a full order that will be all right. Also they send them knowing there are problems with them. Is this what I can expect with most printers ? The last two are in business , 14 and 25 years !

What is the usual arrangement when the t's are not consistent and not saleable compared to the rest of your t-shirts.

Really frustating as I try to deal with people in a straighforward and honest manner.


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## tpitman (Jul 30, 2007)

If the logo was spot color, there's really no reason for spots of color to be missing. As far as off center prints, how bad were they? Shirts often have necks that are not centered between the sleeves due to loose manufacturing tolerances. It's also possible that the logo design is such that, even though it's mechanically centered, it may appear visually off-center. Sometimes it's a matter of opinion as to whether the placement is bad or not. When you go to renew an order, either with an existing printer or a new one, I'd discuss your concerns, and show them samples of shirts you felt were poorly done, and try to come to an understanding up front.


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## neato (Mar 21, 2006)

Better yet, post some pics of the problem shirts. For all we know, 'off center' could mean a centimeter to one side or another. It's all perception. 

And remember, these are t-shirts. Like tpitman pointed out, they're not all perfect. As printers, sometimes there isn't a lot we can do with these problematic shirts that seem to show up quite often. 

I'd really like to see some pics though. It's hard to believe that 3 out of 3 printers are doing sub par work.


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## TeddyRocky (Mar 23, 2007)

allan46 said:


> Hello :
> 
> I have been ordering screen printed t-shirts for about one year now. I have dealt with three different printers and have met with mixed results.
> 
> ...


Yeah, it really depends on what "off center" means to you. A lot of times like mentioned before, the blanks themselves have manufacturing defects that make the print seem off center. Either way, if they knew these problems and still sent them to you, that's plain bad business practices. The standard seems to be 2% defects will come out of screen print orders. Our's is about 1% for the most part and no more than 2%, however our print shop refunds our mistakes with the cost of the blank or we cover the costs by reprinting them with no extra charge if the blanks were bought by us. We have printed for forum members, and they are very happy with the quality and service. A lot of larger companies that have been around for 10+ years (not saying all), get too comfortable and don't care much to lose a customer. To answer your final question, no that is not what you should expect from a printer.


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## Mang (Apr 21, 2009)

I just had a local printer print some shirts for me. they look pretty bad in my opinion. what can i accept as ok if they are off center? i know that not all can be perfect, but what off-center amount is ok? some are .5" off, and a few are even 1" off....


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## MangledMerch (Jan 30, 2009)

One thing to consider on this subject is the consistency of the shirts themselves. As a printer I've handled thousands and thousands of shirts and have never once gone thru a case of shirts to find that they are all sewn together perfectly. In fact I would say that the majority of the shirts made are not perfectly symmetrical as far as neck and sleeve location. I haven't seen the prints in question so I can't say definitively but I would guess that part of the "off center" problem is a combination of shirt and print placement quality. I've seen a lot of inconsistencies in cheaper shirts so part of the problem could be your choice of garment. Although every brand has it's pros and cons and no t-shirt is perfect. I will say tho that some of my favorite shirts that i've worn for years and will continue to wear have slighly off center prints. For me good design trumps perfect placement.

10% fall out is unacceptable. If your printer gives you 10% fall out every time, find a new printer.

Shirts without ink where there should be ink - also unacceptable. A good printer will catch this before the shirt leaves the press (or 2 dozen shirts, as the case may be) where it can still be fixed. 

I've been screen printing for 15+ years both sign and shirt and I rarely give my customers back more than a 2-3% fall out. If I make a mistake and go over that I strike a deal or replace the damaged shirts. period. Because of this policy I pay more attention to details and make fewer mistakes and my customers are loyal and happy to pay because of it.


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## n.signia (Nov 21, 2007)

post up some pics and we'll be able to offer much better advice.


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## Mang (Apr 21, 2009)

I had 4" tall x 8" wide logo screen printed, some are off center about an inch. is there an industry standard on what range is acceptable? like if a logo is within an inch of being off center in any direction? i know it is different for all prints, but want to know what is reasonable since some room for this type of thing needs to be known.


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## amp267 (Oct 11, 2006)

in inch is ok, as long as its not all of them. like people stated above, not all shirts are made perfect.


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## TshirtGuru (Jul 9, 2008)

Mang said:


> I just had a local printer print some shirts for me. they look pretty bad in my opinion. what can i accept as ok if they are off center? i know that not all can be perfect, but what off-center amount is ok? some are .5" off, and a few are even 1" off....


0.5 to 1.0" is nothing out of the norm. Remember, each shirt isn't created equal, none of them are...

Plus, these shirts are loaded by humans, humans aren't perfect either. 

The same printers who print Ed Hardy or Marc Ecko, print for normal John Doe as well. It's just the reality. 

I had a lady order 100 shirts with glitter print etc, it was a very fancy print. She got them and went home, a day later she called back asking why all her shirts were crooked and slanted by 1" on one side. She complained and yelled and wanted me to drive an hour to where she was to pick up the shirts and reprint them in one day. I said, hell no, we have samples at our shop and everything measures fine. I literally took a ruler and measured the graphic to the neck line and things were great, maybe 0.25" off. A hour later she calls back saying her husband was calling her crazy (he used to work at a screen print shop himself) and said she was being unreasonably picky. I'm so glad he KNEW the realities of screen printing. 

Anyhow, the funniest part was, she called again to apoligize that they were in fact all printed CORRECTLY. She then commented on how great the shirts were. She had her husband wear them and they were all centered and straight. Her husband had to remind her that she had shoulder surgery a couple years back so her shoulders weren't even. I also realized her last name and she had mentioned she was related to a famous person (I didn't believe her, but when I researched her name, her photo came up on a family blog). I had the biggest laugh that day.

Sorry, thought the story was somewhat related to the topic.


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## ionclothing (Apr 13, 2009)

Sometimes, the customer really isn't always right. To be frank, I hate that motto so many companies chant: "the customer is always right".

I've found that people outside the industry often don't have a clue to how the "shirt making" process works. They don't understand that other customers have placed orders before them and are thus in line after them. They don't understand that 1 custom shirt is much more cumbersome/pricey to print versus 100 shirts (unless you have a DTG). And they definitely don't understand that errors happen and nothing can be absolutely, "supercalifragilisticexpialidociously" pefect everytime.

Most also expect a product of Mercedes-quality at the price of a Kia.

I know I'm going off a rant, but the past couple weeks have been pretty crazy and today was capped off by some a-hole who has a problem with a 1/8th inch defect on the front logo of his 10 shirt order. Although his first 23 shirt order was perfect, now he is treating the defect as a end-all-be-all for needing shirts reprinted and a credit towards future orders. 

Seriously thinking about taking a picture of my bare butt and sending it to him with "kiss this" in bold script typed below. Thoughts?


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## kirkmansigns (Jun 22, 2007)

ionclothing said:


> Sometimes, the customer really isn't always right. To be frank, I hate that motto so many companies chant: "the customer is always right"


I agree. These are the customers that you hope never come back. As to a design printing 1/2" off center.... this is just being way too picky. The only thing a screen printer has to judge a shirt being centered on the board is the collar and the fold line down the shirt, and neither are always 100% centered. And to compound the problem, printing 2X, 3X, 4X shirts makes it even more difficult to "center the shirt" because there is so much shirt hanging off each side. People need to get a life and understand it's just a freekin t-shirt that they already expect you to print for less money to start with.


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## zora (Aug 31, 2012)

I just bought 600 shirts for resale. 5 different colors, 5 different sizes and 5 different prints. Very simple black prints in the front of the shirts. The black shirts got the same prints in white. 
I also had my company logo printed on the bottom of each shirts right above the seam on the left side.

I picked up the shirts and started selling them. The first few were returned for being off center. I took a closer look at the shirts and started realizing that a lot of them were off center by 1" and more. Some were bent, some had ink stains, some white shirts brown burn marks. On some shirts the ink was very thin whilst on others the ink was too thick. The black shirts partially have soooo much white ink on it that it looks like there is some sort of embelishment on it. 

The bottom logos are all over the place. Some cut off because of the seam but I'm not even too worried about that. I care more about the off center print, the too thick or missing ink, the ink stains or the bent designs. 

I would say that at least 100 shirts out of the 600 are messed up! We agreed to put the design about 1" below the v-neck of the shirt. Some are right under the v and some are about 2" below. 

As what would this sreen printing job qualify? I'm still going through the rest of the 600 shirts but this is not what expected having to do.


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## ionclothing (Apr 13, 2009)

Sounds like your printer might have had "one too many" the night before.

Seriously, that is just poor workmanship to see burn marks and ink deposits/thickness so inconsistent. 

The design placement is always going to vary for each and every shirt. An experienced printer will have very little variance, but someone who is just throwing shirts on the press with no care will obviously have very inconsistent placement.

I would definitely bring up your concerns with your printer. And a little tip, you can use peroxide to remove some scorch marks.


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## zora (Aug 31, 2012)

I did the peroxide but with all the rest of the work involved I'm just not in the mood to clean up after their mess...
Very disappointing. I asked the guys before what their return policy was and what if they messed up some shirts? He looked at me like this was impossible to happen and said "you know, we're pretty good at this"!


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