Frequently Asked Questions: T-Line FAQs
What do you do?
Contract Services
T-Line is a very diverse screen-printing and embroidery company with promotional capabilities. We handle contract embroidery and screen-printing services for larger sportswear companies here in the Northwest. As well as serve marketing companies across the nation. But we never forget the smaller local accounts. We work hard to provide the best customer service and quality products to all our contract clients. T-Line is capable of screen-printing or embroidering your design on a wide range of products. Contact us for more information.
College Market
In 2001, T-Line began its push into the college market. Building licensing relationships with the University of Oregon and Oregon State University; we quickly became one of University of Oregon's top 10 producers and are one of a few licensees that still have the option to use the University of Oregon Duck Mascot. Within a few years of our college launch we added northwest licenses from the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC), including University of Washington, Washington State University, Portland State University, Boise State, Gonzaga, UNLV and a few others. Our college product offerings include apparel for Infant/Toddler, Youth, Men's and Women's sales channels as well as accessories that include, caps, picnic blankets, golf bags, gloves, water bottles, jackets, coffee mugs and luggage tags, to name a few.
Entertainment Licensing and Novelty Market
T-Line started with novelty joke designs in 1990. Its presence among novelty catalogs, as well as the specialty store markets has created strong relationships with brick and mortar businesses, online stores and long time catalog companies. These novelty designs provided sales channels for T-Line's move into the entertainment licensing industry. We have worked with and still work with many different licensors and are always looking for the next great opportunity. Past and present licensing properties include: Sanrio – Hello Kitty, Joecartoon LLC, Angry Little Girls, Krazy Kat, Slinky, Multiple Candy Companies, Bozo The Clown, Dreamworks – Austin Powers, Hanna Barbera – Wacky Racers, Miller High Life, Snap-on Tools, Bob's Big Boy, Tsuburaya – Ultraman, NBCUniversal – House MD, The Office, Twentieth Centurty Fox – Idiocracy, Sony Pictures – Community and over half a dozen college properties. Not to mention independent cartoonists such as Dan Reynolds and Eric Decetis who continually provide profitable and hilarious graphics for the novelty market.
Souvenir Market
T-Line's presence in the resort and tourism souvenir market allows us the opportunity to create products for some of the most prestigious national parks and museums in the country, as well as multiple souvenir shops and tourist destinations. These unique resort graphics developed in-house specifically for those special tourist destinations include graphics for the stores along the pacific coast from Seattle to San Diego; ski resorts such as Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood; National Parks like Rainier and St. Helens; Tourist Destinations from Las Vegas to Atlantic City; Souvenir shops including Made in Oregon and Simply Seattle. T-Line produces embroidery and screen-print graphics for multiple uses and many diverse destinations all with the goal of increasing our clients bottom line.
I need something put on apparel, a bag, or some sort of accessory, where do I start?
Contact us. Talk to a real person, 1 (503) 266-2103. We can put your graphic on just about anything. Our sales reps are ready to answer your questions. However, it is always best to have your project planned out before you call or email. Have your artwork ready to email, your product colors chosen and the number of pieces you will need. Having this information will give our sales people a better idea of what you need and will make it easier to explain what T-Line can do for you and your organization.
Do you have minimums?
Our minimums reflect our best efforts to keep your costs to a minimum. For screen-printing - 72 units; Embroidery – 12 units; Direct-to-garment – 1 unit. Please understand that we are willing to take smaller projects but your cost will be reflected in a higher per unit price.
How does your pricing work?
Pricing is based on the complexity of the graphic. For screen-printed projects we base the price on the number of colors in the design, how many print locations, the number of units and of course the type of garment the design is being printed on. For embroidery the size of the graphic and its complexity determine the price. Remember that with embroidery the digitizing process, which is the act of taking a flat design and translating it into a language the embroidery machine can read, is an additional charge separate from the per unit price.
What are your art requirements?
Whenever possible we need "Camera Ready" artwork for your project to meet the quality standards that we want to achieve. We currently work in Adobe CS5 which can handle most graphics.
Can you explain "Camera Ready" art?
"Camera Ready" refers to art and copy that is ready to be transferred to film without retouching no splice-ins, paste-ups, double burns or extra opaquing should be required. Retouching also includes art that has to be redrawn, retraced or reworked on the computer by an artist. There is no Art Charge for Camera Ready art. If you do not have Camera Ready art, T-Line's talented art department can make your artwork Camera Ready or create it from scratch. Please see your sales person about pricing for these services. If you are unsure if your artwork is Camera Ready, we'll gladly take a look at it and inform you of any changes that may be needed, free of charge.
What file types do you accept?
We currently use Adobe CS5. Please try and send us your artwork in one of the following file types: AI, PSD, EPS, TIFF, BMP, and PDF. We can make other files work but prefer the previous types to achieve best quality. When in doubt, Contact us.
What resolution should my art be at?
To achieve the best results please send your files to us in a resolution between 200 and 300 dpi. Your artwork must also be the same size or larger than its final intended output.
Can you give me an example of what isn't Camera Ready artwork?
Photocopies of any type, A fax, Business cards or letterhead (in most cases), Components which need resizing to fit properly, Artwork with pasted and lumpy or taped components, Artwork with smudges or marks with pen or pencil or dirty fingers, Continuous tone images (i.e., photographs), Art that has to be pasted up or reformatted in any way or art that has to be excessively reduced, Negatives.
Is there anything more I should know about Type and Fonts?
Be sure to include ALL fonts, for ALL elements of your documents. Be safe when you are assembling fonts. Make certain you are getting the right version and style of each font and that the files are not corrupted. When using vector files, to avoid possible font problems simply convert ALL fonts to paths. However, doing this makes it nearly impossible to edit the text. Therefore, we recommend that you save and send two versions of your files, one labeled "Text" and one labeled "outline". The separately saved file with the type remaining is easily editable incase we have to correct a spelling error.
What about specific colors? My company uses a specific blue.
Please remember that Computer monitors see color in RGB (Red-Green-Blue) but most Screen Printing Inks are seen in a color spectrum closer to CMYK color (Cyan-Magenta-Yellow-Black). Convert your art before giving it to us so you can see if the mode change is acceptable. If a PMS (Pantone Matching System) color is required, we need you to use that PMS color in your artwork. Please also specify any PMS colors separately from the artwork itself. In most cases, ink colors can be matched at no charge, but exact matches cannot be guaranteed when PMS colors are not specified. Some items may require an additional charge for color matching.