How long does it take for a custom sun shirt to be ready?
This is definitely one of the most common questions we get here at Cape Life. It’s also one that has one of the most complex answers.
The short answer: it depends.
While we do our own printing at our print shop, we may still have to wait for your desired sun shirt to arrive from the manufacturer if we don’t have a blank one in stock. There may also be a wait for artwork editing, cleanup and/or creation if we are working from a design we don’t normally print on our shirts.
Variables to Consider for Custom Sun Shirt Wait Times
There two main variables that go into the equation, both of which play a factor on how fast your custom sun shirt will be ready for you. These variables are:
- Artwork you want on the shirt
- The style, color and size of the shirt you want
Fastest Production Time: A Few Days
- Stock artwork we already print on our shirts
- Shirt we already have in stock at the print shop
If you choose a stock design we already regularly print on our shirts, there is no wait time for the artwork.
Opt for one of the common shirts we carry, and a blank may already be in stock at the print shop. We generally stock long sleeve unisex sizes. The most common colors are typically white, arctic blue (light blue), seagrass (light green).
But we may have variations that include short sleeve, women’s cut and other colors at any given time. It all depends on what’s been zooming off the racks during any particular time period.
Medium Production Time: About a Week or So
Artwork you send that may need cleaning up or editing before it’s print-ready
Shirt we need to order from the manufacturer because we don’t have a blank one at the ready
Even if you choose a stock design, we may still have to wait for the style, color and size of your desired shirt to arrive from the manufacturer. Although we order shirts weekly, sometimes the manufacturer may have a delay. In certain cases, a particular shirt may be backordered with no ETA.
In all cases, we can generally offer a substitute that we may have in stock or at least a designated ETA at our print shop.
Most Time-Consuming Production Time: More than a Week
- Artwork you want us to create from scratch
- Shirt we need to order from the manufacturer because we don’t have a blank one at the ready
Artwork creation time varies, based on the complexity of the design and immediate availability of our artists. We do have massively busy periods, especially in the spring and summer, so the wait times may be a bit longer than they would be during slower periods.
Again, waiting for a specific sun shirt to come in is part of the process if we don’t have a blank of the shirt you want.
The Bottom Line on Custom Sun Shirt Wait Times
The bottom line on custom shirt wait time is the same as the bottom line on most things in life:
The more factors that are within our control, the faster the job will get done.
The minute you start adding more chefs into the kitchen, the slower the overall results. This concept holds true whether you’re planning a trip or printing a sun shirt – but thankfully it doesn’t always apply to feeding time with my dog food. (In this case, more chefs in the kitchen is generally better, as there’s a greater chance at least one of them will end up dropping some food.)
One more tip is that a custom sun shirt from Cape Life is worth the wait.
The best advice we can provide is to plan your orders accordingly so there is plenty of time to create and deliver the custom sun shirt you’ll love forever.
Now, about those chefs in the kitchen making my dog food dinner…..
Quick Note on this Custom Sun Shirt Blog
This blog is from a series called: Short Answers to Common Sun Shirt Questions. We could have put all the info in one big-long blog but then it would be one big-long thing to read. We’re keeping it short and sweet.
Know that when it comes to sun tips and sun shirt questions, we got you covered – in UPF sun protective clothing to be exact. Visit our Cape Life shop in downtown Cape Coral or shop online right here at CapeLifeApparel.com.
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