What "approved mockup" means

The single most important thing in your order — and why we ask you to check it carefully before you pay.

Before any printing, embroidery, cutting or sewing happens on your order, you'll see a mockup — a digital proof showing what your items will look like with your logo applied. When you approve that mockup (or proceed to payment after we've sent it), it becomes the agreed specification for your order. This article explains why that matters and what to look for.

Why we work this way

Custom apparel is consumed-on-production. Once we've embroidered a logo on a polo, that polo is yours — we can't restock it. That's why we put the mockup step front-and-centre: it's the moment where you tell us "yes, that's what I want, please make it" and we turn it into stitches and ink. After production, the mockup is also the document we'd both refer back to if there's ever a question about whether your order was made correctly.

What to check on every mockup

Mockups feel routine after a few orders, but each one is the contract for that specific run. The five-minute check is worth it. Look for:

• Spelling. Every letter, every number — even if you've ordered the same logo a hundred times before. Typos slip in.
• Logo placement. Front, back, sleeve, chest. Left or right.
• Logo size. Embroidery looks different at 8 cm vs 10 cm. Check it against the size guide we send.
• Garment colour. Confirm the actual garment colour matches your expectation — colour names like "navy" can vary between suppliers.
• Garment style. Polo vs t-shirt, hoodie vs crewneck — easy to mix up at quote stage.
• Quantities and sizes. Per-size breakdown for the run.
• Decoration method. Print vs embroidery — they look different on the finished product.

What approval gives you

Once you've approved a mockup, here's what's locked in:

• The artwork as shown — design, colours, position.
• The text exactly as written, spelt as written.
• The garment style, colour, and size breakdown shown.
• The decoration method (print, embroidery, sublimation, etc.).

If we deliver something that doesn't match the approved mockup, that's our problem and we'll fix it under our refunds and returns terms.

What approval doesn't cover

Production processes have inherent variation. The following aren't defects — they're the realities of physical production:

• Print placement can sit up to ±1.5 cm from the position shown in the mockup.
• Print and embroidery size can vary by up to ±5% of the dimensions shown.
• Garment dimensions can vary by up to ±5% of the published size charts.
• Colour on a screen is not the same as colour on fabric. Pantone-matched colours (where you've specified one) will be very close; unspecified colours will be matched to our closest standard production colour.
• Embroidery rendering of fine details, very small text, or gradients won't be pixel-identical to a printed mockup. We'll flag likely issues before production where we can spot them; if we don't, you accept the rendering as produced.

What "I approved the wrong mockup" means

Sometimes a mockup is approved with a customer-side error — a typo we didn't spot, the wrong colour selected, art that wasn't quite what was meant. We see this from time to time, particularly when uniforms are signed off in a hurry.

In strict terms: if you approved it, it's the agreed spec, and we're not contractually obliged to remake it for free. In practice: we'll often offer a goodwill remake at a heavy discount, depending on the situation. Just reach out — replying to the order confirmation email is the fastest path. The earlier you spot it, the more options we have (e.g. before the run is finished).