FAQs
Orders & Shipping
Processing and delivery times can vary depending on your order, location, and shipping method. You’ll receive tracking information as soon as your order ships.
For current shipping estimates and full details, check our Shipping Policy.
Sometimes! We like free shipping too.
We offer it during select promotions and special offers. When it’s available, any requirements or restrictions will be shown on the site or at checkout.
Yep. Fluent ships internationally.
Available shipping options and rates will be shown at checkout based on your location. Delivery times vary by destination.
International orders may also be subject to customs fees, duties, or taxes imposed by your country. These charges, if applicable, are the responsibility of the customer.
Once an order is placed, it cannot be canceled or changed.
Please double-check your items, size, color, shipping address, and other order details before completing your purchase.
Once your order ships, we’ll send you tracking information so you can follow its journey.
If your tracking shows “Delivered” but you can’t find your package, check:
- The shipping address on your order
- In or around your mailbox
- Your front and back doors
- Your porch, patio, or garage
- Behind pillars, bushes, or other objects
- Under outdoor furniture
- With anyone else in your home or business
- With your neighbors
Still can’t find it? Please contact the shipping carrier directly using your tracking information.
For lost, stolen, delayed, or shipping-damaged packages, please contact the carrier directly. Fluent is not responsible for carrier-related delivery issues or packages lost or stolen after confirmed delivery.
Returns & Refunds
You have 14 days from delivery to request a return on eligible items.
Items must be unworn, unwashed, undamaged, and in their original condition with any tags attached. Some items are final sale, and certain returns based on personal preference or incorrect selections are not eligible.
We don't offer direct exchanges. If your item is eligible for return, request a return and place a new order for the item you want.
See our Returns & Refunds Policy for complete details.
Submit a return request through your Fluent account within 14 days of delivery.
If approved, your return must be shipped back within 5 days. Please don’t send anything back without an approved return request.
Custom or personalized items, items marked final sale, gift cards, digital products, and items that have been worn, washed, damaged, or altered cannot be returned.
We cannot accept returns for personal preference or incorrect selections, including size, fit preference, color, design, softness, texture, or minor differences between on-screen and actual colors.
Please review the product details and size guide carefully before ordering.
Once your return is received and inspected, we’ll let you know if your refund has been approved.
Approved refunds are issued to your original payment method within 5 business days. Your bank or payment provider may take additional time to post the refund.
Original shipping charges are non-refundable, and customers are responsible for return shipping costs.
That one’s on us.
If you receive the wrong item or your product has a manufacturing or printing defect, contact us as soon as possible with your order number and photos of the issue.
If we made a mistake, we’ll make it right.
Products & Care
Check the size guide on the product page before ordering. It includes measurements to help you choose the best size.
For the most accurate comparison, measure a T-shirt you already own that fits you well and compare those measurements with the size guide.
We cannot accept returns for incorrect size selections or fit preference.
Wash your shirt inside out at up to 85°F (30°C).
Do not use bleach or fabric softener, tumble dry, or dry clean.
When ironing, turn the shirt inside out and use medium heat with no steam. Never iron directly over the design, and make sure printed areas don’t touch each other while ironing.
Don’t panic. A slight odor can sometimes be left behind by the printing and curing process.
It’s normal and should disappear after the first wash.
Colors may vary slightly between what you see on your screen and the finished shirt.
Screen settings, fabric color, and the printing process can all affect how colors appear.
Custom Shirts
Open the Customizer, choose your product, then add your design.
You can upload your own image or drag and drop a file from your computer. If your image doesn’t meet the required quality standards, the Customizer may prevent you from using it.
We also have Image Placement Guidelines to help you position your design.
Requirements depend on the type of artwork and product you're customizing.
Pixel Designs (PNG, JPG, BMP, or GIF)
- Maximum file size: 10 MB
- Apparel: at least 200 DPI
- Non-apparel: at least 400 DPI
- Minimum dimensions: 1000 × 1000 pixels
- Maximum dimensions: 4000 × 4000 pixels
- Design must be isolated
- Background must be transparent if you don't want it printed
Vector Designs (SVG, AI, or CDR)
- Maximum size: 15 × 15 inches
- Recommended size: 11 × 11 inches
- Minimum line diameter: 0.06 inches
- Maximum 3 colors for plot printing
- Each color must be on a separate layer
- All objects and text must be converted to paths
- Curves must be completely closed and cannot overlap
- Vector designs with more than 3 colors will be printed using Digital Direct
Sleeves, Hoods & Clothing with Zippers
- Designs placed in these areas must be vector files using Flex ink.
Coffee Mugs
- Lines and details must be at least 0.5 mm thick
- All parts of the design should be 100% opacity
- Semi-transparent elements may not look like the preview
There are several ways to put a design on a shirt or other product. Each method creates a different look, feel, and finish. Some methods also have specialty variations that add texture, shine, dimension, or other effects.
Digital Printing
Direct-to-Garment (DTG / Digital Direct)
DTG uses a specialized printer to apply ink directly onto the garment.
Best for: Photos, detailed artwork, gradients, and designs with lots of colors.
Look & feel: Soft and smooth, with the ink becoming part of the fabric rather than creating a heavy layer on top.
Direct-to-Film (DTF)
DTF prints the design onto a special film, applies adhesive, and then heat-presses the design onto the product.
Best for: Detailed, colorful artwork and a wide variety of fabrics.
Look & feel: Smooth, vibrant, and slightly raised.
Screen Printing
Screen printing pushes ink through a mesh screen onto the garment. Different inks and techniques can create very different results.
Plastisol Screen Printing
The traditional form of screen printing using plastisol ink.
Best for: Bold graphics, solid colors, and larger production runs.
Look & feel: Vibrant, durable, and slightly raised.
Water-Based Screen Printing
Uses water-based ink that absorbs into the fabric instead of creating a heavier layer on top.
Best for: Lightweight prints and a softer feel.
Look & feel: Very soft and integrated into the fabric.
Discharge Printing
Uses a special ink that removes the garment's existing dye to create the design.
Best for: Soft prints on darker cotton garments.
Look & feel: Extremely soft with little to no heavy ink layer.
High-Density Printing
Builds up screen-printing ink to create raised areas.
Best for: Logos, lettering, and dimensional graphics.
Look & feel: Thick, raised, and textured.
Puff Printing
Uses an additive that causes the ink to expand when heated.
Best for: Bold lettering, logos, and 3D effects.
Look & feel: Soft, raised, and dimensional.
Silicone Printing
Uses silicone-based ink or material instead of traditional printing ink.
Best for: Performance apparel, logos, and flexible raised designs.
Look & feel: Smooth, flexible, rubber-like, and often dimensional.
Specialty Screen-Printing Effects
Screen printing can also use specialty inks and materials to create effects such as:
- Foil
- Metallic
- Shimmer
- Glitter
- Glow-in-the-dark
- Reflective
These are finishes or effects rather than completely separate printing methods.
Heat Transfer Printing
Heat-transfer methods create the design separately and use heat and pressure to apply it to the product.
Heat Transfer Vinyl (HTV / Flex)
The design is cut from vinyl and heat-pressed onto the product.
Best for: Text, numbers, logos, and simple vector artwork.
Look & feel: Smooth, crisp, and slightly raised.
Specialty Flex / Specialty HTV
This is a variation of regular Flex or HTV using specialty materials.
Options can include:
- Glitter
- Metallic
- Neon
- Holographic
- Reflective
- Glow-in-the-dark
Best for: Simple designs that need a special visual effect.
Look & feel: Depends on the material selected.
Flock
A type of heat-transfer material with a soft, fuzzy surface.
Best for: Lettering, logos, and simple graphics.
Look & feel: Soft, velvety, and raised.
Plastisol Transfer
The design is screen-printed onto transfer material first and later heat-pressed onto the garment.
Best for: Screen-printed designs that need to be produced ahead of time and applied as needed.
Look & feel: Similar to traditional plastisol screen printing.
Digital Heat Transfer
Artwork is digitally printed onto transfer material and then heat-applied to the product.
Best for: Detailed, full-color graphics and smaller quantities.
Look & feel: Smooth with a noticeable printed layer.
Laser Transfer
Uses laser printing and specialized transfer material before the design is applied using heat and pressure.
Best for: Detailed graphics and certain products or materials.
Look & feel: Varies depending on the transfer material and product.
Sublimation Printing
Dye Sublimation
Special sublimation ink is heated until it turns into a gas and permanently bonds with compatible material.
Best for: Full-color artwork, photographs, polyester fabrics, and specially coated products.
Look & feel: No raised print. The design becomes part of the material itself.
All-Over Sublimation
This isn't a separate printing technology. It's an application of dye sublimation where large sections, or sometimes nearly the entire garment, are printed.
It's often done before the garment is cut and sewn.
Best for: Patterns, edge-to-edge artwork, and designs covering most or all of a garment.
Look & feel: Lightweight with no raised ink layer.
Embroidery
Embroidery uses thread rather than printing ink.
Flat Embroidery
Thread is stitched directly into the product.
Best for: Logos, lettering, hats, polos, jackets, and premium designs.
Look & feel: Textured and slightly raised.
3D Puff Embroidery
Foam is placed underneath the stitching to create additional height.
Best for: Bold lettering and logos, especially on hats.
Look & feel: Thick and highly dimensional.
Appliqué
Pieces of fabric or other material are cut into shapes and stitched onto the product.
Best for: Large lettering, numbers, varsity designs, and layered graphics.
Look & feel: Layered, stitched, and textured.
Chenille
Loops of yarn create the fuzzy texture commonly seen on varsity and letterman jackets.
Best for: Letters, patches, collegiate designs, and retro artwork.
Look & feel: Thick, soft, fuzzy, and dimensional.
Patches
Patches aren't technically a printing method, so I'd give them their own category.
Embroidered Patches
Thread is stitched onto a patch backing before the finished patch is attached to the product.
Look & feel: Raised, textured, and traditional.
Woven Patches
Thin threads are woven together rather than embroidered onto the surface.
Look & feel: Flatter and smoother than embroidery, allowing finer details and smaller lettering.
Printed Patches
Artwork is printed onto the patch material instead of being created primarily with thread.
Look & feel: Flat and smooth with the ability to reproduce detailed, colorful artwork.
Which one should I choose?
You usually don't need to figure it out yourself. After you choose a product and upload your artwork, the Customizer will show the printing methods compatible with your design.
As a general rule, detailed artwork and designs with lots of colors work well with digital methods, while simpler graphics may work better with methods such as Flex, screen printing, or embroidery. Specialty techniques can add texture, shine, dimension, or other effects when compatible with your design and product.
Yep. We can upscale your image to high definition or make the background transparent.
A $10 design fee per image applies. Use our Contact Form to request image editing.
Only upload content you have the legal right to use.
By uploading content, you confirm that you have the necessary rights or permission to use it and that your content does not violate any laws or third-party rights, including copyright, trademark, personality, or other intellectual property rights.
Without proper authorization, we will not print:
- Unofficial merchandise
- Names, logos, trademarks, slogans, images, or other intellectual property belonging to companies, musical artists, bands, sports teams, colleges, universities, clubs, or organizations
- Characters, images, actors, likenesses, or other protected material from cartoons, comics, video games, movies, or television shows
- Celebrity names, photos, caricatures, likenesses, or other protected material, whether the person is living or deceased
Fluent reserves the right to refuse any custom design that we believe may violate applicable laws or third-party rights.
Learn About Intellectual Property Rights
Not sure about the difference between copyrights, trademarks, and patents? These official U.S. government resources can help:
No Affiliation, Sponsorship, or Endorsement
Unless expressly stated otherwise, Fluent is not affiliated with, associated with, sponsored by, endorsed by, licensed by, authorized by, or officially connected with any third-party company, brand, organization, artist, celebrity, entertainment property, trademark owner, copyright owner, or other rights holder referenced or evoked by content appearing on this website.
All third-party trademarks, service marks, trade names, logos, copyrighted works, names, likenesses, and other intellectual property remain the property of their respective owners.
Any reference to third-party intellectual property is not intended to suggest sponsorship, affiliation, approval, authorization, or endorsement.
Parody, Commentary, Criticism & Expressive Use
Certain Fluent designs may reference, imitate, transform, comment on, criticize, satirize, parody, or otherwise evoke recognizable aspects of popular culture, brands, entertainment, public figures, or other subject matter.
Where applicable, Fluent expressly asserts all rights, defenses, privileges, limitations, exceptions, and protections available under the First Amendment, the Copyright Act, the Lanham Act, and other applicable federal and state laws, including fair use, parody, commentary, criticism, descriptive use, nominative use, and other protected expressive uses.
Fluent does not concede that permission, authorization, or a license is required for any particular use merely because third-party intellectual property is referenced, recognizable, or evoked.
Copyright Fair Use
Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act recognizes that certain uses of copyrighted material may qualify as fair use.
Fair use is determined based on the particular facts and circumstances, including:
- The purpose and character of the use
- The nature of the copyrighted work
- The amount and substantiality of the portion used
- The effect of the use on the potential market for the original work
Fluent reserves the right to rely on fair use, parody, transformative use, and any other applicable copyright rights, exceptions, limitations, and defenses where appropriate.
Trademark Use
Fluent does not claim ownership of third-party trademarks.
Third-party trademarks may be referenced where legally permitted for purposes including parody, criticism, commentary, identification, comparison, descriptive reference, nominative use, or other lawful expressive purposes.
Nothing on this website is intended to cause confusion regarding the source, sponsorship, affiliation, approval, authorization, or endorsement of Fluent or its products.
Fluent expressly reserves all rights and defenses available under trademark law, including those relating to parody, fair use, descriptive use, nominative use, protected expression, and lack of likelihood of confusion.
Public Domain & Licensed Material
Fluent may use material that is in the public domain or otherwise lawfully available for use, including material made available under applicable licenses such as Creative Commons licenses.
Public-domain status may depend on factors including publication date, authorship, copyright duration, renewal status, and other circumstances.
Fluent intends to use public-domain and licensed material only as permitted by applicable law or the applicable license terms.
Third-Party Rights
References to third-party intellectual property are not intended to claim ownership of those rights.
Nothing on this website grants any visitor or third party a license or right to reproduce, distribute, modify, sell, or otherwise use third-party intellectual property appearing on this website.
Nothing in this notice constitutes an admission that any particular reference, design, product, image, or use requires authorization from a third party.
Customer-Submitted Content & Custom Designs
By uploading, submitting, providing, or requesting the reproduction of any artwork, photograph, image, logo, trademark, text, name, likeness, design, or other content through Fluent's Customizer or other custom-order services, you represent and warrant that you own the content or have all rights, licenses, permissions, and authorizations necessary to use and reproduce it.
You are solely responsible for determining whether you have the legal right to use any content you submit and for ensuring that the requested use does not violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, privacy right, personality right, or other intellectual property or proprietary right of any third party.
By submitting content for a custom product, you authorize Fluent and its manufacturers, fulfillment providers, contractors, and service providers to reproduce, resize, adapt, process, transmit, print, manufacture, and otherwise use the submitted content as reasonably necessary to create, fulfill, and deliver your order.
Fluent is not obligated to independently investigate or verify ownership, licensing, authorization, or other rights associated with customer-submitted content.
Fluent reserves the right, but is not obligated, to reject, cancel, suspend, remove, or refuse any custom design or order that Fluent believes may violate applicable law, third-party rights, Fluent policies, or Fluent's Terms of Service.
Customers remain responsible for content they submit and for claims arising from their requested reproduction or use of that content. The indemnification provisions contained in Fluent's Terms of Service apply to customer-submitted content and custom orders.
No Admission of Infringement
The display, sale, removal, alteration, modification, suspension, or discontinuation of any design, product, image, listing, or other material shall not constitute an admission that the material infringes any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, personality right, privacy right, or other intellectual property or proprietary right.
Responding to a complaint, voluntarily removing or modifying material, communicating or cooperating with a claimant, or attempting to resolve a dispute shall not be interpreted as an admission of infringement, liability, wrongdoing, or the validity of any claim.
Intellectual Property Claims
If you believe material offered or displayed by Fluent infringes intellectual property rights that you own or are authorized to enforce, please submit a written claim containing:
- Your name and contact information
- Identification of the copyright, trademark, or other right you claim is being infringed
- Identification of the Fluent material you believe infringes that right
- The URL or location of the disputed material
- A description of the factual and legal basis for your claim
- Documentation or information reasonably sufficient to establish your ownership or authority to act on behalf of the rights holder
- A statement that you have a good-faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the rights holder, its agent, or applicable law
- A statement that the information you provide is accurate
Fluent reserves the right to investigate any claim, request additional information or documentation, reject incomplete or unsupported claims, remove or modify disputed material, or take any other action Fluent considers appropriate under the circumstances.
Receipt, review, response to, or resolution of an intellectual property claim does not constitute an admission of infringement, liability, wrongdoing, or the validity of the claim.
Legal Notice & No Warranty
This notice states Fluent's position regarding intellectual property, parody, fair use, expressive works, and related legal rights and defenses.
Nothing contained in this notice constitutes legal advice to any visitor or a representation or warranty that any particular design, use, defense, legal doctrine, or legal theory will produce a particular result.
No representation or warranty, express or implied, is made regarding the legal status of any particular third-party work, trademark, reference, design, or other material.
Nothing in this notice shall be interpreted as an admission of infringement, liability, wrongdoing, or the validity of any third-party claim.
Reservation of Rights
Fluent expressly reserves all rights, claims, defenses, privileges, exceptions, limitations, immunities, and remedies available under applicable copyright, trademark, First Amendment, unfair competition, publicity, privacy, and other federal, state, or applicable laws.
Nothing contained on this website shall be interpreted as a waiver, surrender, limitation, or abandonment of any legal or equitable right, claim, remedy, or defense available to Fluent.
No statement, action, removal, modification, communication, cooperation, settlement discussion, or other conduct by Fluent shall constitute a waiver or admission unless expressly stated in a written agreement signed by an authorized representative of Fluent.
Government, Judicial & Legal Requests
Nothing in this notice is intended to obstruct, evade, interfere with, or disregard any valid court order, subpoena, governmental request, or other lawful legal process.
Fluent reserves the right to contest, challenge, object to, seek clarification of, move to limit or quash, or otherwise respond to any claim, demand, subpoena, investigation, request, or legal process to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.
Compliance with any legal demand, court order, governmental request, investigation, or other legal process shall not constitute an admission of infringement, liability, wrongdoing, or the validity of any underlying claim.
Relationship to Terms of Service
This Intellectual Property, Parody & Reservation of Rights Notice supplements Fluent's Terms of Service and other policies and does not replace or limit them.
All applicable disclaimers, limitations of liability, indemnification obligations, governing-law provisions, remedies, and other rights contained in Fluent's Terms of Service remain fully applicable.
Nothing in this Notice limits, waives, or reduces any additional right, defense, privilege, exception, limitation, protection, or remedy available to Fluent under the Terms of Service or applicable law.
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