Latest Rejects

[alan802]

These 2 shirts were rejected due to the image distortion from pulling the shirts off the pallets.  It wasn't fresh tack either, we used fresh tack for the front print then turned it around and did the back on the same tack without refreshing.  I've been told I need to fix the problem   It's gonna be a great week.

[Sbrem]

had a similar thing happen with some sweatshirts last year. Of course, they didn't really notice until they realized their phone number was wrong (they had approved the proof) then they picked them apart. We fixed it, and told them we weren't interested in any more of their work...

Steve

[Frog]

Well, if you weren't known for your one-hit whites, I would mention that with the registration accuracy needed to hit whites twice, it is especially important to have good stick, and this comes with the territory.

Do you think you can fix this? If not, do you think that the next printer can? I know that some shirts are more proine to this stretch distortion thanm others.
Yesterday, I had to run a few hoodies with a perfect circle design that was far less perfect than the T's

[Sbrem]

We always bring this up with circles and squares (and rectangles). There is only so much one can do. With fresh tack, I like to pull the shirt up from the bottom instead of the shoulders until the tack loses some...

Steve

[alan802]

I tried to explain the situation to everyone involved but I might as well have been teaching the chinese alphabet to them.  There were shirts within the run that we slightly out of reg due to the tack yet it was decided that we had used too much tack...go figure.  I tried to explain that it wasn't possible for me to have shirts out of registration due to low tack and distortion due to too much tack on the same shirt, which those two shirts were examples of both distortion (although well within industry standard) and double imaged towards the top and bottom.  It got heated between everyone and I offered to let them come over and join in on the fun in the heat so they could better understand what it was I was trying to tell them, got no takers.  So I told them I would fix the problem, but there isn't a problem so we'll continue to print thousands of shirts per week the exact same way those shirts were printed and probably go years without anyone else complaining about it.

[lrsbranding]

Alan you say the distortion is from pulling the shirts off the pallets. Could it be from uneven stretching when putting the shirts on the pallets and centering? My wife and I argue about this. I say its from stretching while loading. If its from the shirt stretching while unloading wont it correct itself when laundered?

[ScreenFoo]

I work with a guy who can manage  to overtack the middle and miss the edges. 
Don't put it past those guys, from what you've posted before, I believe in their abilities. 

[IntegrityShirts]

We always bring this up with circles and squares (and rectangles). There is only so much one can do. With fresh tack, I like to pull the shirt up from the bottom instead of the shoulders until the tack loses some...

Steve

This is what I do too. But with fresh tack it still isn't enough to avoid distortion on the first prints off the press. One thing I do though to help is cut the wb tack 50% with water. That way it starts out less aggressive. I have had some shirts with rectangles that the customer brought back. I ran them through the dryer and restretched them hot to "even up" the corners which actually worked ok.

[Frog]

Alan you say the distortion is from pulling the shirts off the pallets. Could it be from uneven stretching when putting the shirts on the pallets and centering? My wife and I argue about this. I say its from stretching while loading. If its from the shirt stretching while unloading wont it correct itself when laundered?

The two are not mutually exclusive.

[mimosatexas]

What am I missing? The shirts look a little skewed at the bottom and bulge a little in the middle. So what?

The shirts will skew and look funky on the human body whether they are skewed on the shirt or not. On something like this I would tell them sorry but this is acceptable within industry standards. If it was a cicle but looked egg shaped I would understand but a text back that is already pretty much void of straight lines? Come on...

[Sbrem]

What am I missing? The shirts look a little skewed at the bottom and bulge a little in the middle. So what?

The shirts will skew and look funky on the human body whether they are skewed on the shirt or not. On something like this I would tell them sorry but this is acceptable within industry standards. If it was a cicle but looked egg shaped I would understand but a text back that is already pretty much void of straight lines? Come on...

You're not missing anything, except maybe that some customers are PITAs. We stand firm on certain things to point out that they won't be perfect, and that if that's expected, it ain't going to happen here. These folks are few and far between fortunately. We do pretty damn good work, but there are some forces of nature and physics that conspire against us. It's really rare that we can't placate someone.

Steve

[bimmridder]

Maybe I'm reading between the lines, but it sounds lie it wasn't just the customer complaining. Someone internally not understanding what can and can't be done perhaps?

[ZooCity]

We don't like doing it but in a situation where you need the tack but are having distortion issues you can stick a flash in the last head which will open up some other methods of pulling the shirt carefully without slowing you down as much as it might when worrying about wet ink.

Also, swapping to a tack that isn't heat activated and re-applying lightly as needed could help.  Otherwise the flash in the last head might just make the pull harder.

Nothing is going to help your picky clients and the sales reps who aren't managing them very well however. 

I imagine that shirt looks perfectly normal when worn.  Always a little confused by how perfectly square things need to be so they can be draped around the dynamic, 3 dimensional object that is the human body.  Have your reps put them on and see if it still looks warped to them when worn.

[sportsshoppe]

We once got some adhesive that was meant to mix 50/50 water and I figured it would hold better with a 75/25.... Well the fist set of shirts I had to CUT the things off the pallet! and then remove tape from pallet and replace it. Sticky Stuff! we still use it but now it is 30/70 and I can get about 100 shirts without having to worry about loosing tack. Live and learn I guess

[alan802]

The customer was first to point them out, after opening the box and looking at one she noticed it, then decided to go through the entire order in the office while everyone started gathering around wondering what the problem was.  I was then "summoned" to the embroidery building and ambushed by the customer, sales person, owner, another sales person, receiving employee and an admin person.  I was asked why the print was so distorted, it looked like "a horseshoe shape" and why we didn't catch the problem because there were so many.  I had to take a huge breath and stay composed and I tried my best to explain what causes it, why it's really not avoidable in such a small degree that these shirts were and everyone was very surprised that these shirts were a very mild case.  It all went in one ear and out the other because the customer did not like them so case closed.  I was then confronted again a while later and told that I needed to fix the problem.  I told everyone that essentially several hundred thousand shirts have been printed this year that were just like that shirt or worse and that I wasn't just trying to cover my butt by saying it was well within industry standard.  I dug through a bunch of prints that were waiting for customer pickup showing there was no difference but due to the design itself, being straight lines that it looked far worse than it was.