Issues with AI file and (3rd party) Print

[imitating]

So I recently requested a sample print of one of my designs on a small bag (approx. 9" x 5") with a 3rd party company, Printify. I work solely with AI (but do not normally print), so file quality has never concerned me until this incident. Please help, I am at a loss as to what I am doing wrong.  

The product I am attempting to print on has these stated dimensions from their site (the small size):

Their website recommends a file size of: "1500px 1950px" for this particular product.

Again, working in AI, I assume this is no problem at all and proceed to upload my file to their site which comes in at "7961px x 5971px."

So everything seems fine until I get the print back.

I feel like it's hard to tell from a photo, but the print appears blurry. I know I am overly critical of work, so I did ask others for their opinion on the print and they agree as well. At any rate, it is unacceptable for me to sell an item at its current state.

I reached out to the company and we went back and forth as follows:

September 26th: "Thank you for reaching out to us and bringing this to our attention. I took a look at the print file you provided for this item and unfortunately if you zoom in you can see that it is slightly blurry:

If printed on flat area, this blurriness might not be noticeable, however, when printed on a textured fabric the print gets fuzzy."

So basically we go back and forth on this as I send her screenshots of the same files I uploaded zoomed into the same level she is on her end and they are crisp on my end.

She eventually gets a few other people involved and I get this response next: “Thank you for sharing the files with us. I can confirm that the quality is indeed superb therefore we will need to investigate this to find out why did it turn out the way it did.”

Later followed up with: "Tech Team is still looking into the case and as soon as we have any update, we will inform you immediately."

A few days later after the tech team looked into, they finally "resolve" the issue and this is their answer:

October 3rd: “Our tech team has gotten back to us and informed that the print file is the same as your file.

However, I can suggest to improve the quality of the small lines in the design: Small design elements such as these will come out blurry, if the print file is also pixelated, which is visible in the original file as well. Please update the quality of the file, to avoid it from being blurry in the replacement order and let us know.”

And they attached this image as proof that my images are blurry to start with:

Now if you zoom into any raster image close enough, you are going to see pixelation. I understand that (not sure if they do), but should my file have been clean enough for their printing requirements? Am I missing something? I am also considering that the medium I had it printed on will just always be "soft," but want to make sure there is something I should be altering first before just giving up on this project entirely.

[Monika Gause]

imitating  schrieb

So weird question: I have an old canvas bag from Target (similar size weave to the bag from this failed venture) that has printed stripes on it which are very crisp, clean lines. Any guesses as to what type of printing method they might have used on it. I know that's ridiculous to even ask without you being able to see the bag in person, but I figure any guesses might at least put me in the right direction when seeking out a new printer.

Most probably screen printing.

[jdanek]

I agree with Monika.  Because your product and its success is very important to you, it becomes obvious how important it is to work direct with the print vendor.  You might consider getting actual "print samples" and at least 3 estimates from "competent" printers who can answer your questions honestly.  Otherwise, you will compromise your product.  Screen printing is not the only method that can produce crisp prints, but the viscosity of the screen printing inks is much different as I previously discussed.

[imitating]

My only struggle is finding a printer that also sews in-house after the print. My local printers only seem to print onto basic bulk purchased canvas grocery style bags, but I still plan on meeting with one of them to discuss printing techniques to help me better understand what I should be seeking out with some of these online printers (that also have a team that assembles after the print). I'm also hoping to maybe utilize the local printers for at least shirts as they won't require assembly after the print.

On a side note, screen printing absolutely blows my mind as I am part of a workshop that has a crazy screen printing press and have taken a class on it. Our prints were crisp in some areas and bled in others, certainly a skill that needs to be refined to get clean prints over and over again. To think of something be printed on mass scale (for something as large as Target) and having such great quality is so impressive to me.

[imitating · Accepted solution]

So I just got back from speaking with a local printer and they feel the print quality I got on this was about as good as it was going to get due to the DTG print on the type of fabric - so nothing to do with my print files. I also brought them the bag from Target that had a similar style weave but perfect, crisp lines and their conclusion is that that print was done with sublimation. So I guess what I've learned from this is:

1. Printify's current production partner for this style of bag will always look terrible given their chosen print process for the material they are printing on.

2. Printify's support team unfortunately has no idea what they are talking about with file quality and how it relates to final product quality.

3. The only way to get an acceptable level of print on this type of fabric is true sublimation, not the standard DTG that it appears Printify's production partner was utilizing (which is also what my local printer offers, so unfortunately I cannot use them for this particular project).

Thank you everyone for all your answers, it was helpful being able to talk this out and get different opinions.

[Monika Gause]

Thank you very much for prociding this information. It's very helpful. Can you please mark your own post as the correct one? It will surely help others.

[imitating]

Haha, will do, I felt weird doing that.