# Are these printing errors industry standard or should I get a reprint?



## ArtbyTati (Dec 5, 2012)

Hi, I recently got some shirts printed (100) and the majority have printing errors. I don't want to be a **** and complain about things that are industry standard. There are some smears and double image on the seams of a few shirts (this I understand is perfectly acceptable on the seams), what I'm mainly concerned about is the misalignment of the shirts. 
They seem to have used a tank template or pre-cut the design (don't know the terminology here, sorry) so my design is cut off in the tank shape and doesn't go all the way to the seam, which looks really weird since the misalignment is at the neck seem and it's an all-over print. There are also little random spots of ink on a majority of the shirts. A piece of one of the sun rays (the design is a black sun/face pattern) seems to have come off and deposited the ink.
Also the design doesn't go all the way up to the shoulder seems (it's a Jumbo print on XS, S, M, L so it's not like it doesn't fit, just wasn't lined up correctly). 
I'd appreciate any help with what I should request a reprint for and correct terminology so I know what to say when contacting the printer.
The ink used was red and black water based ink printed on 100% cotton American Apparel shirt
Thanks


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## EricDeem (May 7, 2011)

Post up pics of the original artwork and the finished shirt


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## ArtbyTati (Dec 5, 2012)

Can't figure out how to add attachments. Reading the instructions, but there's no manage attachments button under Additional Options :/ Help.


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## Blue92 (Oct 8, 2010)

Just above the text box in the "Reply" area there should be a yellow icon that looks like a mountain. Click it to add an image.


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## ArtbyTati (Dec 5, 2012)

Misprints by Tatiana Capitan | Photobucket

Hope this link works, so you can see the original design and photos of the printed shirts. 

Thanks


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## ArtbyTati (Dec 5, 2012)

Nope, no mountains here. Thanks anyway  Decided to upload them onto Photobucket Misprints by Tatiana Capitan | Photobucket


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## uWantitWear (Nov 4, 2010)

Seriously... How the hell do you post a picture???? I see nothing that looks like a mountain... and theres no image option under "Additional Options"

Could this be a Chrome issue?


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## jeron (Jul 16, 2012)

How many shirts did you order and how many shirts have defects like in the pictures.. 

Sent from my Nexus 6 using T-Shirt Forums


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## freebird1963 (Jan 21, 2007)

I'd be on the phone especially about the ones with smudges. Seriously how many ones you buy from even Walmart with smudges ? NONE so no not a industry standard. Same for the double images. 
Either get your money back or have them redo them, then next time find a company that does them right on the first shot.

Good Luck


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## beanie357 (Mar 27, 2011)

Smudges look like fingerprints.
Art does not look like fits the garments.
Not sure of job specs though.
Little bits of moving after first hit show.
Easily could be done better though.
Depending on spec , piece print may have been the best solution before assembly.


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## artlife (Jan 15, 2010)

ArtbyTati said:


> Misprints by Tatiana Capitan | Photobucket
> 
> Hope this link works, so you can see the original design and photos of the printed shirts.
> 
> Thanks


-the random dots could have been pinholes in the screen. should have been sprayed out.
-an all-over print should be all over, not stop short of the shoulders or the neck.
-no printing over creases/folds.
-no smudges or smears
-one photo looks like the red and black screens are out of registration (minor registration issues are acceptable, you decide if it's a problem or not).
all the shirts with those problems are rejects and not acceptable for retail sale.

If a company is going to say they can do this kind of printing, then they should do it right and not be sloppy. Cotton shirts are very "trainable" and you can set them how you need to inside a template and hold them in place. So I don't see any excuse for giving you these misprints, and they are misprints. It looks like they rushed through the job and really don't care what kind of quality they produce. Make them replace the misprints, and don't give them any future jobs. Be firm.


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## artlife (Jan 15, 2010)

uWantitWear said:


> Seriously... How the hell do you post a picture???? I see nothing that looks like a mountain... and theres no image option under "Additional Options"
> 
> Could this be a Chrome issue?


Click "reply with quote". Above the area where you type are several icons. To the right of text options are insert link (globe with chain links), remove link (chain with red X), email link (letter and envelope) then insert image (square with mountains and sun and yellow sky). Above these are also a white smiley, and a paper clip (insert attachment). When you put your cursor over an icon, a blue square will appear behind to show it's clickable. The insert image looks for the URL of an image online. The insert attachment (paper clip) allow you to upload from your computer.


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## Helvis (Jan 26, 2015)

artlife said:


> Click "reply with quote". Above the area where you type are several icons. To the right of text options are insert link (globe with chain links), remove link (chain with red X), email link (letter and envelope) then insert image (square with mountains and sun and yellow sky). Above these are also a white smiley, and a paper clip (insert attachment). When you put your cursor over an icon, a blue square will appear behind to show it's clickable. The insert image looks for the URL of an image online. The insert attachment (paper clip) allow you to upload from your computer.



There are no insert image or insert attachment options on my toolbar when I post a reply. 

I suspect that you have to have a certain number of posts to have those options enabled. This is only my second post I believe.

After the Insert Email Link icon it shows a speech bubble icon with the help text of "Wrap


> tags around selected text". After the white smiley face there are the undo and redo arrows.
> 
> I would upload a screenshot of my toolbar but...


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## ArtbyTati (Dec 5, 2012)

Just went through all 100 shirts and ALL of them have at least one of the defects shown in the pics, the majority being the neckline misalignment..and the red cheek missing from one of the faces (it was not like this on the original artwork file). If they are otherwise decent they are misaligned and don't go all the way up to the shoulder seam. The artwork does fit the garments; the artwork is 19x33, the largest shirt size printed is 31-1/4" inches long so no reason it wouldn't fit. They seem to have cut the screens in a tank shape with the neckline and arm lines cut out (is this standard?) so if misaligned the artwork gets cut off. If they had just used the full artwork, even if slightly misaligned it wouldn't show and all artwork would go to the seams. I really want to know if the screen is normally cut in the shirt shape? I had never seen that before.


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## artlife (Jan 15, 2010)

Helvis said:


> There are no insert image or insert attachment options on my toolbar when I post a reply.
> 
> I suspect that you have to have a certain number of posts to have those options enabled. This is only my second post I believe.
> 
> ...


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## artlife (Jan 15, 2010)

ArtbyTati said:


> Just went through all 100 shirts and ALL of them have at least one of the defects shown in the pics, the majority being the neckline misalignment..and the red cheek missing from one of the faces (it was not like this on the original artwork file). If they are otherwise decent they are misaligned and don't go all the way up to the shoulder seam. The artwork does fit the garments; the artwork is 19x33, the largest shirt size printed is 31-1/4" inches long so no reason it wouldn't fit. They seem to have cut the screens in a tank shape with the neckline and arm lines cut out (is this standard?) so if misaligned the artwork gets cut off. If they had just used the full artwork, even if slightly misaligned it wouldn't show and all artwork would go to the seams. I really want to know if the screen is normally cut in the shirt shape? I had never seen that before.


I don't know, personally don't print this type of job.
However, if they did tape off parts to fit a shirt, they would have to change for each size, and have the pallet marked so the shirt is in the exact same spot every time. You can't print on nothing so beyond the edges of the garment would have to be something to catch the ink if they didn't tape down the art to fit the shirt. Still no reason for them to look bad. They did a sloppy job.


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## ArtbyTati (Dec 5, 2012)

Okay, so the print size was actually Jumbo (19x33") (I had originally requested a quote for allover but since I was printing on a tank with specs smaller than 19x33 - except for L - we ended up going with Jumbo, as per their suggestion, since that printing size was more than enough to cover the tanks)...I am being told that the reason there is space around the artwork is because of the palette size that the shirts go on for printing. Supposedly an "XS sizing can only fit on a 16in wide palette without causing any warping when printing. If [they] were to size it fully to the 19x33 it would cause major warping of the design on the XS and SM sizing." 
Is this usual? To me it makes no sense that I pay for Jumbo printing (19x33) and I get a print that doesn't cover a tank measuring 17x27.


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## jeron (Jul 16, 2012)

Yeah I would say that if you pay for a 19x33 you should get a 19x33.. If they need to switch pallets then thats fine... Otherwise they shouldn't offer that size..


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## typelt2k (May 23, 2015)

The shirts do look like a rushed sloppy job to me but I am no professional myself.


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## Apostolica (Apr 10, 2009)

Yeah it looks like a pretty sloppy job and it looks like they haven't really been awake at the wheel when printing the job. I would be taking the entire job back to them and going through them one at a time and pointing out the errors and asking them how they would feel if they got shirts like this from someone.
The only card I can see them play to try and get out of redoing the job or giving you your money back is they may have a get out of jail card on their website somewhere like the one I have on mine explaining that during the printing process **** can happen. ( see below for mine )

(( During the printing and airbrushing stages there may be some places where there is no ink ( ie: sometimes the print is effected by the seems in shirts ) or spots of ink that aren't necessarily part of the design. The artist tries to minimise these issues but some differences from the photo's on the website will occur from time to time as each garment is created individually. These minor differences are not to be looked at as a problem but as extra appeal as the shirts are all unique in their own right. ))

Now that isn't an effort to camoflauge bad printing as when printing All Over the garment some of the issues are that ink goes onto the pallet and if you dont wipe it off before you put the next shirt down some contamination can occur, that being said I personally may have ten shirts out of a hundred that have some very minor ink spots on them but nothing really awful that would warrant the shirts to be redone etc.
Things like smudges for me usually occur when I have not cleaned my hands properly after wiping clean the pallet and I contaminate the next shirt or when lifting the shirt from the pallet it jumps off the pallet and hits itself. 
All that being said there is only one excuse an All Over printer can give you for a shirt that has misaligned printing and thats that it moved between colours, what I mean by that is when you print the red in your design and then lift the screen to go to your next screen being black is the shirt follows the screen up a bit moving it from it's original position thus creating bad redgistration. ( A common issue on belt printers. ) Usually with All Over printing multiple colours All Over the garment an Anomister is used to spray a sticky corn starch mix on the inside of the shirt making it stick to one another ( which is not important for your shirts as they were jumbo printed on multiple pallets - so sayeth your printer ) The sticky corn starch dissolves when it goes through your drying tunnel.
I have never had issues with customers coming back to me with shirts that they weren't happy with because of above issues.
It could also be that the person who printed these shirts for you is just so under the pump with orders that he can't keep up and his standards are dropping as a result. Still not an excuse just a thought I had.

If he does try to use the get out of jail card with you simply say to him that you have done your research on this forum and have spoken to other printers who do jumbo and All Over printing and they all say that about 5-10 shirts per hundred with minor differences is acceptable and anything over that is just bad printing and you should be given new shirts or money back.

Hope this has helped.


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## djque (Feb 5, 2013)

looks like they cleaned the screen but left ink on it still. the misalignment might be from the raised area from our tanks that make it do that. also you have red and black dots on the shirt. so I would request a reprint.

to add a image (go Advance) scroll down and you will see attach files (manage attachments) click that and add photo.

same with respond with quote.


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## micleross (Mar 25, 2014)

*Not a standard that I am aware of..... looks like shabby work.... I see a smear like that it goes in the reject bin. This is not good work. :-/ *


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## DigitalInkArts (Jul 20, 2011)

The printed image going down the neckline doesn't even match the left side. That printer did a crap job all around.

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## Preston (Mar 21, 2006)

uWantitWear said:


> Seriously... How the hell do you post a picture???? I see nothing that looks like a mountain... and theres no image option under "Additional Options"
> 
> Could this be a Chrome issue?


Use the "Inset Image" icon or you can just type it in like this.


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