When you resell printed apparel, your customer does not blame the printer for a bad run – they blame you. A ten-minute quality check protects your margin, your reorder and your reputation. Here is the checklist we would use if we were the reseller receiving our own boxes, in the order you should run it.
Tired of QC surprises from your current printer?
Every run here gets a digital mockup before press and a count-verified pack-out after. Send your next job and see the difference – same-day pricing, 24-piece minimum.
Before the run: two checks that prevent most disasters
1. Approve a real mockup. Never approve a job from a text description. A proper digital mockup shows the design at exact size, in exact placement, on the exact garment color. If your printer will not produce one before burning screens, that is your answer about the shop.
2. Confirm the spec in writing. Blank style and colors, size curve, ink colors (PMS numbers), locations and print sizes, label/relabel instructions, ship-to and ship-by. One paragraph in an email ends most he-said disputes before they start.
When the boxes arrive: the ten-minute receive
3. Count before you judge. Verify piece counts per size against the packing list before opening every bag. Shortages are easier to resolve when the boxes are still sealed and photographed.
4. Pull a real sample. Take pieces from different boxes and different sizes – not just the top layer. Print flaws cluster: a registration drift or a clogged screen affects a stretch of the run, and the top of box one is the best-looking shirt in the order.
5. Check placement and size against the mockup. Lay a shirt flat, measure from the collar seam, and compare to the approved mockup. Placement should be consistent piece to piece within about a quarter inch – shirts are fabric, not paper, and tiny variance is normal; a print wandering half an inch across the run is not.
6. Inspect the print surface. Look for pinholes, fibers cured into the ink, cracking at fold points and ghost images. Colors should match the approved mockup and the PMS callouts under normal light.
The test almost nobody runs: the wash
7. Wash one shirt before the order ships onward. An undercured print looks perfect on delivery day and cracks or washes out after two cycles – it is the most common serious defect in the industry, and it is invisible until laundering. Wash one sample inside-out, warm, and dry it. Five minutes of machine time against an entire reprint. If you ever wondered why we cure to spec and log dryer temps: this is why.
If something is wrong
8. Document, then call – within days, not weeks. Photos of the flaw, the box labels and the count sheet, plus the approved mockup, make the conversation short. A reputable contract shop reprints legitimate defects without drama; what no shop can fix is a claim on goods that were already decorated, resold and worn. Our own standards – and what we owe you when something is off – are spelled out on the contract screen printing page, and how contract screen printing works covers how to vet a shop before the first order.
Frequently asked questions
How much placement variance is normal in screen printing?
Roughly a quarter inch piece to piece – garments load onto platens by hand and fabric moves. Consistent drift beyond that across the run signals a press or loading problem.
How can I tell if a print is undercured?
You mostly cannot by looking – wash a sample. Cracking, fading or ink transfer after one or two washes means the ink never reached cure temperature through its full thickness.
What should a printed shirt survive?
A properly cured plastisol print should outlive the garment – 50+ washes without cracking or significant fade when washed inside-out on warm.
What counts as a defect versus normal variance?
Defects: wrong colors, wrong placement versus the approved mockup, pinholes and voids, undercure, wrong blanks or counts. Normal: minor shade variance on garment-dyed blanks and placement within a quarter inch.
How fast should I report a problem?
Within a few days of receipt, with photos, and before goods ship onward. Every shop’s ability to make it right shrinks once the order is distributed.
Work with a shop that QCs before you have to
Mockup before press, counts verified at pack-out, cure logged on every run. Send the next job and test us on it.