What Is Commercially Acceptable in Custom Apparel?

What Is Commercially Acceptable in Custom Apparel?

What Counts as a Flaw — and What Doesn’t?

Custom apparel isn't made by robots. From the moment fabric is cut and sewn to the final decoration, your shirt or hat is handled by real people using industrial equipment. That’s the beauty of custom — but it also means no two pieces are exactly the same.

Here’s the basic rule:
If someone is wearing the item and it looks good from 4–6 feet away, it’s considered commercially acceptable.

Looking too closely — say, 6–12 inches — or zooming in with a camera or magnifying glass? That’s not a realistic way to evaluate how a garment performs in the real world. Shirts and hats are seen on people, from a natural distance.

Why Variation Happens

Each garment is sewn on high-speed, industrial machines — but it’s still people doing the work. Seams can vary slightly, collars may tilt a bit, or a print might be 1/2" higher or lower. These aren’t flaws — they’re a natural part of a handcrafted process.

And once decorated, the artwork becomes part of the garment. So even if two people order the same shirt with the same design, it might sit differently on each body. No two people wear an item exactly the same way — and that’s expected.

Our Tolerances

Bolt Printing follows standard commercial guidelines:

  • ±0.5" for shirts
  • ±0.25" for hats

If a design is visibly crooked or off-placement from 4–6 feet away, we’ll fix it. But expecting pixel-perfect symmetry on a moving, worn item is a recipe for disappointment.

Bottom line: If it looks great on the person, from a normal viewing distance, it’s doing exactly what it should.