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.
Decoration methods
- Screen printing
- 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
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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 notebook covers, leather goods, and packaging where a subtle, high-end finish is the goal.
- Digitizing
- 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
- 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
- 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.
Apparel & fabric
- GSM
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 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 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 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
- 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 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, dishwasher-friendly finish sized to the product.
- Canvas weight (oz)
- 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 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 around 25–50 units; some, like stickers, have lower minimums. Ordering more lowers the per-piece cost.
- Setup fee
- 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 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. We send free mockups, often within 24 hours, and nothing is made until you approve one.
- Vector file
- 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)
- 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
- Kitting is the work of gathering several products into one packaged set: a hoodie, tumbler, and notebook 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)
- 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.
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.