How to Prepare Artwork for Custom Apparel | Bright Designs St. Joseph MO
- Bright Designs
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
The quality of your finished custom apparel starts with the artwork. Good files produce clean, sharp prints. Blurry or low-resolution files produce blurry prints. Here's what you need to know before you submit your design — and what happens if your artwork isn't print-ready.
Best File Types for DTF Printing
PNG — ideal for DTF. High resolution with a transparent background is perfect.
AI or EPS (vector files) — the gold standard. Scalable to any size without quality loss.
PDF — acceptable if exported at print resolution.
JPG — usable if the resolution is high enough (300 DPI or higher at print size).
Resolution Matters
For DTF printing, your artwork should be at least 300 DPI at the size it will be printed. A logo that looks sharp on a website at 72 DPI will print blurry on a shirt. If you're not sure about your file, send it to us and we'll check it before anything goes to print.
What About Embroidery?
Embroidery requires a different process called digitizing — your artwork is converted into a stitch file that tells the embroidery machine exactly how to sew each element. We do all digitizing in house. You don't need to provide a stitch file — just give us your logo or artwork and we handle the rest. Digitizing fees vary depending on complexity.
What If My Artwork Isn't Print-Ready?
Don't worry — we handle this all the time. If your logo came off a business card, a screenshot, or a low-resolution file, we can recreate it for print. Artwork recreation is available for a fee depending on the complexity of the design. We'll let you know upfront what's needed before any work begins.
No Artwork at All? We Can Build It From Scratch
You don't need to come to us with a finished design. Our in-house graphic design team can create your logo, design your shirt, or build an entire brand identity from a conversation. Logo creation and custom design work is quoted based on scope.
Ready to get started? Send your files or just describe your idea to sales@bdshirts.com, call or text (816) 83-SHIRT, or visit bdshirts.com.
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