What is the Spreadshirt Designer and how can I make my own t-shirt here?
With the Spreadshirt Designer you can design and order your own t-shirts and other products from our apparel assortment. There is no minimum order: you're free to order just one, individually printed shirt.
- Choose a t-shirt from our selection. You don’t know which size you need? Find out by clicking on the small information mark next to the product name. Details of the weight and manufacturing can be found there as well.
- Choose a design. You can upload your own photography, or pick one out from our Design Network (see Spreadshirt Marketplace). To find out which designs you can upload to the Spreadshirt Designer, have a look at this FAQ item. For basic info on designs for Spreadshirt, click here.
- But text can also be nice. Choose a font and write what you want. Your design and text can be turned, mirrored or enlarged within the given print area.
- Once the t-shirt looks like you want, proceed to check out and order it.
Every personally designed article is an original: Your design will be placed on the t-shirt according to your instructions. Since this action is not automated, it is possible that there could be minor alterations. Also, it's possible that the design will look smaller or larger in reality. This is because the t-shirt example shown is always a fixed size (often "medium", sometimes "small").
See how the final price of your t-shirt is calculated. Read the explanation here.
How do I use Spreadshirt's Graphics Service?
What we offer
Our graphics service offers you an opportunity to create a printable template of design t-shirts of your choice. We can render pixel graphics files of yours into vector graphics to prepare them for plotting. We can also optimize vector graphics files so that they comply with our plotting criteria. You can be sure that we will try our best to meet your wishes and requests, in some cases it's even possible to vectorize hand-drawn designs!
How to use it
To avail yourself of our service, you first need to create a user account. This is completely free of charge.
Having done this, you will find the Graphics Service form if you go to Designs -> Graphics Service. Here you can upload your template and then send it to us. A host of different file formats are possible, e.g. jpg, png, gif, bmp, eps, ai, cdr, svg, psd, pdf.
You will also find a field where you can specify the size your design should have for print. If you leave the field empty, we will try to keep the size down as much as possible. In case you would like to add any requests for customization, you can leave a comment in a special field.
Within 2-5 business days, we will have completed your t-shirt design and it will be available in your user area. You will get a confirmation email including an invoice in the attachment. Then you can print your design on vintage t-shirts , custom sweatshirts , hoodies and jackets.
The Graphics Service is available for $19.99. You can use all methods of payment available at Spreadshirt, and you can also redeem coupons. As soon as the design is available in your user area, we will debit the amount (unless you choose to pay upfront or with PayPal).
What we can't do
We always try our best to realize your requests. But sometimes there are obvious reasons that restrain us from working on a design. These could be due to:
- legal obligations speaking against it (copyrights, personal rights, constitutional rights)
- a template with a resolution which is too low to be rendered properly
- a design containing elements which are too lacy or thin to be printed
In these cases we will need to cancel the order, and you will get a notification by email. Depending on your method of payment, the money will be transferred back to your account or it will not be debited in the first place. The same is true for designs that have been reworked twice but failed to meet your expectations.
What you can expect
Example: photo designs (People, objects etc.)
In our example below, you can see how a photo was rendered into a monochromatic vector graphics file. Note: Spreadshirt offers up to 3 colors for plotting. It is important to consider which elements the final graphics should contain. As a consequence, landscape photos featuring many different colors are usually up against impossible odds and will have to be denied.
Example: Logo & Text Designs
These designs often require intense research to detect the original typeface. If possible, please supply the name of the font that you used. In case this should not be possible, we will try to find a similar typeface or a font which is more suitable for plotting.
You can also send us a hand-drawn design. We will try our best to vectorize it as good as we can.
Articles in this category
- How do I convert a pixel design to a vector design for plot printing (Flex / Flock)?
- How do I create a pixel design (e.g. from a photo) that meets all requirements for digital printing?
- How do I create a vector design that will meet all the requirements for a plot printing (Flex / Flock) format?
- How do I get the best printing quality with a multi-colored vector design?
- How do I increase the (dpi) resolution of my pixel graphic and reduce the file size below 10 MB?
- How do I use Spreadshirt's Graphics Service?
- What are the most common errors when submitting a vector design?
- What are transparent backgrounds and how do I use them?
- What are vector and pixel graphics?
- Why was my vector design rejected by Spreadshirt’s Designs Service?