Artwork Approval

Artwork approval is the specific moment a buyer confirms, usually in writing or with a checkbox on a digital proof, that the layout in front of them — spelling, colors, size, placement — is correct and ready to print. It's a gate, not a formality: nothing moves to screen burning, film output, or embroidery digitizing until that approval comes back.

This is also when the turnaround-time countdown actually starts. A rush order quoted at three business days doesn't start its clock the moment the order's placed — it starts once art is approved, because the shop can't guarantee a ship date around artwork that's still changing. We've had customers frustrated that a "three-day rush" took five, only to realize two of those days were spent waiting on their own sign-off.

Treat the approval request as the last checkpoint, not a rubber stamp — compare it against a source document for spelling, check the PMS or color callouts, and confirm placement and size against any reference photos discussed earlier. Once it's approved, everyone downstream builds from that file exactly as shown.

The recurring misconception is that the shop is still responsible for catching errors after approval. In practice, an approved proof is treated as the customer's final word — if a misspelling or wrong size was sitting right there on the approved layout, a reprint to fix it is a paid change order, not a warranty claim.