Reading a blank

The decoration gets the attention, but the blank is what someone actually wears, and it is what they judge the product on within about two seconds of picking it up. Most disappointing drops are disappointing because of the garment, not the print.

Weight, and what GSM does and does not tell you

GSM is grams per square metre. It is a density measurement, and it is the number quoted most often because it is the easiest to quote.

Rough bands for cotton jersey:

The trap is treating GSM as a quality score. It is not. A 240 GSM shirt in coarse open-end yarn feels stiff and cheap; a 160 GSM shirt in combed ring-spun cotton feels excellent. Weight tells you what the garment is for. Yarn tells you what it feels like.

Yarn, which is where the feel comes from

Open-end yarn is spun quickly from shorter fibres. Cheaper, coarser, less even, and the surface is more textured — which shows in fine print detail.

Ring-spun yarn is twisted more finely, giving a smoother, stronger, softer result.

Combed means short fibres were removed before spinning, leaving longer ones aligned. Smoother again, and it prints more cleanly because there is less surface fuzz.

Fibre length matters underneath all of this — Supima and Egyptian cottons are marketing names for extra-long-staple cotton, which is finer and more durable.

If you are choosing one upgrade, combed ring-spun is usually it.

Knit structures

Jersey is the standard t-shirt knit — smooth face, looped back, stretches across the width. Everything below is a variation on how much is going on underneath.

Piqué has a raised textured surface, which is what a polo is. It hides marks and holds shape, and it prints less cleanly because the surface is not flat.

French terry has uncut loops on the inside. Lighter than fleece, breathable, and it keeps a crisp drape — increasingly the preferred hoodie fabric for anything not intended as outdoor wear.

Fleece is terry that has been brushed to raise the fibres, giving the soft inside face people expect from a sweatshirt. Warmer, bulkier, and it pills more over time.

Slub has deliberate thickness variation in the yarn, giving a textured, vintage surface. It looks intentional and expensive; it also makes fine print detail unpredictable, so it suits bold artwork rather than detailed.

Fits, and why sizing is not portable

There is no standard behind a size label. It refers to the manufacturer’s block — their base pattern — and their grading, which is how that pattern scales between sizes. Two blanks both labelled Large routinely differ by three to five centimetres in chest width and two in body length.

The consequences are practical:

• Order against the measurement chart, not the letter. Every reputable blank publishes chest width, body length and sleeve length per size.
• Never change blank mid-run without re-sampling. A substitution that looks equivalent on paper will produce returns.
• Say which measurement you care about. “Boxy” means a wider chest relative to length. “Fitted” means the opposite. Those are ratios, and they are visible in the chart before anything is made.

Common shapes: classic (straight, roughly retail standard), fitted or slim (tapered, shorter sleeve), boxy or relaxed (wider, shorter, streetwear default), and oversized (deliberately several sizes larger in the body with dropped shoulders).

What it does to your decoration

The fabric constrains the method, and this is where the two guides meet:

• DTG needs high cotton content to bond. On a poly blend, results are softer and less predictable.
• Sublimation needs polyester and light colours. On a blend it fades in proportion to the cotton.
• Textured surfaces — piqué, slub, heavy fleece — lose fine detail in any printed method.
• Very light fabrics can show a heavy ink deposit through the front, and a stiff print on a light drape feels wrong in the hand.
• Heather colours are blends by definition, which pulls you toward DTF or screen printing.

Sustainability claims, read carefully

Organic, recycled and certified are three different claims and only some are verifiable.

GOTS covers organic fibre content plus processing and social criteria — the strongest of the common marks. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certifies the finished article for harmful substances; it says nothing about how it was farmed or who made it. GRS covers recycled content with chain of custody. BCI is a farming programme, not a fibre certification, and cotton sold under it is not segregated in the way organic is.

If you intend to make a claim on a hangtag, know which certificate backs it and who holds it, because the claim is yours once it is printed and the standard for substantiating it is rising in most markets.

Before you commit

Get a blank sample before the run, in the actual colour. Wash it. Colours behave differently after a wash, heather fabrics can bleed, and a garment that felt good in the polybag can feel different after. That one loop, done before you commit to quantity, prevents the most expensive category of regret available here.