Reordering Custom Shirts: Why Round Two Is Easier (and Cheaper)

Every spring the same kind of email shows up. "Hey, it's the landscaping crew again. Can we get 40 more of the green shirts? Same as last year." No file attached. No Pantone number. Nobody remembers which Gildan it was. And the answer is yes, because remembering that stuff is our job, not yours.

Reorders are our favorite orders. The art is done, the proof was approved a year ago, and the press operator already knows how the job runs. Here's what actually happens on our end when you say "same as last time," and the few things that can trip up a reorder if nobody's paying attention.

What does "art on file" actually mean?

It means we keep the whole job, not just your logo. After a run ships, the record stays in our system with the print-ready separations, the ink colors (stock colors or the Pantone mix we matched), the exact print dimensions, where it sits on the shirt, the blank brand, style number and color, and the mockup you approved. Your approved proof is the recipe, and we keep the recipe.

"Art on file" at a lot of places means a JPG of your logo in an email thread. That won't tell anyone the print was 11 inches wide and started 3 inches below the collar. Ours will, which is why a new office manager who has never talked to us can email about more polos and get a quote back in minutes.

Do you keep my screens?

Honest answer: no, and no shop you'd want to use does either. After a job we reclaim the screen: the emulsion gets stripped and the mesh goes back into rotation. Warehousing hundreds of frames for jobs that may or may not come back isn't realistic, and a screen that sat in a rack for a year isn't a better screen anyway.

What we keep is the thing that made the screen: your files. On a reorder we burn fresh screens from them and the print is identical. The part you care about is that screens are free on reorders here, always, so you never pay for that step twice. More on how we screen print.

Will the reorder match the first batch?

The ink will match. We logged the color on the job, and if it was a Pantone match we mix to the same number again. The garment is where you have to pay attention, and there are two things that can drift.

First, dye lots. Standard colors from Gildan, Bella+Canvas and Next Level are consistent enough that nobody will notice a reorder next to the original. Garment-dyed shirts like Comfort Colors are a different story. A new lot can land a shade warmer or cooler. It's part of the look, but if your crew will be standing in a line wearing both batches, know that going in.

Second, discontinued colors. Manufacturers retire colors every season. If your exact blank is gone, we'll tell you before anything prints and show you the closest match. We won't quietly swap it.

Our advice on every first order: keep one finished shirt in a drawer. It settles the "I think it was darker last time" conversation in about four seconds.

Why is a reorder cheaper?

Because all the setup is gone. No screen fees, no art time, no two days of proof revisions. We send you a quick confirmation of the existing mockup, you say go, and it's on the schedule.

One thing to be straight about, since people ask: the per-shirt price is based on the quantity of the reorder, not the running total of everything you've ever ordered. If you ordered 120 last time and need 30 now, you get the no-screen-fee savings but not 120-piece pricing. If you can batch two small reorders into one, you'll come out ahead. Our pricing guide walks through how the tiers work.

What can I change without starting over?

More than most people expect. The rule at our shop is simple: if the ink colors stay the same, it's still a reorder. Here's how the common requests sort out.

The date-change one catches people. "Just change 2025 to 2026" is a new screen for that color, because the stencil is physically different. Not expensive, but not nothing. If it's an annual event shirt, leave the year off the big front print and put it on a small sleeve hit. Then the front reorders free forever.

Small reorders and the DTF question

Say the original was 80 screen-printed hoodies and you've hired four people. We have no minimums, so we can screen print four more with free screens and they'll match the first 80. We can also run them on our Premium Film Print (DTF) process, which has no screen fees either and is the obvious pick when the original job was DTF. If you're matching a screen-printed batch, we'll usually steer you back to the press so the feel and finish line up.

If the reorders never stop, as in new hires every month or a team adding players mid-season, let us set up an online store with your approved designs. People order their own size, you approve nothing, and the art never leaves our file. That's what our merch programs are built for.

How to make your next reorder painless

• Keep one shirt from every first run as a physical reference.
• Save the invoice or order email. The job name is all we need.
• Send the size breakdown up front. "40 shirts, mostly larges" costs a round trip. "6 M, 18 L, 12 XL, 4 2XL" goes straight to the schedule.
• Flag anything that changed. We'd rather know before the screens are burned.
• Count your calendar. Reorders still take about 10–12 business days plus shipping. Rush is available by quote.

That's the whole system. You remember that you liked the shirts. We remember everything else.

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