ALL General Terms & Conditions Apply - see General Terms and Conditions
Artwork Charges: Production ready artwork that is ready to output to separations is required to avoid supplemental artwork charges. Production ready artwork is generally considered to be a vector file that has no bitmap embedded images, is sized to the garments being decorated and has the colors within the design pre-converted to Pantone solid coated colors. Submitted artwork that does not meet that specification will incur additional artwork charges to cover the art departments time in reworking your supplied files. To provide full transparency of additional artwork charges that may be incurred please see the explanations for each of the supplemental artwork charges below.
Types of supplemental artwork charges:
Artwork - Design Creation: The USCW art department is primarily a production art department, however, original design creation may be possible and is billed at $60.00 per hour with a $15.00 minimum.
Artwork - Vectorize a Bitmap File: |f you supply an art file that is not 100% vector based we will redraw your artwork at your request. This service is billed at $60.00 per hour witha $15.00 minimum. Once we receive your artwork, if the file is not 100% vector based, we will place your order on hold and contact you to determine if you would like us to redraw your file or if you will be resubmitting an appropriate file.
Artwork - Edit or Enhance Customer Supplied Vector File:We are happy to make simple edits and enhancements to your vector file at a rate of at $60.00 per hour with a $5.00 minimum. Examples of these types of edits & enhancements would include adding text, changing dates, moving around existing elements within your supplied vector files, and other simple non-creative work.
Artwork - Convert CMYK or RGB to Solid Colors: It is important that within your artwork all colors are Pantone solid colors. Inthe event your artwork is sent to us in CMYK or RGB we can undertake the process of reworking your files to present the colors in the proper solid colors. This service is billed at $60.00 per hour with a $5.00 minimum.
Artwork - Size Artwork to Garment Types: A key element of having production ready artwork is for your artwork to be sized according to how you want the design printed. The imprint size for each location should also be noted on your purchase order. If you fail to provide us with the imprint size or if we need to size your artwork for a specific garment your proof will be delayed. In these situations we may need to wait until the garments have arrived so that we can take measurements to fully understand the print limitations of the garments. In the event you fail to provide the exact imprint size you require or we need to modify a previously submitted art file to accommodate the print size for the actual garments received we will bill for this step at $60.00 per hour with a $5.00 minimum. For non-standard garments that require measurements, we will send you the proof as soon as the garments have been physically measured and any limitations identified. Keep in mind that the same size artwork is used on every size garment within your order unless you direct us to change the print size.
SPOT Process Printing: This is the most common type of color separation and is by far the most popular. Most of the color separations done today are simulated process. Spot Process separations, unlike true process (CMYK) use spot channels and regular plastisol inks to generate a full color image. Spot Process can be printed on white, light and dark shirts. Pricing for spot process is by quote only. This type of work is typically priced as if it is an 8 to 10 color job with associated run charges, screens and films. There is an additional art charge of $60 per hour/$30 minimum for art separation when spot process printing is requested.
Neck Label Printing: Custom neck labels can be printed with a minimum of 6 pieces per size and are priced as a separate print location. You will only be charged one screen and one film for up to 6 sizes. Please keep in mind that neck print will typically show through to the other side of the shirt. This can become especially noticeable when the contrast between the ink color and the shirt color is great. There is an additional location charge for neck label printing.
Old Art Files: USCW maintains art files, for active customers, for two years. Beyond two years new art files may be required.
Ownership of Screens & Films: USCW owns all screens, films, and separation files for output.
Pantone Matching: USCW provides FREE Pantone matching within a 90% tolerance. We can make NO GUARANTEE on an exact match of a previously run job without you providing a decorated unit from the previous run, and even then, withina 90% tolerance.
Pre-production Samples: Pre-production samples are the only way to ensure imprint accuracy as it relates to PMS matching of ink colors for screen printing. USCW will not be responsible for slight shifts in colors without a pre-production proof. When requested and paid for as part of the order, USCW will send out two physical samples, but you are required to send us four blank samples so that we may retaina set for production matching. Pre-production samples are charged at arate of $25.00 per color per location placement.
Artwork - Proof Edits for Order Changes: If you decide to make changes to your design after we have provided your initial proofs, we are happy to make edits and prepare an additional proof(s) at a rate of at $60.00 per hour with a $5.00 minimum.
Artwork - Additional Proofs Requiring Mockups on Multiple Garment Types: Our normal proofing process includes one proof per design. If you would like to see a mockup of your artwork on multiple garment types we are happy to prepare those additional proofs for you at a rate of $60.00 per hour with a $5.00 minimum.
Artwork - Additional Proofs Requiring Mockups for Each Personalization Within an Order: Our normal proofing process includes one proof per design. If your order contains name drops or individual personalization and you would like to see a mockup of each variation we are happy to prepare those additional proofs for you at a rate of $60.00 per hour with a $5.00 minimum.
Artwork - Ink Matchto Garment Colors: When you request that we match any of the ink colors within your design to an element within the actual garments we will delay sending you the proof until your garments have been physically received. Only then can we inspect them to determine the appropriate color(s) to use to meet your request. This service is charged at a rate of $60.00 per hour with a $5.00 minimum.
Colored Garments: All colored garments require an underlay whichis charged as one additional screen and film.
Customer Supplied Separations: Customer supplied separation files require review and approval from our art staff. Please notate the request for separation review on your PO.
Dye Migration on Polyester & Pigment Dyed Goods: Dye migration on polyester and pigment dyed fabrics cannot be 100% avoided and USCW will not be responsible for its occurrence. Dye migration is caused when the dye in the fabric of the garment sublimates and turns into a gas. This gas then tries to escape the garment and can get caught in the ink that is applied to the garment. This can cause the discoloration of the ink. Unfortunately, there is no consistency to when dye migration may occur but is most likely to occur with reds, maroons, kelly green, and darker shades of blue. Dye migration may occur after the ink is cured or in some cases as much as two weeks later. To minimize the likelihood of dye migration, additional production processes and speciality inks are required. USCW cannot control dye migration and is a risk the customer must be willing to accept when printing on any garments containing polyester fibers or garment dyed fabrics.
Four Color Process Printing: This process uses CMYK printing whereby only 4 ink colors are used. Cyan, magenta, yellow and black are layered over each other to print a full range of colors. Exact PMS matching is not possible and this type of printing is not a good choice when there are large solid areas of color in the design. Additionally, USCW only prints 4 color process on WHITE shirts. There is an additional art charge of $60 per hour/$15 minimum for art separation when 4 color process printing is requested.
Printing Tolerance: USCW has a printing tolerance of %” to 1” in any direction. While all technical means are used to control the printing tolerance, there is inherent variances in the process. USCW will not be responsible for these slight variances in design placement.
Printing on Youth and Adult Garments: Keep in mind that the same size artwork is used on every size garment in your order unless you direct us to change the print sizes. If you direct us to modify the print sizes to accommodate the different sizes within your order, your print charges and setup fees willbe based as if these are separate and unique orders.
Reaction to Heat: Keep in mind that all garments are exposed to a high degree of heat to cure the ink. This exposure may cause some slight shrinkage to the apparel. Additionally, some brands of apparel use tags that will curl when exposed to heat. These are both risks inherent to the screen printing process that USCW cannot be responsible for.
Unique Locations: Please understand that printing over seams, zippers, collars, or other unique locations can lead to ink buildup, coverage, and consistency issues. This is an unavoidable occurrence related to these unique locations and USCW will not be responsible for these issues and our normal damage allowance will not apply.
