Our goal here at Concept is to provide a broad range of marketing products and services. We provide many apparel options both screen-printing and embroidery. We often get the question, “Can we bring in our own items?” We are happy for you to bring in your own items but there are some differences between bringing in your own and having us provide the apparel.
Here’s some guidelines when purchasing your own apparel items to make the experience the best for everyone:
Bringing in your own apparel:
Things to think about when purchasing your own apparel items:
- Not all apparel is made for imprinting.
- Some fabrics don’t embroider well because it is either too thick or too thin.
- Screen-printing uses heat and some fabrics don’t take heat well and can leave scorch marks.
- Look out for pockets that are in a location you want to imprint on. We cannot embroider over pockets unless you want the pocket to be rendered unusable.
- Some fabrics have a coating on them and will not hold screen-printing ink well for long-term wear.
- Your cost is higher per item for imprinting. (Often embroidery or screen-printing is discounted and/or free with the price of the garment when ordering through us.) If bringing in your own, we usually charge a $12 – $16 embroidery fee for a standard left chest imprint, depending on quantity and stitch count.
- We always work diligently to take care when imprinting but sometimes there are things that are outside of our control and items may get damaged. As I’m sure you understand, when we don’t provide the apparel, we don’t have the margin to replace it for full price if it gets damaged. We will provide up to $100 credit on your order or replace it with something from our own catalog (up to $100 value).
Note: To be safe, any items that you are bringing in yourself, we request that you send links to the product so we can take a look to see if anything major stands out. Even if we think that there won’t be any issues, sometimes when we see the physical product in person, we see things that may not work well. So unfortunately we can’t guarantee that something you purchase will be able to be imprinted by us.
Purchasing apparel through us:
We have spent 15 years curating great suppliers who keep good inventory in stock, have product lines that are consistent throughout the years, are great for imprinting, are high quality and on-trend while keeping the price reasonable. When you order apparel through us, this is what you are getting:
- Our suppliers make apparel for imprinting specifically.
- We can curate products and make recommendations based on your needs/goals.
- We have a large selection of brands and styles of apparel. Click here to see some of our favorite/best-sellling apparel options.
- The wholesale products we carry have more longevity and consistency compared to “retail” styles. Retail apparel is usually produced for a season so it is hard to find that same item later. Once they are sold out, that’s it. Wholesale keeps the same products in stock for years so there is consistency with uniforming for new employees throughout the years.
- We take care of placing the order.
- We check in the order when everything arrives to make sure it is complete and correct.
- If anything gets messed up or damaged, we replace it at our cost, usually without you even knowing.
Whether you order through us or bring in your own apparel, we do our best to make sure you are getting what you want every time. We care about the end result as much as you do. Thank you for your business. We look forward to working with you on all your apparel needs.