Print location

Print location refers to the named spot on a garment where a design gets decorated — full front, left chest, full back, and sleeve are the four that appear on nearly every screen printer's order form. Full front typically maxes out around 11 by 14 inches on an adult tee; left chest runs small, about 3.5 to 4 inches wide, centered roughly where a shirt pocket would sit; sleeve prints are usually capped at 3 to 3.5 inches tall. Each location needs its own screen, its own film positive, and its own pass through the press, so quoting software treats every location as a separate line item rather than folding it into one flat design charge.

For the buyer, this is why a two-location order — a small left chest logo plus a full back design — nearly doubles the setup cost of a one-location tee, even though total ink coverage barely changes. We've had customers push back on an invoice because "it's the same shirt," not realizing the shop reset registration and burned a second screen for the back hit. On a 36-piece order printed on Gildan 2000s, that second location alone can add $20 to $40 in setup before a single shirt runs through the press.

Pros keep pricing simple by asking for location and color count up front — a one-location, two-color job sits in one price bracket, three locations across four colors in another entirely. If budget is tight, combine designs into fewer locations, since locations cost more per unit than colors do on most quote sheets.

The recurring mistake is assuming a tiny design costs less than a big one at the same location — pricing follows the number of locations and colors on the shirt, not the square inches of ink, so a dime-sized sleeve hit and a full sleeve wrap price identically.