Print Shops

What is a print shop? A print shop is a storefront operation where short-run printing services are provided. Short run refers to the quantity of garments produced per order: a relatively small number of garments for a particular print. When a local baseball team needs uniforms printed with the players names and numbers on the back — fewer than twenty shirts — that is a short run, and a local t-shirt printing shop is the natural place to have it done. This page explains the term as the apparel trade uses it, where the line between a print shop and a printing factory falls, and which one a given order belongs with.

The word is used loosely, and this page is honest about that. A print shop in Apparel Search terms usually means a local screen printer working on smaller runs for local businesses, schools, team sports and charities. Larger facilities are usually called factories. But size is a tendency, not a definition, and the sections below explain why.

Short Runs: The Print Shop Order

A short run is defined by the order, not by the building. A team needing fewer than twenty printed uniforms, a school ordering shirts for one event, a restaurant putting its logo on staff tees — each job is small, often needed quickly, and usually handled face to face. Local print shops are set up for exactly this: a customer can walk in with artwork or an idea, choose garments from samples, approve the placement and size of the print, and collect the finished shirts locally. Promotional apparel — shirts and garments printed to promote a business, event or cause — is often produced in print shops for the same reasons.

Short-run economics follow from setup. Every screen printed design carries setup work — artwork, screens, press setup — that is spread across the run, so very small quantities cost more per shirt and a shop may set a minimum. Direct to garment printing and heat transfers reduce setup for tiny or full-color jobs, which is why many local shops offer several methods side by side and steer each order to the one that fits its quantity and artwork.

Large Runs: The Printing Factory Order

Contrast the wholesale order. If a major retailer places an order with an apparel wholesaler for printed t-shirts, those tees will most likely be purchased in a large quantity and require a printing factory capable of a large print run — higher quantities, more machinery and larger work spaces for production. The facility prints to a specification, packs to the buyer requirements and ships at scale. The customer relationship is commercial rather than walk-in, and the buying questions are about capacity, consistency and delivered cost per piece.

Neither facility is better in the abstract; each is built for its order size. Sending a twenty-shirt team order to a factory wastes the factory setup, and sending a hundred-thousand-shirt retail program to a storefront shop exceeds its presses, dryers and floor space. Matching the order to the facility is the first decision in custom apparel printing, which is why the custom printing page on this site routes local requirements and industry requirements separately.

Why the Term Is Used Loosely

It is important to note that the term print shop does not necessarily refer to the size and capabilities of the company or facility. Many print shops are limited in size, with less machinery and less room for storage, but an enormous apparel printing factory may still call itself a print shop. When Apparel Search refers to print shops, it is typically — but not always — thinking of local screen printers that work on smaller runs to assist local businesses, schools, team sports and charities; for larger facilities the words factory and factories are used. Buyers should therefore judge a specific business by its equipment, minimums and sample work rather than by the label on its sign.