2025

Contract Printing Guide

Table of contents
About UsOrder Process General InformationTerms & ConditionsShipping & ReceivingPrint Locations Stock Ink Colors
About Us

We've been in the game for a hot minute.

Kyle Woodall officially founded Machine Gun Graphics in 2007, but the story starts way before that. He first learned the screen printing process at just 14 years old in a tech class. From there, he worked at a small manual shop in Florida, learning the ropes before making the move to North Carolina. That's where Machine Gun Graphics was born - in a basement, like many great things.

In 2007, Kyle bought his first automatic press and rented his first production space. Like a lot of shop owners in our world, he spent those early years solo - learning, experimenting, and grinding to bring people's ideas to life, one shirt at a time. What started as a DIY passion project has grown into the professional, commercial screen printing operation we run today.

Nikki joined the business in 2014, bringing over a decade of retail experience with her. She came in to focus on customer relationships and daily operations — because let's be real, trying to do it all alone is no joke. The partnership clicked, allowing both Kyle and Nikki to focus on their strengths and keep the business moving forward.

Today, as Cotton Street Apparel, we're embracing the next chapter. We're shifting gears abit - ready to take the knowledge we've gained over the years and share it with our industry friends, collaborators, and community. We're here to print, grow, and evolve with you.

Order Process

Do not combine multiple print jobs on the same PO.

WHEN PLACING YOUR ORDERS
To help streamline the process, please send ONE email per PO with the following information:Each job should be written and submitted to Cotton Street Apparel as a separate PO.

Once all of this information has been received, you will receive a final invoice within 2-4 hours. This invoice will include a digital proof with all print specs for you to review. With the link provided, you will be able to either approve or deny you PO. When you have approved, you will then see a payment link button appear. You will have a credit card or ACH option for payment through this secure link.

Once payment has been received, you will receive an automated email from our system letting you know we have received your approval and payment. No further changes can be made once an approval/payment has been made. Once you have placed your order for apparel and have received tracking, please reply back to that specific PO email with the tracking numbers for your order.

Once we have received all goods, we will then place your order on our production schedule. The date scheduled will be 7-10 business days from the day you approved and placed payment on your order. You will be able to see this information in your customer profile link. Reach out to us if you do not have this link from us.

Rush Services

We will always do our best to accommodate your needs on rushes but please keep in mind that rushing your order means bumping someone else back that has already approved their PO's from us.

Please refer to the fees page for additional costs associated with rushes.

General Information
Quality Dispute

Claims must be made within 5 days of receiving your order. Under no circumstances will any claims made after 5 days of receiving will be honored past that time frame.

All orders will be shipped out to you or your clients in the boxes we have received them in unless noted on your invoices. New boxes are charged at $5.00 per box.

Any unclaimed merchandise will be donated locally after 60 days.

Orders that require more than one print location may need 1-2 more days in production to complete. Please let us know ahead of time if your order has a time sensitive deadline.

Orders that require specific packaging, finishing services and distribution to multiple ship locations will require extra time in production. Please let us know ahead of time if your order has a time sensitive deadline.

Cancelled orders will not be accepted once your order has been approved and paid for. The moment your order is paid, it will process into our system and the production process has started.

Copyrights are the responsibility of the client (you) using our services. Needed use of trademarks, copyrights marks and payments of licensed property are the responsibility of the client (you).

Cotton Street Apparel can not be held responsible for any art discrepancies on final prints that were approved by the client (you). All of our final prints are check at press by a team lead. We confirm those prints on the proofs that the client (you) has approved in the final invoice. Please double check all proofs before completing the final steps. This responsibility falls on you as you are theperson communicating with the end client.

All orders that require names and numbers must be submitted on an excel spreadsheet to ensure it is copied into our system correctly.

Luxury brands with a retail value over $50 will incur an additional handling fee of $1.00 per item as well will take extra time in the decoration process.

Purchase Orders:

All orders must be in writing

Orders should be sent through the link provided to you by your sales rep. This ensures that we are able to collect all information we need to stay in our 24 hour window of receipt of your final invoice.

Spoilage:

While we do maintain a low spoilage rate, mistakes and unforeseeable accidents can and will occur. Our damage allowance is 3% per logo per placement on 100% cotton goods. For tri-blend, pigmentdye, or 100% polyester goods, the damage allowance is 4%.

If we exceed these parameters above, you will be provided a credit for the decoration cost and the cost of the garment up to $ 40 per garment for the units above the damage allowance stated above.

If exact quantities are required for your order, please ensure to provide extra blanks. If extra blanks are not provided and we are required to re-set up a job to ship complete, then those units will betreated as a separate order and priced as a separate order.

Quantity Disputes:

Cotton Street Apparel has three points of contact during the decorating process when it was requested for us to count in garments. Counting garments in individually will incur an extra fee which can be found on our fee sheet. When requested, your order is counted in one by one when we receive your goods.

Our press operators verify a total press count against their work order once the job has been completed on press. A final piece count and quality check is made while we are packing your items. Any missing items will be uncovered and reported back to the client (you).

Terms & Conditions
Artwork charge:

Production ready artwork that is ready to output to film is required to avoid an artwork charge.

Artwork Requirements:

To avoid an Artwork Charge we require vector line art in EPS, Al, or .PDF format. Make sure there are no bitmap embedded images.

Colors should be in Pantone solid coated, no CMYK or RGB. High resolution raster art is also acceptable provided it is layered in a PSD or .TIF format and it is set to print at 300 dpi at the size needed.

Please remember to convert all text to outlines before submitting your files. Failure to convert your fonts to outlines will result in printing errors that Cotton Street Apparel will not beheld responsible for.

Colored Garments:

All colored garments require an underlay which is charged as one additional screen. An additional screen is required for the underlay on colored garments. Flashing charges also apply.

Customer Supplied Separations:

Separations supplied by our customers will not be accepted as we create our separations specifically to account for the garment, our equipment standards, and all materials being used to bring your print to life.

Dye Migration on Polyester & Pigment Dyed Goods:

Dye migration on polyester and pigment dyed fabrics cannot be 100% avoided and Cotton Street Apparel will not be responsible for its occurrence. Dye migration is a problem caused when the dye in the fabric of the garment sublimates and turns into a gas.

This gas then tries to escape the garment and can get caught up in the ink that is applied to the garment. This can cause the discoloration of the ink. Unfortunately, there is no consistency to when dye migration may occur. Dye migration may occur after the ink is cured or in some cases as much as two weeks later.

To minimize the likelihood of dye migration, an additional barrier base gray screen is required. Cotton Street Apparel cannot control dye migration and is a risk the customer must be willing to accept when printing on any garments containing polyester fibers or garment dyed fabrics.

Four Color Process Printing:

This technique uses CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) inks. These translucent inks are layered on top of one another in a specific order t o create a wide spectrum of colors. Exact Pantone color matching is not possible with this style of printing, and is not ideal where there are large areas of color.

Cotton Street Apparel only prints Four color process on white garments. If you are wantingfull color on colored garments we highly recommend using a process called Simulated Process. 

There is an additional charge of $15 for separations when printing Four color process.

Simulated Process Printing:

This is the most popular type of multicolor printing when trying to achieve photorealistic and highly detailed images. Simulated process uses regular plastisol inks, which can be used for an exact pantone color match unlike Four color process. Typically done in 7-10 colors, using color blending and halftone shading this print style can create the look of hundreds of colors.

This process can be done on any color and type of garment. There is an additional charge of $30 for separations when printing simulated process.

Old Art Files:

We're digital! We will have them stored on our servers for any future re-prints. We will purge any unused files after 2 years.

Ownership of Screens & Films:

Cotton Street Apparel owns all screens, films, and separation files.

Pantone Matching:

Cotton Street Apparel provides a wide list of stock colors that will be of use to you at no additional cost. Any colors outside of the stock colors stored on site could create additional fees. Get with your inside rep for more details as we can custom mix/match any PMS colors in house.

While we always strive to hit an exact match, we will always hit within a 90% tolerance. We can make NO GUARANTEE on an exact match of a previously run job without you providing a decorated unit from the previous run, and even then, within a 90% tolerance.

Printing Tolerance:

Cotton Street Apparel has a printing tolerance of 1/2" to 1" in any direction. While all technical means are used to control the printing tolerance, there is inherent variances in the process. Cotton Street Apparel will not be responsible for these slight variances in design placement.

Printing on Youth and Adult Garments:

Keep in mind that the same size artwork is used on every size garment in your order unless you request us to change the print sizes. If you request us to modify the print sizes to accommodate the different sizes within your order your print charges and setup fees will be based as if these are separate and unique orders.

Reaction to Heat:

All garments are exposed to a high degree of heat to cure the ink. This exposure may cause some slight shrinkage to the apparel. Additionally, some brands of apparel use tags that will curl when exposed to heat. These are both risks inherent to the screen-printing process that Cotton Street Apparel cannot be held responsible for.

Unique print Locations:

Please understand that printing over seams, zippers, collars, or other unique locations can lead to ink buildup, coverage, and consistency issues. This is an unavoidable occurrence related to these unique locations and Cotton Street Apparel will not be responsible for these issues and our normal damage allowance will not apply.

Neck Label Printing:

Please contact your rep or email us at orders@cottonstreetapparel.com to discuss your individual needs. Keep in mind that neck print could show through to the other side of the shirt on lightercolored garments. This can become especially noticeable when the contrast between the ink color and the shirt color is great.

Pre-production Samples:

We do not provide live pre-production printed samples. Instead, all invoices will include a digital proof from our art department for your review. This proof will outline all print specifications, including artwork size, approximate print location, and ink colors listed by Pantone. 

Please note that the locations shown are for reference only and do not represent exact measurements in inches. If you require precise placement, be sure to communicate the exact inch measurements to your representative.

Please note that requests for exact placement will incur additional fees.

Shipping & Handling
RECEIVING:

Please ship all orders to us by PO. Sorting to separate bulk orders will be billed at an hourly rate of $30 per billable hour. This fee will apply if we receive shipments from your garment supplier that requires us to separate them into individual orders to match your purchase orders.

Blank products received with no PO: If Cotton Street Apparel does not receive a purchase order for blanks products being received in from your supplier, there will be a fee of $30 per order and $2.00 per box per day to receive goods in.

Goods that require unpacking:
‍Removal of bags, pins, tags etc. will incur a fee of 0.15 per piece. Usually on higher priced goods, the manufactures will pack the blank goods individually bagged or tagged for retail.

‍Vendor Returns : $15.00 per return. If your product was received incorrect from your vendor or your order was modified after receipt of inventory, please provide us with a 3rd party shipping number or an electronic pre-paid label to return goods t o your vendor.

‍Packing:Our standard pack is a printer's fold by dozen. For non-standard pack outs, we charge an extra 0.15 per piece. Please let us know a t the time you place your order if you need any specific packing.

‍Split Shipments: $5.00 per location. We can pack shipments for multiple locations. Please ensure you provide the items and locations needed at the time you place your order.

Shipping:

Incorrect Address charge $15.00 per box plus the cost of freight. Residential address change $15.00 per box plus t h e cost of freight.

All order will ship via UPS ground. Orders will ship from Winston Salem, NC. Once your order leaves our facility, we are no longer responsible for the order.

If you wish to use another carrier outside o f UPS, you must provide your 3rd party shipping account number at the time of the order. Shipping fees are based on weight, box dimensions, zip code,and address type. Shipping will be charged at UPS publish rates and added to your invoice.

If you require your shipments to be insured, you must specify the value you would like your order insured for on your purchase order. Insurance on goods shipped via LTL/Truck line are also limitedbased on the carrier. It is suggested that you request insurance when shipping via LTL/Truck line services.

Cotton Street Apparel IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SHIPMENTS LOST OR DAMAGED IN TRANSIT. When goods are shipped on our account number, we will work with you in filing any insurance claims when necessary.

We are happy to ship using your chosen method and to ship using your desired account number. This information must be clearly stated on your purchase order. In the event you request a shippingmethod other than UPS, there is a possibility your ship date may be delayed by a day leaving our facility as UPS is our preferred shipping partner with a daily pick up schedule. Any other carriers willhave to be scheduled. This will also incur a pickup fee of $20.00.

It is important that you specify on your PO if the ship to address is a residence or commercial address.Any fees for incorrect address requiring a change by UPS/FED EX or unspecified residential addresses will be assessed a $15.00 per box charge. This charge will be invoiced separately as we do not typically know of these charges until the order has already been processed into our system.

Stock Ink Colors
PMS Colors