Print On Demand Merch Stores: Create Awareness With Custom Merch

Print on demand (POD) is changing the game for individuals and organizations, including churches, by offering a way to sell custom products without the hassle of inventory. This model is perfect for a church looking to offer merch to its members quickly and efficiently via an online store. This model proves to be a perfect fit, as it removes the need for storage space and lowers upfront costs. Let's dive into how print-on-demand can transform the way churches can sell products to their respective communities and congregations.

Understanding Print-on-Demand Merch Stores

Print-on-demand is a method where items are printed once an order is made. This approach means no more guessing how much stock to buy or dealing with unsold items. When you want to sell, it's a smart alternative to traditional inventory methods, offering products like shirts, mugs, and journals that are created and sent only when someone buys them. As a print provider, The Church Shop takes your design and brings it to fulfillment. We keep print quality in mind and take those worries off your team's hands. This way, your church can focus on bringing your custom merch and your message to your target audience, and you can start selling in no time. 

Why Should a Church Have a Custom Product Merch Store?

Print-On-Demand: How It Works

When someone orders from your church's online store, The Church Shop, your print-on-demand business provider, prints the design on the product and ships it directly to the customer. This process is efficient and straightforward:

  1. Design Preparation: Once an order comes in, your design is prepped for digital printing, ensuring high-quality results that convey your church's message.
  2. On-Demand Printing and Shipping: Your designs are printed on products only after a sale, reducing waste and ensuring up-to-date items.
  3. Quality Assurance: Each product is checked for quality before it's sent out, reflecting your church's dedication to excellence.
  4. Direct Shipping: Sell your custom products through The Church Shop, and we take care of the shipping. The products you want to sell are shipped directly to buyers, streamlining the process for your church.
Benefits for Churches

Starting Your Own Print-On-Demand Church Merch Store

When launching a Print on Demand e-commerce platform for your church, consider these points:

  1. Branding Matters: Ensure your products align with your church's values and identity. This creates a stronger connection with your community.
  2. Easy Setup: Choose a user-friendly platform that fits your team's skills and resources. The Church Shop is not only user-friendly but our team also handholds our customers and sets you up for success.
  3. Reliable Fulfillment: We deliver products on time and keep you updated throughout the process. We are partnered with a network of print providers which help us achieve this on your behalf. 
  4. Excellent Customer Service: Good service builds trust and strengthens your relationship with your community. Our team ensures that you get reliable customer service, from the store owners down to members and customers who have questions.

Designing Products That Resonate

Success in offering church custom merch hinges on creating products that speak to your community. Consider these strategies:

Why Choose The Church Shop?

The Church Shop stands out by offering easy setup, high-quality products, premium support via phone, chat, and email, and services tailored for churches. It simplifies operations, offers a wide range of products, and understands the unique needs of faith-based organizations. All things considered, The Church Shop aligns with your mission, providing a partner that shares your values.

Integration and Support

Integrating The Church Shop with your church's website is straightforward, and our team offers dedicated support to help you grow your store. We understand the challenges churches face in the print-on-demand space and provide resources and guidance to ensure your success. 

When you start an online church shop with us, we don't leave you alone to learn how to start setting it up. We help you with the store setup, how to create designs, and how to get your products online. After you create custom items for your church, your products are ready for ordering. Then when your team or your congregation orders, we will take your print-on-demand products and take them through the order fulfillment process and we will do the rest with our printing partners. Take note that signing up with a The Church Shop account is free to use for the Basic tier, and this is all you need to get started with a church e-commerce store.

By choosing The Church Shop, your church can effortlessly sell custom church merchandise, supporting your mission while building community spirit. With The Church Shop, you can leverage the best print-on-demand platform available for churches, offering a range of quality products that resonate with your congregation and support your church's goals.

Design Requirements For Embroidery

DOWNLOAD EMBROIDERY GUIDE

Embroidery is a bit different from DTG printing--it has some specific requirements when it comes to designing.

Because embroidery machines have limited capabilities and threading techniques, it's important to follow these requirements to ensure that your finished product matches your mockup preview.

Color Choice Overview

We use high-quality Super Bride Polyester thread available in 15 standard colors. We have access to the entire line of Robison-Anton 450 Colors. 

Snow White 5597                  • Black 5596
• PN Navy 5824                     • Blue 5520
• Radiant Red 5566               • Manila 5766
• Vanessa Purple 9057          • Dark Texas Orange 5769
• Kelly Green 5540                 • Otter Gray 9115
• TH Gold 5906                       • Warm Wine 5796
• Scholastic 5765                    • Gray Flannel 9117
• Cerulean 5801

Hex Thread Conversion

Size requirements

Firstly, you'll want to make sure your design meets the size requirements. There are minimum and maximum thicknesses for shapes, as well as specific height requirements for uppercase and lowercase letters. It might seem strict, but following these guidelines will help you achieve the best result possible.

The Do's and Don'ts of Embroidery

When it comes to designing, there are a few do's and don'ts to keep in mind. Solid shapes and colors are best, and you'll want to stick to the 16 thread colors available. Use a high-quality file and simplify your design as much as possible. On the other hand, you'll want to avoid using gradients, blend effects or photographs, as well as small gaps, backgrounds, and transparent edges.

Do!

Don't!

Cost of Embroidery

Does The Church Shop charge for digitizing designs? 

Nope! We don't charge extra for embroidery. The only time you will see a price increase on embroidery is due to the size of the design. If it is a large or stitch intensive design (think full color, no blank space) there may be a small increase in costs.

What's Next?

Following these important requirements will ensure that the finished product matches the mockup preview.

Embroidery Timeline:
• 3 Days to Digitize file (first time only)
• 7-10 Days to fulfill

Embroidery products are made differently than other products at The Church Shop, which is why we recommend placing a sample order before you launch the product in your store. This way, you’ll have full confidence in the product before offering it to church.

Water-based Screen Printing

Get the softest shirts you've ever felt with water-based printing.

Water-based printing features inks that are soft, breathable and able to soak into the fabric of the garment, rather than sitting on top like conventional plastisol inks. When printed correctly, they result in crisp, bright prints that you cannot feel to the touch. Since water-based inks become part of the fabric, the print feels as soft as the shirt it’s printed on.

Water-based screen printing is a technique that uses water-based ink to print designs on t-shirts. Unlike traditional screen printing, which uses plastisol ink, water-based screen printing produces a softer, more breathable print that is soft and comfortable.

 

1. Superior comfort and feel

One of the primary advantages of water-based screen printing is that it produces a print that is soft to the touch and breathable. This is because the ink is absorbed into the fabric, rather than sitting on top of it like plastisol ink. This means that your t-shirts will feel more comfortable to wear, especially in hot weather.

 

2. High-quality prints

Water-based inks produce high-quality prints that are vibrant and long-lasting. They can be used to achieve a wide range of effects, from subtle watercolor-style prints to bold and bright designs. Because the ink is absorbed into the fabric, water-based screen printing produces prints with a soft, vintage look that many people find appealing.

 

3. Versatility

Water-based screen printing can be used on a wide range of t-shirt fabrics, including cotton, polyester, and blends. This means that you can use it to create a variety of designs and styles, from simple one-color prints to complex multicolor designs. Additionally, water-based inks can be used to create a range of effects, such as distressed or gradient prints, making them a versatile choice for t-shirt printing.

 

4. Environmentally friendly

Water-based inks are free of harmful chemicals and pollutants. This makes them a great choice for eco-conscious consumers who want to reduce their environmental footprint. Additionally, many water-based inks are biodegradable, meaning that they break down naturally over time.

 

5. Better for printing on dark fabrics

Water-based screen printing is a great choice for printing on dark fabrics. Plastisol inks often require an underbase layer to achieve good coverage on dark fabrics, which can make the print feel heavy and uncomfortable. Water-based inks, on the other hand, do not require an underbase layer, which means that prints on dark fabrics will feel softer and more comfortable to wear.

 

Water-based screen printing is a great option for t-shirt printing. It produces prints that are soft, breathable, and high-quality, and is an environmentally friendly choice.  Additionally, it is a versatile option that can be used to create a range of designs and styles on a variety of fabrics. So, if you're looking to create high-quality t-shirts that look and feel great, water-based screen printing is definitely worth considering.

 

POPULAR ITEMS (more brands and pricing available upon request):

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Water Reveal Printing

Create all new design possibilities with our water reveal inks.

Water reveal inks are clear and undetectable when printed on colored fabrics that darken with water. The effect is for the image printed with wet reveal inks to be revealed when the fabric around the image area gets darker due to moisture. Imagine having one design before baptism and something different after! The design possibilities are endless when revealing all or specific parts of the printed design just by adding water.

Water reveal inks are great for Baptism Sundays!
  1. Comfortable: Water reveal ink produces prints that are soft and lightweight, making them super comfortable to wear for the whole day. This is especially important for the little ones being baptized, who may be sensitive to scratchy materials.
  2. Durable: The prints created with water reveal ink are long-lasting and resistant to fading or cracking, so the baptism shirts can be worn and cherished for years to come.
  3. Aesthetic: Water reveal ink creates prints with a unique, slightly faded look that gives a vintage or distressed appearance. This can add a special touch to the design of the baptism shirt, creating a memorable keepsake for the individual being baptized and their family.

Using water reveal ink for baptism shirts is an excellent way to create a comfortable, durable, and stylish product that will help make this special day even more memorable.

Can this be printed on any garment?

For best contrast, choose a mid-color garment that will darken significantly when water is applied. Wet reveal ink can be printed on any garment but typically works best on 100% cotton and blends. Performance fabrics tend not to turn colors when wet.

Can you see the print if the garment is not wet?

No, the ink will be invisible until water is applied to the garment. For optimal print vibrancy, the print area needs to be completely soaked.

Can you choose any ink color to reveal when water is applied?

Not quite. The effect is for the print to be revealed when the fabric around the image area gets darker due to moisture. The ink retains the normal color of the garment when water is applied.

Are there specific care instructions for wet reveal ink?

Because of the nature of wet reveal inks, it is recommended that you wash your new garment when initially receiving it. After that initial wash, no specific additional care is needed. Just follow manufacturer garment care guidelines.

Pricing (additional brands and pricing available upon request):

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Templates for Drinkware

Use these templates for your Mugs and 20oz Tumblers!
For Mugs, anything submitted as transparent or white will print as white, even on black mugs.
To ensure a proper print on a black mug, submit with a black background.
Transparent backgrounds on Tumblers will print transparent resulting in a silver Tumbler.

 

 

MUGS 11oz - Download .PSD Template |  Canva Template

MUGS 15oz - Download .PSD Template |  Canva Template

TUMBLER 20oz - Download .ai Template | Canva Template

 

What We Offer: Print Types

We offer a wide range of printing types. DTG is our go-to for most apparel.

 

DIRECT-TO-GARMENT

Direct to garment (or DTG) printing involves laying ink directly onto a garment. These prints are generally thinner than screen prints, allowing for more intricate designs and a softer print texture. The full range of color in a photograph or gradients of an image can be expressed with this print method. We require high-quality (150 dpi) raster PNG files for DTG print orders.

 

SCREEN PRINTING

Screen printing, sometimes referred to as silk screening, is a form of garment printing in which plastisol-based inks are pressed through a screen onto a garment. Screen printing is the most established and widely-used form of garment printing available. During the printing process, a set of screens (one for each color) rotates around a press in a carousel motion and is alternately pressed onto each garment. We only use screen printing in bulk orders. A minimum quantity of 15 is required for best price.

 

EMBROIDERY

Embroidery is a classic handicraft and decoration technique using a needle to apply thread to textiles.
For best practices and print specifications, download our Embroidery Reference Guide.

 

SUBLIMATION

Sublimation printing occurs when ink is transferred by heat and pressure to a specially treated surface. These prints feature vibrant, high-fidelity color and are very durable. We require high-quality (150 dpi) raster PNG files to be submitted for sublimation print orders.
Available for mugs and phone cases

 

POSTER PRINTING

We offer borderless, full color digital printing for posters. All posters are printed on premium 200 GSM gloss or matte paper with aqueous ink, suited for full-color digital art prints. We require high-quality (150 dpi) raster PNG files to be submitted for poster printing orders.

 

EMBROIDERY: 4 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE WE SEW

 

Embroidery can give apparel that sophisticated edge and a sense of ownership to the wearer. Who wouldn’t want the name or the logo of their church stitched across a tee, polo, jacket, backpack, or hat? At The Church Shop, we’ll put stitches into just about anything.
But before you submit your design to us for an embroidery order, here are 4 things you should know before we sew.

1. DITCH THE FINE PRINT AND LINES

Nobody reads the fine print, and that goes double for embroidery. So stay away from small text and opt for a point size that’s at least 0.25” high and 0.05” thick. This will ensure your text is legible. We also recommend a sans serif font and using all caps for the best results. Script and serif fonts are harder to read, particularly when using a smaller point size. For added readability, we suggest limiting the characters to no more than 20 per line.
Speaking of lines, just note that fine lines might not turn out as expected and may look like dotted lines, so you might want to darken your fine lines and details to ensure they show up on the finished product.

2. KEEP YOUR GRAPHICS SIMPLE

Embroidery can’t capture the fine details that you’ll get with DTG or screen-printing because the design has to be translated to stitches.  So keep your design simple. Complicated designs with borders, backgrounds, and secondary text can create problems and get expensive quickly. And the nuances of complicated designs simply can’t be recreated in thread. This means that distressing, textures, and gradients may get lost during the embroidery process, so it’s best to avoid those stylistic features. If you decide to go with these effects, we can do flat embroidery. Just note that extremely thin parts will likely be run-stitched.
Also, consider the size of the artwork space. For hats, the maximum print size is 5” wide and 2” tall. For garments, it’s 4.5” wide and tall for the left/right chest and 3”x3” for the left/right sleeve. If you want a discernible design, make sure your design is scaled to the space provided.

3. CHOOSE A QUALITY FABRIC

The type of fabric you choose can affect embroidery. For instance, hats have limited space to embroider, so it’s important to check the specs of the front of the hat so you can size your design appropriately. The material you choose also matters. Embroidery on a knit beanie will look different than it will on a polo or work shirt. That’s because the material on the beanie is fluffier, so the finer details will be lost easier than they’d be on stiffer fabric.

4. OPT FOR CONTRASTING COLORS

You want your design to show up, so think about how the color of  thread you’ve chosen will stand out against the color of the fabric. It goes without saying that a dark thread won’t pop against a dark color of fabric, so go for contrast. We use high quality super bride polyester (40 Wt) thread, available in 15 standard colors. However, we can order additional colors if your project calls for it.

 

Embroidery is a great way to make your polos, hats, and jackets stand out and show you are proud of your church and the work you do. Embroidery comes at no extra charge. We "digitize" the print file to work with our embroidery machines after the first order. This makes fulfillment about 3 days later than normal. After that is back to our quick turnaround time.

Printing with DTG

When it comes to printing colorful, complex designs, even photo-realistic ones, DTG (Direct to Garment) is your best bet.
That is what we use here at The Church Shop!

What’s DTG printing and how does it work?

DTG printing is the process of printing a graphic or image directly onto a garment. It’s done with modified inkjet printers that spray water-based ink directly onto the fabric. Unlike screen printing, which involves pushing the ink and laying down the fibers, the ink used in DTG is shot down into the fabric, so it looks like the design is part of the garment.

 

Does the type of fabric used in DTG printing matter?

Absolutely. Since DTG relies on water-based inks, you need to have a fabric that can absorb the ink. Natural fabrics, specifically cotton, work best because the ink can adhere to the fibers and soak in very well, whereas synthetic and even poly-blends will repel the ink, resulting in a less than stellar end result. To get the very best outcome, we use 100% cotton for all DTG orders. We also use 50/50 and other blends for apparel items. If you can't find your favorite brand in our catalog,  most of the time this is the reason, and we want to make sure your orders come out the best they can.

What do I need to do to prep a design for DTG printing? 

DTG is great for complex, vibrant artwork and images. For those details and colors to translate, you have to start with a high-quality design. We print PNG files of at least 150 dpi (dots per inch), so your design should really meet or exceed that minimum for it to look its best. Image resolution also comes into play.  While it’s often confused for the size of the file, the resolution is really a measurement of the pixels in a design, expressed in height and width.  Say you want a 10″ by 10″ design on your t-shirts. To get that size at 300 dpi, make sure your design is sized at 3000 pixels high by 3000 pixels wide. When in doubt, submitting an image in the highest resolution possible is always a good rule of thumb. High res images can always be scaled down, but low res images that are scaled up often look blurry.

What are the pros and cons of DTG printing?

The pros: 

The cons: 

How’s DTG printing different than screen printing?

While both DTG and screen printing will produce designs that hold up and wash well, there are several key differences. We’ve listed a few below.

What garments do you recommend for the best results?

All that we offer work great for DTG!  Our selection process is very specific to make sure you have long lasting designes every time!

But our favorite t-shirts are:

The Bella + Canvas Unisex T-Shirt

The Bella + Canvas 3001 feels soft and light, with just the right amount of stretch. It’s super comfortable with a cut that flatters men and women.

The Next Level 3600 Men’s Tee

This Next Level 3600 is soft, form-fitting, and pre-shrunk, so it will maintain its shape after washing.

How well do DTG prints hold up after multiple washes?

DTG prints will remain just as bright and soft and won’t crack when properly cared for. Here are a few tips to ensure your garments will last a long time:

How do I start a shop with The Church Shop?

Starting your own Church Shop with us is easy. Just head over to dev.thechurch.shop/how-it-all-works register for a free account or log in to get started. If you need a little help to get things going, reach out to us at hello@dev.thechurch.shop.

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