We understand there are many ways to create our images and also know that putting them on a tee isn’t always the sole reason for their creation.
We receive everything from files built for the big screen from the studios to scans of hand-drawn sketches for school kids. Ultimately, our goal is to put them onto a shirt using only a limited amount of colors and since it’s quite an involved process, providing the optimal file format is always a wise choice.
Here’s a breakdown of what kind of file to provide dependent on how it was created but first, let’s start with the unacceptable formats.
Unacceptable file formats – For the purpose of screen-printing would be anything created in a Microsoft Office program. This includes Word, Power Point, Excel and basically all the rest.
Faxes and sketches are also not considered acceptable art due to the fact that they have a LOT of work required to get them up to par.
Most images taken from a website are normally 72 dpi and not considered acceptable art. Unless you know the file is large in size and high resolution, please be forewarned that most web images require quite a bit of work to make “printable” and will incur art charges.
Also, some images are simply impossible to recreate accurately.
ACCEPTABLE FILE FORMATS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
PHOTOSHOP – Please save as a PSD with all layers intact, at final print size and at 300 dpi.
ILLUSTRATOR – Please save at final print size, outline all fonts and whenever possible, call out desired PMS colors using the Pantone Solid Coated color book available with Illustrator. No need to save as a PDF or EPS file. AI is fine and recommended.
FLAT IMAGES – TIF, TIFF, BMP, JPG, JPEG, PNG, TGA, EPS, etc,. The important aspect to these file formats is their resolution. 300 dpi at final print size is desired.
IN DESIGN – Please save InDesign files as an EPS, outline all fonts and simply send the EPS file and linked artwork. Please do not send fonts.
FIREWORKS, FREEHAND, CORELDRAW, ETC, – Please export as EPS and make sure all fonts are outlined / converted.
Ready to send us your art? You can send us your file by uploading it to our dropbox account.
