Ready for Retail? 8 Adjustments You Need to Make to Handle Large Orders

ne mistake could wipe out your entire profit — welcome to the high-stakes world of retail garment printing! “Printing garments for retailers comes with its own set of challenges,” says Marshall Atkinson, business consultant at Atkinson Consulting and publisher of Midjourney Experience. “Unlike smaller, local boutiques, larger chains enforce stringent rules that can feel overwhelming. The bigger the chain, the more hoops you must jump through for every order.”

With so many decorators vying for business, it’s often a matter of conforming to the retailer’s standards or risk being left behind. “A simple misstep, such as mislabeling a box, can lead to chargebacks that surpass your profit from the order,” Atkinson says. “If your processes aren't airtight, diving into this space could lead to financial trouble for your shop.”

To help you navigate this challenging but profitable landscape, here are eight considerations from veteran shop owners who consistently manage large retail orders.

1. Be prepared to follow specific guidelines – or face financial loss.

"Working with large retail chains isn’t for the faint of heart,” Atkinson says. “There are extensive guidelines covering everything from printing techniques to hangtag placements, packaging, shipping, notifications, and invoicing. Every retail store has its own set of rules, from big-box stores to sporting goods chains, and you need to understand them inside and out before you start the job.”

This understanding drives the success of Westside Merchandising, a formidable contract shop with two facilities in California and Mexico. Spanning 140,000 square feet and employing more than 300 people, the team produces 1 million garments monthly. “Our team knows the detailed requirements that retail brands impose on printing and shipping,” says owner Seth Anderson. “However, the stakes are high. If you make a mistake, retailers profit from chargebacks since they still sell the shirts.”

Anderson provides a stark example: A late sample during the approval process could cost you $350, while failure to deliver a final order on time might result in a 10% deduction from each shirt's cost. “If you’re making $1.75 per shirt, and suddenly that drops to $1.45, your profit margin is shrinking fast,” he says. “Simple errors — like placing a hangtag in the wrong location or failing to include the correct number of exterior labels — can rack up a lot of chargebacks.”

Another significant challenge in the retail space is consistency. “When you print a shirt, that same shirt must look identical a year later,” Atkinson says. “If you struggle with reprints or matching colors and placements exactly, retail will be tough.” Every detail, from the print quality to hang tag placement and barcode accuracy, must be flawless. Small mistakes can have repercussions, especially since robots and scanners are often responsible for processing shipments.

2. Beef up your packaging department.

Anderson underscores the importance of a robust packaging department, with a manager and staff, when working with retailers. “Each retailer has different packaging requirements, from how shirts are folded to how they’re boxed by size or in pre-packs,” he says. “Even small mistakes can lead to chargebacks that cost you money.”

For more oversized orders, like 6,000 pieces, that you regularly fulfill for retailers, Anderson estimates you might need eight people to handle packaging. He says it can be easier to hand-fold items instead of relying on folding machines that don’t meet retailers' specifications. “These mistakes can be crushing for a printer,” he warns, noting that if you produce packaging sheet instructions for each retailer, you can help your team maintain consistency and reduce errors.

3. Set up your systems to ensure accuracy and consistency on tight turns.

Retail orders come with demanding timelines — typically a four- to six-week turnaround, which includes pre-approval and sampling. Kyle Robinson, owner of Print My Threads, operates a facility that produces between 5,000 and 10,000 garments for retailers monthly with screen printing and DTF. “Our account managers stay on top of each launch to ensure we allow enough time to meet the brand’s deadline,” he says. Many retailers require additional services like folding, bagging, and tagging, so you need to include those finishing touches in your scheduling.

Solid systems are key to succeeding in printing for retail brands – helping to keep every order accurate, consistent, and on time. “Make it easy for customers to place, review, approve, track, and pay for their orders,” Robinson says. “Over-communicating important details with clients throughout the order lifecycle is crucial.”

Anderson says that new international tariffs and tight deadlines add to the challenge, especially when working with fast-fashion retailers who rarely allow deadline extensions. “We’ve printed through every major holiday for the last six years to meet those demands,” he says. “We have to be printing at 90% capacity all the time to stay profitable.”

Retailers have high expectations, and everything must be 100% accurate. “If you can systemize your in-house processes, you can attract new retail clients who are frustrated with shops that miss deadlines and lack communication,” Robinson adds.

4. Brace yourself for a rigorous approval process.

The approval process with large retailers is notoriously strict. Anderson points out that brands require a production sample before green-lighting full-scale printing. “They often take their time with approvals, which can delay the entire process,” he says. This can result in a last-minute rush, with production teams left with just days to print thousands of shirts. "A single day of delay could mean costly chargebacks, sometimes as much as 50 cents an item," adds Atkinson, further squeezing your margins.

Robinson has streamlined the approval process at Print My Threads with a custom customer portal. “Our clients can review a photorealistic mockup of their product and approve it online,” he says. This system allows clients to make changes quickly, keeping the timeline on track.

Another challenge is ensuring consistency in color and design. “Some brands push the limits on decoration locations and sizes,” Robinson says. To avoid surprises, his team reviews each design and often creates mockups to ensure the final product aligns with what the client has approved. “We order physical samples of every shirt color and style, so our mockups are 100% accurate,” he says.

Additionally, Print My Threads uses custom color swatches to guarantee that ink colors match the product precisely. “This attention to detail and over-communication has nearly eliminated issues on the back end,” Robinson says.

5. Learn how to “repeat” orders effectively.

Working with retail clients who order the same designs or SKUs again and again can be increasingly profitable. “The first time you print, you invest in finalizing the artwork, doing color separations, figuring out mesh counts, ink mixing, and more to build out a ‘recipe’ for printing that job,” Robinson says. “But then, you’ve done all the prep work for repeat orders.”

If you have a system to store those production “recipes” when your retail client re-orders the same job monthly, quarterly, or annually, you’ll see a jump in profitability because you can get those jobs on press and out the door faster.

“Retail clients also typically require folding, bagging, and tagging,” Robinson says. “You’ll need to do time studies for each of these additional touches to determine your costs – but assuming you put the right equipment, people, and processes in place – each add-on service can become a profit center for your business.”

Reorders often come in fast, especially when items are selling well. "Turnaround times can shrink from six weeks to three," Anderson says. However, he warns of potential issues on repeat runs: "The fourth time you do a job, one color might be off." He recommends using a print matrix and a direct-to-screen system to keep consistency. “If your inks aren’t mixed properly, you could encounter issues with the order,” he says. While you may not need to send samples with every reorder, you need a perfect color match before you start printing.

6. Put robust quality control methods in place.

Quality control is a must, not a maybe, in retail production. “You can’t do retail without a QC process,” Atkinson says, warning that a high error rate (15% to 20%) can quickly spell disaster for a shop. The QC process should start right at order entry, ensuring all artwork and specifications are spot-on. “For example, if you print on the wrong color shirt, it creates huge issues,” he adds. “Retailers look at random shirts in your shipment, so you can’t hide your mistakes.”

Anderson’s team uses a detailed print matrix to maintain color accuracy. “Our matrix includes the full-color design and the Pantone colors for each screen and ink,” he says. “For example, the yellows in Dragon Ball Z, Tweety Bird, and Tony the Tiger characters are all different, and if they aren’t exact, the client rejects the prints.”

Precision is non-negotiable when working with major brands. “We’ve become Bioworld Merchandising’s highest-rated contractor with a 96% approval rate for packing and printing,” Anderson says. “But one mistake in color or packaging can still lead to costly chargebacks.”

Quality checks are required at every step, from machine setup to packing. “Each production step requires approval and signatures,” Anderson says. Keeping the original pre-production sample on hand ensures every batch matches the approved standard. Robinson’s team uses detailed production sheets to track all specifics, from ink colors to print order, ensuring every reprint is identical to the original. “Having a physical sample for future orders helps maintain that level of consistency,” he says.

7. Invest in precise color-matching.

“Color matching is a game-changer in retail printing,” Atkinson says. A Pantone color spectrometer helps ensure accuracy and avoids discrepancies caused by individual color perception. “If you use a measurable scientific instrument to measure color, you know you’re right.” This attention to detail can prevent costly mistakes. He recalls a successful job involving 30,000 tan hoodies: “Accurate color matching helped us avoid lighting issues.”

However, color challenges can arise, such as when printing yellow ink on a red shirt. Atkinson points out that even the screen mesh can impact how color appears. “Check everything during your sample run to avoid chargebacks,” he says.

Robinson notes that investing time in color-accurate product photography has paid off. “Standardizing our ink colors has saved us a ton of time on the backend,” he says. Getting color right from the start boosts quality and streamlines the printing process.

8. Choose your brand partners wisely.

Not all budding retail brands are worth working with – and Robinson has learned this through experience. “Some brands have unrealistic expectations or try to grow too fast, which leads to cash flow and inventory issues,” he says. “We’ve become good at spotting red flags early on. Now, we require payment upfront to ensure we get paid, and we vet retail clients carefully to make sure it’s a good fit.”

When you find the right retail clients, your shop can grow. However, Robinson cautions against rushing into partnerships with newer or smaller brands. “We’ve seen brands have a big initial sales spike, but they grow too fast and run into financial or inventory problems," he says. “Unfortunately, most of them don’t last.”

For the brands that scale wisely, Print My Threads grows with them — though Robinson is realistic about the future. “Eventually, they either bring production in-house or find someone cheaper,” he says. “We keep an eye on retail accounts, so we’re not blindsided when that revenue dries up.”

Is Printing for Retailers in Your Shop’s Future?

Retail is a fast-paced and unpredictable environment where margins are tight and expectations are sky-high. Retailers expect perfection – every Pantone color must match, print placements must be exact, and quality must be consistent across every print. “Trends shift quickly, especially with fast fashion, so turn times can be crazy as stores react to the market,” Atkinson says. “You might be asked for reorders or large sizes on short notice, and if you can’t meet that service level agreement, the client might cancel your order.”

Succeeding in retail isn’t just about having the right equipment or the fastest production times – it’s about having staff and systems that can handle the scale, speed, and quality that major brands require. If your shop can consistently deliver precision, handle quick turnarounds, and adapt to retail demands, it can open the door to high-volume, repeat business with top-tier clients. “If you’re not precise or can’t handle quick turnarounds, retail printing will make you nervous,” Atkinson says, “but nailing it opens the door to big, lucrative opportunities.”