Glossary

The custom merch glossary

Ordering branded merch comes with its own vocabulary — print methods, fabric specs, and the terms that show up on a quote. Here's what they all mean, in plain English.

Get a free quote Browse products

Decoration methods

Screen printing: A decoration method where ink is pressed through a stencil (screen) onto a garment, one screen per color.; Screen printing pushes ink through a fine mesh stencil onto fabric, with a separate screen burned for each color. It carries a one-time setup per color but a very low cost per piece, so it's the most economical choice for large runs and for bold or large graphics. It produces flat, vivid, durable color that holds up for years of washing.
Embroidery: Decoration that stitches your logo directly into the fabric with thread for a raised, premium finish.; Embroidery recreates your logo in stitched thread rather than ink, giving a raised, textured, premium finish that catches the light. It's the most durable decoration there is — stitches don't crack, peel, or fade — and the standard for a left-chest logo on polos, quarter-zips, and caps. It's best suited to simple, bold marks; very fine detail and gradients don't translate to thread.
DTG (direct-to-garment): Digital printing that sprays ink directly onto a garment, like an inkjet printer for fabric.; Direct-to-garment (DTG) printing uses a specialized inkjet to print full-color artwork straight onto a garment with no per-color setup. That makes it ideal for detailed, photographic, or many-colored designs and for small quantities. The trade-off is a higher per-piece cost that doesn't drop at volume the way screen printing does, so it's less economical for large runs.
Heat transfer: A method that applies a pre-printed design onto fabric using heat and pressure.; Heat transfer presses a design — printed onto a special film or vinyl — onto a garment with heat and pressure. It handles detailed, full-color art and personalization (like individual names and numbers) well, and works on items that are hard to screen print. It's a flexible choice for small quantities and one-offs.
Deboss / emboss: Pressing a logo into (deboss) or raising it out of (emboss) a material like a leather patch or cover.; Debossing presses your logo down into a surface, leaving a recessed impression; embossing raises it up instead. Both create a tactile, understated, premium mark without ink — common on leather patches, bags, and packaging where a subtle, high-end finish is the goal.
Digitizing: Converting a logo into a stitch file that an embroidery machine can read.; Digitizing is the one-time step of turning your artwork into an embroidery stitch file — mapping out stitch type, direction, and density so the machine reproduces the logo cleanly. It's usually a small setup fee on the first embroidery order; once digitized, the file is kept on hand for fast, consistent reorders.
PMS / Pantone match: Matching ink or thread to an exact Pantone (PMS) color so your brand color is reproduced accurately.; The Pantone Matching System (PMS) is a standardized set of color references. Specifying a PMS number lets a decorator mix ink or pick thread to hit your exact brand color across products and reorders, rather than guessing from a screen. It's the reliable way to keep brand colors consistent on merch.
Die-cut: Cutting a sticker or label to the exact custom shape of its artwork, rather than a square or circle.; A die-cut sticker is trimmed to follow the outline of the design itself, so the finished shape matches your logo instead of sitting on a visible rectangle. It looks cleaner and more custom, which is why die-cut stickers are the kind people actually choose to display on laptops and bottles.
DTF (direct-to-film): A print method that transfers a full-color design from a printed film onto fabric with heat.; Direct-to-film (DTF) prints your artwork onto a special film, then heat-presses it onto the garment. It reproduces detailed, full-color art with no per-color setup and works on cotton, poly, and blends alike, which makes it flexible for small runs and mixed fabrics. Compared with DTG it sits on top of the fabric rather than soaking in, giving a slightly heavier hand.
Plastisol vs. water-based ink: Two screen-printing inks: plastisol sits on top of the fabric for bold, opaque color; water-based soaks in for a soft, vintage feel.; Plastisol is the workhorse screen-printing ink — it cures on top of the fabric, so colors stay bright and opaque on any garment color and it's forgiving to print. Water-based ink dyes into the fibers instead, giving a much softer, almost printless hand that's popular on premium and retail-style tees, though it needs more care on dark garments. The choice is a look-and-feel trade-off, not a price tier.
Underbase: A base layer of white ink printed first so colors stay bright and opaque on dark garments.; An underbase is a white ink layer laid down under a design before the colors are printed, so those colors don't get muddied by a dark shirt showing through. It's a standard step in screen printing on colored or black garments and adds one screen to the setup. It's the reason a bright print looks the same on black as it does on white.

Apparel & fabric

GSM: Grams per square meter — a measure of fabric weight; higher GSM means a thicker, heavier garment.; GSM (grams per square meter) describes how heavy a fabric is. A light summer tee might sit around 140–160 GSM, while a heavyweight tee runs 180+ and a hoodie fleece can exceed 300. Higher GSM generally signals a denser, more durable, more premium-feeling garment — which is why blank weight is one of the biggest drivers of how merch feels.
Blank: The undecorated garment or product before your logo is added.; A blank is the plain item — the tee, hoodie, tote, or tumbler — before any decoration. The quality of the blank (its weight, fit, fabric, and hand) is the single biggest factor in whether merch gets worn or thrown in a drawer, which is why choosing the right blank matters more than almost anything else.
Ringspun cotton: Cotton spun into a finer, smoother, softer yarn than standard open-end cotton.; Ringspun cotton is made by twisting and thinning the cotton fibers into a softer, smoother, stronger yarn. The result is a tee that feels noticeably softer and holds detail better than a basic open-end cotton shirt. It's a common marker of a more premium blank.
Cotton-poly blend: Fabric made from a mix of cotton and polyester to balance softness, durability, and shrink resistance.; A cotton-poly blend combines the soft, breathable hand of cotton with polyester's durability, wrinkle and shrink resistance, and color retention. Blends (and tri-blends, which add rayon) drape well and resist shrinking, making them a popular middle ground between an all-cotton and an all-synthetic garment.
Unisex fit: A standard cut designed to suit most body types, as opposed to men's- or women's-specific fits.; A unisex (or standard) fit uses one cut intended to work across body types, which keeps a group order simple — everyone picks the same style in their size. Men's and women's fits are tailored differently through the shoulders, chest, and waist. Many orders mix unisex for simplicity with fitted options where it matters.
Quarter-zip: A pullover with a short zipper at the collar — a polished, professional layer.; A quarter-zip is a pullover with a zipper running roughly a quarter of the way down from the collar. The half-zip collar reads as professional and considered, which makes it the default for executive gifts, client appreciation, and corporate teams that want apparel a notch above a hoodie.
Crewneck: A hoodless sweatshirt with a round neckline — the cleaner alternative to a hoodie.; A crewneck is a sweatshirt with a round (crew) neckline and no hood or drawstrings. It offers the same warmth as a hoodie in a cleaner, more elevated silhouette that layers well and photographs sharp — a favorite for founder kits, client gifts, and premium brand merch.

Drinkware & bags

Double-wall insulation: Two layers of steel with a vacuum gap that keeps drinks hot or cold for hours.; Double-wall (vacuum) insulation uses two layers of stainless steel separated by a vacuum, which dramatically slows heat transfer. It's what lets an insulated tumbler or bottle keep coffee hot through a morning of meetings or drinks cold all afternoon — the feature that makes branded drinkware get daily use.
Wrap print: A decoration that wraps continuously around the body of a tumbler, bottle, or mug.; A wrap print decorates the full circumference of a piece of drinkware rather than a single panel, so the logo or design is visible from any angle. On insulated tumblers and bottles it's applied as a durable, everyday-use finish sized to the product (hand or top-rack washing keeps printed drinkware looking best).
Canvas weight (oz): The thickness of a tote's cotton canvas, measured in ounces per square yard — higher is sturdier.; Canvas weight is measured in ounces per square yard; a heavier number means thicker, sturdier fabric. Lightweight totes (around 5–6 oz) are economical for high-volume giveaways, while heavyweight canvas (10 oz and up) holds its shape under real weight and reads as premium — the kind of tote that gets reused for years.

Ordering & artwork

MOQ (minimum order quantity): The smallest number of units you can order for an item, often around 50 pieces for custom merch.; The minimum order quantity is the fewest units a decorator will run for a given item. Minimums exist because decoration has a fixed setup cost (a screen, a stitch file) that only makes sense across enough pieces. Most of our items start at a 50-unit minimum; some, like stickers, have lower minimums. Ordering more lowers the per-piece cost.
Setup fee: A one-time charge to prepare your artwork for a decoration method (e.g. a screen or stitch file).; A setup fee covers the one-time work of preparing your logo for production — burning a screen per color for screen printing, or digitizing a stitch file for embroidery. It's charged once per design, not per piece, and is the reason small runs cost more per unit. On reorders of the same artwork, setup is usually already done.
Mockup (proof): A visual preview of your decorated product for approval before anything is produced.; A mockup (or proof) is a rendering of exactly how your logo will look on the product — placement, size, and colors — sent for your approval before production starts. It's your chance to catch anything and sign off with confidence. Your mockup is instant in the Design Studio and your quote follows within 12 hours, and nothing is made until you approve one.
Vector file: Artwork made of scalable paths (AI, EPS, SVG, PDF) that stays crisp at any size — ideal for logos.; A vector file describes artwork as mathematical paths rather than a grid of pixels, so it scales to any size without losing sharpness. Formats like AI, EPS, SVG, and PDF give the cleanest decoration results. A high-resolution PNG can work too, but a vector logo is always preferred for crisp prints and embroidery.
Lead time (turnaround): The time from approved mockup to delivery — typically about two weeks, plus shipping.; Lead time, or turnaround, is how long production takes once you approve your mockup — generally about two weeks for custom merch, depending on the items and quantity, plus shipping transit. Working to an event or start date means ordering a few weeks ahead so the timeline lands comfortably.
Kitting: Assembling multiple items into a single packed kit — like a welcome box — ready to hand out or ship.; Kitting is the work of gathering several products into one packaged set: a hoodie, tumbler, and sticker pack bundled into a branded welcome box, for example. It can include custom packaging, inserts, and a card. Done per recipient, each kit arrives ready to open — the backbone of onboarding and gifting programs.
Fulfillment (per-recipient shipping): Packing and shipping orders to recipients — to one address, or individually to many homes or offices.; Fulfillment is the storage, packing, and shipping of an order. Per-recipient (or pick-and-pack) fulfillment ships items individually to each person's home or office — essential for remote teams and client gifting, where kits are addressed and sent one by one rather than delivered in bulk to a single location.
Imprint area: The maximum area on a product where a design can be decorated.; The imprint area is the printable or embroiderable zone on an item — the width and height a decoration has to fit within, like the front panel of a tote or the crown of a cap. Artwork is scaled to sit inside it cleanly. Knowing the imprint area up front is why a mockup matters: it confirms your logo fills the space the way you expect.
Art proof: A pre-production rendering of your decorated product, sent for sign-off before anything is made.; An art proof (or digital proof) shows your artwork placed on the product at the right size and colors, so you can approve exactly what will be produced. It's the checkpoint that catches spelling, color, and placement issues while they're still free to fix. In the Design Studio your proof is instant; nothing goes to production until you approve it.
Pre-production sample: A single finished piece made and approved before the full run is produced.; A pre-production sample is one real, decorated unit produced ahead of the main order so you can inspect the actual blank, decoration, and colors in hand before committing the whole quantity. It adds a little time and cost but removes risk on large or high-stakes runs. It's different from a digital mockup, which is on-screen only.
Drop date: The date merch needs to be in hand — the deadline you plan the whole order backward from.; A drop date is the day you need finished merch delivered: an event, a first day, a game, a launch. Because production and shipping both take time, the order-by date is the drop date minus production time minus shipping, plus a safety buffer. Planning from the drop date backward is how you avoid rush fees and missed deadlines.
Spirit pack: A bundled set of school spirit items — like a shirt, a drawstring bag, and accessories — sold or handed out together.; A spirit pack groups several coordinated items into one bundle for students, teams, or new families — a tee plus a drawstring bag and a few accessories, say. Bundling simplifies ordering and fundraising and raises the perceived value versus a single shirt. It's a common format for school spirit stores and back-to-school drives.

Pricing & procurement

Landed cost: The total cost of a product once everything to get it to your door is included — goods, decoration, duties, and freight.; Landed cost is the all-in cost of an order after you add up the blank, the decoration, import duties, and inbound freight — not just the sticker price of the goods. It matters for custom merch because a low unit price with shipping and duties bolted on later can cost more than a higher delivered price. Quoting landed cost up front is what makes two vendors actually comparable.
All-in delivered pricing: A per-unit price that already includes decoration, standard shipping, and duties — nothing added at checkout.; All-in delivered pricing quotes one per-unit number that folds in the product, the decoration, standard shipping to one address, and import duties, so there's no separate shipping or customs line to budget for. It's the honest way to compare quotes, because a per-unit price with shipping excluded isn't the price you actually pay. Your Merch Factory's published ranges are all-in delivered.
Price break (quantity break): A quantity at which the per-unit price steps down — order that many and each piece costs less.; A price break is a quantity threshold where the per-unit cost drops, because one-time setup and per-order costs spread across more pieces. Custom merch typically breaks at tiers like 50, 100, and 250+ units. Ordering just up to the next break — rather than just under it — is one of the easiest ways to lower your cost per piece.
Screen charge: The one-time fee to burn a screen for each ink color in a screen-printed design.; A screen charge is the cost of making one screen (stencil) per print color — part of the one-time setup for screen printing. A three-color front print needs three screens, so more colors mean more screen charges. Like other setup, it's charged once per design and reused on reorders of the same artwork, which is why fewer colors and repeat runs print cheaper.
Purchase order (PO): A buyer-issued document that authorizes an order and its price before an invoice is sent — common for schools and companies.; A purchase order (PO) is an official document a school, district, or company issues to authorize a purchase, listing the items, quantities, and agreed price. Vendors fulfill against the PO number and then invoice it. POs are standard in institutional buying because they create an approved paper trail; whether a vendor accepts them (and on what payment terms) varies by vendor.
Net-30 terms: A payment arrangement where an invoice is due within 30 days of delivery, rather than up front.; Net-30 (or net-15/net-60) terms mean the buyer pays the invoice within that many days after delivery instead of prepaying. Schools and larger organizations often need net terms to match their accounts-payable process, frequently alongside a purchase order. Availability of net terms depends on the vendor and is agreed before the order.
Cooperative purchasing: Buying through a shared contract a purchasing cooperative has already competitively bid, so a school can skip running its own bid.; Cooperative purchasing lets public entities like school districts buy off a contract that a cooperative (in Texas, BuyBoard or TIPS, for example) has already competitively awarded, satisfying bid requirements without a fresh solicitation. It speeds up larger institutional buys. For orders under a district's informal-quote threshold, a cooperative is usually not needed at all.

Know the terms — now build the merch.

Design it yourself in the studio or send your logo for a free mockup and quote. We'll handle the jargon.

Get a free quote Start designing

Instant mockup · Quote in 12h · Nothing's made until you approve