Local print shops for shirts: Why Customized T Shirts are Essential to the Growth of Your Business?

local print shops for clothing merlin embroidery
Local print shops for clothing merlin embroidery

We are small businesses heaven

Customized shirts continue to gain popularity. Experience shows that when the economy slows, more advertising is needed to shore up more business. We specialize in custom t-shirt printing of shirts, jackets, hoodies, and shop shirts for small businesses of 5-50 employees. We offer over 7000 different wearable clothing styles and non-wearable promotional items, like pens and mugs, calendars, magnets, and other fun giveaways to promote your unique branding and business.  

From the desk of local shirt print shops owner

I’m the owner of a local print shop for customized t-shirts. What’s remarkable is that I have seen over the years the full positive impact that branded garments can have on an organization, event, or business. I’ll bet you’re like me, you dream about your team cooperating, working together, maximizing their productivity, and being happy and fulfilled in their roles within the organization. How to cultivate and retain happy productive and talented employees has been an obsession with me since 1992 when my business first opened.

For nearly 30 years as an owner of a custom t-shirt printing shop, I have worked with other business owners and teams to help them translate their current branding into t-shirt style printing that sends a message to the community.

Set a productive tone with custom t-shirt printing

Metrics like productivity and cooperation go way up when you give a business or team branded wearables—a fulfilling pride of ownership and an increased sense of belonging when you introduce uniforms into an organization. Depending on the type of decoration you employ, either printed t-shirts and hoodies or embroidery for hats or polos or jackets, you set a tone for the organization. The expectations for customized printed t-shirts are more casual and relaxed. In contrast, the style for custom branded embroidered polos or full button-down dress shirts conveys more discipline, a more serious tone, and richness to a business. When you call your local print shop for shirts, you know you have found the right one when they ask you a few simple questions. An excellent local print shop is not just an order taker. They can help you to bring your vision to reality.

The conversation brings ideas to the table

If you are open-minded to the idea, you could call us to discuss the goal of the decorated apparel you are interested in ordering. Experience shows that in a 3-5 minute conversation, with the right questions asked, we can discover if you need new branding or can stay with your current branding. If you don’t have a unique brand, we can quickly help you create your unique look.  

What is our preliminary step to making your printed shirt?

We’ll ask you a few questions to describe the event for which you are ordering shirts. Remember, everything your crew wears reflects upon your business and the business culture. For example, Google and Apple consistently order printed t-shirts because they want the culture to be relaxed and casual, even though they dominate the tech business world. So there is calm confidence that comes with success. When you visit the Apple store or Google campus, it’s evident that they are earnest about business and are single-minded in making customer experience a top priority. What is everyone wearing? They are wearing a custom printed t-shirt with the company branding or icon.

How to find the local print shops for shirts?

You can find custom printing in San Diego and a t-shirt print shop near you by simply Googling. Check out the reviews and ratings, then make a call. If the person that picks up the phone is grumpy and abrupt, you may want to keep dialing until you find a t-shirt print shop for custom printing that is right for you.

Top 3 questions you need to ask before giving the order for custom shirts as a business owner

Stop then for a moment and imagine the company or organizational culture and vibe you are trying to make as a business owner or leader. Write down a few must-haves that go with your project. As the owner of a local print shop for shirts, I have these conversations every day, all day long.

  1. When is the event?
  2. What is the goal of the event?
  3. What do you imagine you want your crew to look like at the event?

Most importantly, what would it mean to you and the success of your organization if we could pull that off and make your vision a reality? Every great goal or achievement begins with an idea.

Please take a moment to think, what if? My entire business has been built on what-if scenarios? You can find local print shops for shirts. They can always print shirts if you want apparel for sports, commemorative shirts, or any designs for your needs.

Importance of the custom shirts to your business

local print shops screen printed t shirts Merlin embroidery
Local print shops screen printed t shirts Merlin embroidery

Printed T-shirts can make a statement to the world. One of the great things is that the message is going out to the community 24/7. That statement is unique to you and your organization. Primarily, if you design the shirt yourself, you have a say in the final product. Customized T-shirts display the wearer’s choice of image, logo, or typography unique to them. It’s a sure way to show your artistic skills to the public eye by printing your ideas on a shirt. 

Here are some reasons why printed and customized T-shirts are more popular now than ever. More importantly, finding local print shops for shirts to print your logo can be your project partner for this.

Sports Teams and Other Organizations can partner with local print shops for clothing to do free advertising.

If you look around, many sports teams have the team’s name printed on the casual wear, namely their shirts, hoodies, etc. Wearing the shirt with your team’s name printed on it is an excellent way to advertise it. This type of sponsorship is not exclusive to sports clubs. Your organization’s logo or slogan can be printed on a shirt to show the world and the local community more importantly.

How Can Custom Tees Help With Branding? (Free and inexpensive advertising)

It’s free or very inexpensive advertising every time someone wears it in public. For example, you see local community fun runs and more popular televised races. All race shirts have a list of sponsors on the back of the shirt or the sleeve printed—race shirts, worn with the pride of accomplishment. The public will see that sponsor logo on the back of the race shirt for as long as the shirt is worn.

Affiliate with famous brands to get more eyeballs on your custom logo (Brand Recognition)

local shirt print shops merlin embroidery market your business with custom printed t-shirts
Local shirt print shops merlin embroidery market your business with custom printed t-shirts

You see Nike or Adidas on sportswear sold to the public, right? You can replicate what they are doing to some extent. Your team or organization can have the T-shirts and hoodies printed with the organization’s custom logo. An excellent way to advertise your brand and affiliate it with a more prominent household name like Nike or Adidas is to add your unique logo to an already branded Nike shirt. We want to affiliate with brands we already know and like, or in my case, brands I love. Like TV advertising which gets the public’s eyes on the brand and gets the brand imprinted in their minds.  

Entrepreneurs can Partner with local print shops for artists’s designs.

Get a discount by allowing the sponsor’s logo on your design

If you own a local print shop for shirts like I do, we offer a discount on bulk orders for community events and organizations with whom we affiliate. For a dollar off, we put our Merlin Embroidery logo on the sleeve of the shirts. I know it doesn’t seem like much. However, we do fun run and race shirts for orders of as many as 10-20,000 shirts. If you had a chance to save $10,000, would you say yes to a sponsorship opportunity? You could potentially have a discounted price if you want to persuade customers to wear the clothing that displays your brand.

Affiliate with local print shops

If you do not have your store, you can still organize the sponsorship and get advertisers to pitch in on the cost of event shirts. Communicate your vision to and hire local print shops for shirts to add the sponsors’ logos on the back of the shirts. When you print in bulk, you keep costs low. Once you have one sponsor, you gain momentum and can then more easily add other sponsors. We have worked with event organizers for years, some of which have never actually paid any of their own money to print shirts, yet they have ordered shirts every month for years and years.

Event organizers get printed t-shirts free of cost and earn $4 per shirt

How do they do that? The contributions they receive for sponsorship placement on custom printed t-shirts if more than they pay for the final t-shirts. Say, for example, they have 13 sponsors and receive $1 per shirt per sponsor.

In contrast, they pay $9 for the final printed t-shirts for an event. The difference is $4 per shirt, and they have an order for 1000 shirts. That is a $4000 profit, and what did it cost them, a few phone calls. What could you do with an extra $4000 every month? Would an additional $48,000 income make a change in your life? Partnering with a local print shop for sponsored events is a great way to get discounts on bulk orders. 

Build Your Own T-Shirt Business

local print shops for shirts merlin embroidery knowledgeable staff
Local print shops for shirts merlin embroidery knowledgeable staff

You can also build your own shirt business with your custom clothing line in mind. Creating your clothing line will give you profits, but more importantly, it will help you build relationships with local t-shirt print shops. Before you know it, you’ll be an insider, creating whatever projects you can envision. Then one day, you realize you have just built yourself your own business! It’s not as easy to build a business. I’m evidence that growing a small business can be done with a bit of drive and enthusiasm, and you can do it too.

Earn money with dropshipping for custom printed t-shirts

Alternatively, you can take orders from your customers and then pass these onto the local print shops for shirts. Experience shows that your focus and energies toward that focus tend to grow once you are in business. Be open-minded to the idea of talking with other business owners to discover what their needs are like I do every day. You’ll find that they also need customized branded clothing. Once you work in the print shops for the shirts business, you’ll find it’s a creative way to make sales. It’s very fulfilling to help others make their dreams and visions come true. 

Conclusion and Summary

There are many ways to use customized printed t-shirts and decorated apparel to promote businesses, community events, and organizations. All it takes is your creativity, communication, and imagination, and you can build a thriving business. With a critical eye for design and contact with local print shops for shirts you can partner with, then you are on your way to success. Experience shows that when you help others get what they want, your success will soon follow. In this service industry, you can be a creative artist and an accomplished salesperson. I try to remember that my accomplishments link directly to my successful community building.  

If you are like me, simply asking the right questions to understand the scope of any project, along with following through on what you’ve said you could do for your customers, is the direct path to success. Your communication and relationship with local print shops for shirts and other wearable and non-wearable goods give you the flexibility to deliver branded promotional items that will help build teams, organizations, and communities. Take a moment to visualize how working with local print shops will help you in your business. Pick up the phone and call a few local print shops for shirts and see the tone and feel of the conversations. Relax and trust me after a few calls. You’ll find the right one. If you are like me, you’ll want to find a shop with workers that are positive and energetic, can-do folks. You want to gain a sense of confidence and ease of communication. Discovering the right local print shop can be a game-changer for you and your business.

Frequently asked questions to local print shops

Why was it so hard to deliver orders on time?

At Merlin embroidery, we always ask a few questions to understand your idea about the designs. If you give us the correct input, No matter the quantity, we can deliver your order on time. Because we can print 10 to 10,000 shirts per day in our shop.

Which t-shirt printing techniques are best in quality?

DTG printing is the most durable and direct way to print any design on a t-shirt. On the other hand, screen printing is the go-to for a number of large orders. In a similar vein, our embroidered t-shirts offer premium quality with their special technique. In fact, we have both formats available so that you can get your custom t-shirts made in a style that looks good on you.

How many colors of ink are on the front of a t-shirt?

One way to add a twist to your company’s logo or message is by incorporating colors in your design. Having a slew of colors not only adds a certain appeal but will also drastically increase the price of a garment.

Beware! Choosing too many colors for your t-shirt design could cost you more than you budgeted for.

A typical client will usually find that picking one to three colors for their custom t-shirt design will keep the cost of custom shirts down and ensure that their print order has a good chance of meeting their budget.

How do I place an order?

You can visit our shop located at  La Mesa (eastern San Diego close to San Diego State University), just blocks from Freeway 8, La Mesa Costco, and Kaiser. Or you may reach us over a telephone call at 619-884-9712. Also, you may visit our website to see the 7000+ catalogs at https://www.merlinembroidery.net

How is the price determined?

There are a few factors that determine the price of a custom-printed t-shirt. The design, the setup cost, and the cost of the garment itself are the main factors. In general, the cost of a shirt typically ranges from $5 to $9.

What’s the difference between a sweatshirt and a hoodie?

While both sweatshirts and hoodies are often made with similar fabrics, there is a difference in that the sweatshirt does not have a hood while the hoodie does. Also, sleeves on a sweatshirt are typically fuller than on a hoodie. Sweatshirts are also much less likely to have zippers in the front, which are instead replaced with buttons.

What size can I print on a tee?

Printing a t-shirt logo is generally easy with a standard print size that can print a t-shirt logo size of 12.5″ wide by 14″ tall,. It is common for all such as, men, women, unisex, young medium and large shirts.

What printing method do we use?

Merlin embroidery’s motto is always to provide the best service. While keeping our motto in mind, we recommend our clients to go for either screen printing or embroidery for the best look.

What’s your cell phone?

We are ready to serve you during our working hours. Our typical working hours are Mon-Frid from 9 AM to 5 PM. You can reach out to us over a telephone call at 619-884-9712.

How can I pay for my order?

We accept all sorts of credit cards, bank transfers, and cash transactions.