What Logo Files We Need to Print Your Order

Most delays on a custom apparel order are not production delays. They are artwork delays. Someone sends the logo they had on hand, it turns out to be a small image pulled off a website, and the whole job waits while a usable version is found or rebuilt. Knowing what logo files work for printing before you order removes the single most common bottleneck in the process.

The short version

Send the largest, cleanest original you have, ideally vector, with a transparent background. If you only remember one thing: the file your designer built the logo in is the file we want, not the one that ended up on your website.

Vector versus raster, and why it matters

Vector

Vector artwork is built from mathematical paths rather than pixels. It can be scaled to any size with no loss of quality at all. A vector logo works equally well on a left chest print and across a full back.

Common vector formats: AI, EPS, SVG, and PDF when the PDF was exported from vector artwork rather than built from an image.

This is the ideal. If you have it, send it.

Raster

Raster artwork is made of pixels. It has a fixed resolution, and enlarging it past that point produces soft or blocky edges. Photographs are always raster, and plenty of logos exist only as raster.

Common raster formats: PNG, JPG, TIFF, PSD.

Raster is perfectly printable. It just has to be big enough to start with.

How big does a raster file need to be?

The rule is about the pixels in the file relative to the size it will be printed, not the file size in megabytes.

A practical way to think about it: your artwork should be roughly 300 pixels per inch at the finished print size. A front print at 12 inches wide wants artwork around 3,600 pixels wide. A left chest print at 5 inches wants around 1,500 pixels.

That is why a logo lifted from a website rarely works. Web images are built to load fast, so they are usually a few hundred pixels wide. That is fine on a screen and nowhere near enough for a chest print. More detail in how to prepare artwork for DTG printing.

Transparent backgrounds

This catches people out constantly. A JPG cannot hold transparency. Every JPG has a background, and if your logo looks like it is on white, that white is part of the image.

Print that on a black shirt and you get your logo sitting inside a white rectangle.

For anything with a shaped edge, send a PNG with a genuine transparent background, or vector. If you are not sure whether yours is transparent, open it and look at it against a dark background.

Things that quietly cause problems

• A screenshot of the logo. Always too low resolution, and usually has background baked in.
• A logo inside a document. Pulling it out of a Word file or a slide deck degrades it. Find the original.
• Fonts that are not outlined. If you send vector artwork with live text, the type can shift unless the fonts are converted to outlines or supplied with the file.
• Very fine detail at small sizes. Hairline strokes and tiny text that look fine on a screen can disappear at a 5 inch chest print. Scale matters.
• Artwork that was already resized up. Enlarging a small file does not add detail back. It just makes the softness bigger.

What to do if you do not have a good file

This is extremely common and it is not a blocker. A few options, roughly in order of preference.

1. Ask whoever designed it. Agencies and freelancers keep source files, often long afterwards.
2. Check your brand folder. Logos are frequently exported in several formats and filed somewhere nobody remembers. Companies running one apparel program across several sites usually keep the cleanest versions filed centrally.
3. Have it rebuilt. A logo can be redrawn as clean vector from a low resolution reference. Our in house design team can do this, and once it exists you own a file that will work forever.

It is worth doing properly once. A good vector logo is reusable for every order you place from then on, on any garment at any size. It is also the first asset to hand over, which is why it sits near the top of what to settle when you take on a new apparel vendor.

Color

Screens emit light and fabric does not, so a color can look slightly different printed than it does on your monitor. If an exact brand color matters, tell us the reference rather than describing it, and request a sample before a large run so you can see it on the actual garment. That single reference is what keeps a brand looking the same at every site. Printing on dark fabric behaves differently again, which we cover in printing on dark garments.

Frequently asked questions

What file format is best for printing a logo on shirts?

Vector is the best format for printing a logo on shirts, which means AI, EPS, SVG, or a PDF exported from vector artwork. Vector scales to any print size with no loss of quality, so one file covers a left chest mark and a full back print. If you only have raster, send the largest original PNG you have with a transparent background.

Can you print a logo from a JPG?

Yes, we can print from a JPG as long as it is large enough, but a JPG cannot hold a transparent background. That means a logo with a shaped edge will print inside a visible rectangle on a colored garment. For anything other than a square or a full bleed image, send a PNG with real transparency or vector instead.

What resolution does my logo need to be to print on a shirt?

Your artwork should be roughly 300 pixels per inch at the finished print size. For a 12 inch front print that means about 3,600 pixels wide, and for a 5 inch left chest print about 1,500 pixels. A logo taken from a website is almost always only a few hundred pixels wide, which is nowhere near enough.

What if my logo is low resolution and I cannot find the original?

We can rebuild your logo as clean vector from whatever reference you have, including a low resolution image. Our in house design team handles it, and it only needs doing once. Afterwards you own a file that scales to any garment at any size for every order you place.

Do you check artwork before printing?

Yes, we review every file before production and tell you plainly if it will not hold up at the size you want. That is better than printing it and letting you discover the problem when the box arrives. Whether a supplier does that at all is worth asking, along with the rest of the questions worth putting to a supplier. See the design guide for specifics.