Get ready for the launch of The Hat Studio with our creator resource guide. You can avoid issues with your designs by following our embroidery guidelines below.
Embroidery stitch basics
Flat embroidery: A technique where stitches are embroidered flat on the surface.
Tatami fill: Rows of run stitches. Used to fill large areas.
Satin stitch outline: A long, straight embroidery stitch. Used to outline an object.
Run stitch: A single line stitch. Used for small design details.
Must-follow guidelines
Design true-to-size graphics
The graphics you upload must be true to their size on the end product.
Use solid shapes and colors only
Don’t include photographic images, gradients, fade or blend effects. Elements like these cannot be embroidered.
Use transparent backgrounds
Graphics should include transparent backgrounds. Elements outside the main design will be picked up and result in unwanted embroidery stitches on the end product.
Outline your fonts
All fonts should be converted to outlines unless your graphic is in PNG format. That way you don’t have to send us the font files.
Submit vector files in PDF format
We highly recommend submitting your embroidery graphics as vector files (PDF). Raster graphics (PNG) can be used as well if the resolution of the graphic is at least 300 DPI.
Stay within the maximum stitch count
If your graphic covers a very large part of the embroidery area, it may exceed the maximum limit of 15,000 stitches. In such case, your order will be put on hold.
Remove embroidery file template guidelines
If you use our downloadable templates, delete the guide layers before saving your files. If you don’t delete them, they’ll be embroidered.
Tips for best results
Order samples
The best way to make sure your embroidery design looks the way you want is to order a sample of your work. We also recommend ordering an embroidery sample to learn about our techniques and stitch types.
Remember the side and back design option
You can embroider a small design (e.g. your brand logo) on the back or either side of the hat. The design will be embroidered in flat embroidery.
Create embroidery-unique designs
Embroidery is not printing, so most graphics that work on other products won’t be suitable for embroidery.
Keep it simple
Clean designs with bold lines and text work best for embroidery. If your design is too complex (e.g. contains gradients or intricate details), your order will be put on hold.
From chefs, cartoonists and vloggers to scientists, influencers and photographers, Spring is for all creators. You don’t need to have design experience to create the perfect products for your community. Keep reading for our tips on how to get started.
You’re already a brand…
You have a community behind you, whether it’s a small following on TikTok, a handful of listeners of your podcast, or 500k subscribers on YouTube. This is a great starting point—now all you need to do is understand what makes your online presence unique and translate that into your next design. If you have a logo already, then this is a great place to start. A logo design works well to unite your fans and is good to have available as a staple in your store.
Community-driven ideas
The most successful designs are inspired by great content, trends, slogans and inside jokes that resonate with your community. Do you have a catchphrase that your fans can’t get enough of? Was there a fan comment that really stood out? Think about the kind of content you share with your fans and what gets them talking. Think of moments or phrases you’ve shared with your community that are unique or memorable. Not only does involving fans in the design process make them more likely to support you, but it also builds hype prior to launch.
Catch phrases that resonate with fans.
Memorable channel slogans.
Run polls to get your communities feedback on ideas.
Have fans suggest ideas. Ask on a live stream for suggestions or feedback.
Dive into comments to see what fans are talking about.
Calendar events
Don’t forget to release products for calendar events like Halloween, Christmas and Valentines Day—you can get really creative around these moments and make them your own. (Sometimes these moments are just a good excuse to release a new collection at a time when fans are expecting to buy something new) See how Moriah Elizabeth took her most popular character, Pickle, and gave him a seasonal twist for Christmas, Halloween and Valentines Day.
Collab with other creators
If you’ve got the following but don’t have the creativity or vision (or you have tons of design ideas but are still building your community), consider collaborating with other types of creators from different industries. Share each other’s skills and values and work together. Not only does this enhance your opportunity to come up with an amazing design, it also means you can widen your fanbase through joint promotion.
Once you have an idea, it’s time to bring it to life.
See our range of design resources and tools to help you get started. We’ve also partnered with 99designs to provide you with an extra layer of design support. This service allows you to collaborate with world class designers to create custom, quality designs for your products. Find out more.
The launcher gives you full control of your creativity. Making it as easy as possible for creators to make and sell products, we’ll guide you through the best ways to make use of your design tools so you have everything you need to hand. Start with our top file formatting tips below.
File type
Always make sure you’re uploading high-quality PNG files to the launcher. Your designs should have a transparent background – the product colour should be your background. Find free tutorials showing you how in GIMP, Photoshop, etc. online. It’s worth noting, the launcher does not accept EPS files and the file size limit for the launcher is 50 MB.
Artwork dimensions and resolution
Not only is it crucial to pay close attention to your artwork dimensions allowing them to fit onto your product correctly, but also your image resolution. Try to create designs with a minimum of 300 DPI (dots per inch) whenever possible (we recommend 150dpi for larger files used on AOP products like leggings and AOP sweatshirts.) The higher the DPI, the better quality your image will be. The minimum DPI the launcher will accept is 120, and we’ll stop you from going further if it’s looking too low.
In terms of art board sizing, we recommend setting up a file at 12.4″h x 16.5″h for standard POD items (3720w by 4950h pixels) – remember, you can always scale down in the launcher to fit each product type, so you only need to use a single file for multiple products – and for specialty products like AOP apparel and accessories, then you will need to design to the template specs. You can find design templates for speciality products here and video tutorials here.
Color profile
Your final print file should be saved in the CMYK color profile in the design software you are using. We don’t recommend using overly bright colors like neons in your design. The exception here is for AOP products, as they use the sublimation printing technique, allowing for brighter and more vibrant results.
Anti-aliasing
If you want a cleaner, crisper print around the edges of your design, export your design files with anti-aliasing turned off. When exporting a .PNG in Adobe Illustrator, the last dialog box contains the option for turning anti-aliasing on or off. Make sure to select “none” before exporting.
If you’re using Adobe Photoshop, there’s no option to turn anti-aliasing on or off because the images are already rasterized. Instead, make sure the setting “Nearest Neighbor (hard edges)” is selected as the resampling method in the image size settings. For more guidance on this, visit Adobe’s tips and guides.
Additional tips
Photographs & art: If you plan to sell your own photographs or art, it’s best to upload high-resolution images that are close to the print specifications – e.g., if printing at 12.4″w x 16.5″h tall, an 12.4″w x 16.5″h image (or 3720w by 4950h pixels) at 300 DPI is best. Any scaling-up of lower resolution images can lead to reduced print quality.
Front/back design placement: if you add a design on the front and back of apparel this will increase the item’s base cost—to minimize base cost and maximize profit you may want to keep your design on one side of the products only.
What can I do if my print quality is showing as “Poor” in the launcher?
If your image doesn’t meet the minimum quality requirement, we prevent you from continuing to Step 2 in the launcher. There are 2 things you can do:
Resize your image (smaller) until it hits the minimum quality threshold
Go back to your original file, check the resolution (DPI), and upload a design with higher quality.
My design file is too big when I try to meet the minimum print quality requirement…
If you’re having trouble staying under the 50MB limit and meeting the quality requirements (DPI) in the launcher, there are a few other things to try:
Within your design software, resize the design to match the artboard size of 12.4″w x 16.5″h (3720w by 4950h pixels) and export/save it as a PNG.
If you’re using Photoshop, use ‘change image size’ option to get your design to at least 3720w by 4950h pixels. Export/save it as a PNG.
You may have to resize the design once it’s uploaded to the launcher; sometimes by adjusting the design to a slightly smaller size you can raise the DPI (quality).
If your Spring listing was deactivated, it may have violated one or more of our policies, including our Terms of Service, Intellectual Property Policy, or Acceptable Use policies. You can find Spring’s policies here: www.spri.ng/policies/spring-terms-of-service
Your listing may have been disabled if it included one or more of the following:
A trademark or logo that belongs to someone else;
Proper names, logos, or other intellectual property belonging to a professional or collegiate sports team;
Lyrics, artwork, names, and/or designs related to any musical act;
The name or likeness of any celebrity or fictional character;
Any content from a television show or a movie (characters, places, artwork etc);
Someone else’s design or other copyrighted work;
The name or logo associated with branches of the United States Military or the military of another country;
Content that advocates hate, violence or harassment; or
Content that is misleading or constitutes false advertising.
If you’re not sure why your listing was removed, you are welcome to write to us at policy@spri.ng. Please check all your remaining listings to ensure your other content is not in violation of our policies. Repeated violations of our policies may result in termination of your account.
What happens to my listing now?
If a listing is disabled due to policy violations and you relaunch a listing with the same content, your account may be terminated under our repeat infringer policy.
My listing was deactivated and I don’t think it violates any of the reasons above.
If you believe your listing was deactivated in error, please see “Who can I contact to learn more about why my account was disabled / listing was deactivated?” below.
What happens if more than one of my listings was deactivated?
If you have had multiple listings deactivated, you may be in violation of our repeat infringer policy. Multiple violations of our policies can result in account termination.
What happens if my account is disabled?
Once your account is disabled, you are unable to login to your account and access any of your listings. Any disabled accounts will immediately lose access to pending funds or payouts within their Spring account.
The only way to access pending funds is to successfully get your Spring account reinstated through Creator Support.
Who can I contact to learn more about why my account was disabled / listing was deactivated?
Questions regarding listings or account disablement should go to our team at creatorhelp@spri.ng. This includes:
Inquiring as to why a listing was deactivated
Inquiring as to why an account was disabled
Requesting an account/listing be re-enabled
When contacting our team, please include your Spring account email and the listing URL (if you’re contacting us about a deactivated listing). Please note, we aim to review and answer all emails within 1-2 business days, however, response times may take longer during peak and holiday seasons. When your email is successfully sent, you will receive an auto-reply email.
What happens if I own the rights or have permission to use a particular trademark or copyright?
If your listing was deactivated and you received a copy of the third-party complaint in the email notification, please file a counter-notice here.
If your listing was deactivated and you did not receive a copy of any third party complaint in the email, but you believe you are authorized to use the content in question, please email policy@spri.ng and provide us with documentation or the reason for your authorization.
If you have permission to use registered works, you may notify our team by contacting policy@spri.ng before using your design. Please include proof of permission and your Spring account email.
If you believe that removal of your content is the result of a mistake (for example, that you have authorization) or misidentification, send us a counter notice through our Counter Notice Form.
Such counter notice must provide the following information:
An electronic or physical signature of the intellectual property owner or person authorized to act on behalf of the owner;
A description of the content which we have removed, including the URL on which the content was located on the Spring site;
Your address, telephone number, and email address;
A statement by you that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court, San Francisco County, California, United States and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification described above or an agent of such person;
A statement by you that, under penalty of perjury, you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;
A description of the factual and/or legal reasons why you believe that the material should not have been removed
Electronic documents, links, images or URL which support your claim (i.e. trademark registration information, copyright registration information, proof of your prior use, etc.)
In order to expedite the process all counter notice claims must be submitted via our Counter-Notification Form (linked above).
If we receive your counter notice, but your work does not comply with the Spring Terms of Service, IP/Publicity Rights Policy, Acceptable Use Policy, and/or any other Spring Policy, we may inform you that we are not be able to reinstate your work. We may also request further information from you in order to determine whether the work can be reinstated.
If we determine that we are able to reinstate your work, we may forward your counter notice directly to the complainant, which will include your personal contact information. At that time, the complainant may take legal court action against you in the United States. If, after 14 days, the complainant has not taken legal action against you, you may contact us to request that we reinstate your work. If your work otherwise complies with our User Agreement and IP/Publicity Rights Policy, we may reinstate your work at that time.
The IP Claim Form is available for creators who would like to report infringement on their artwork or other intellectual property. Please be advised that by submitting this form, you are swearing under penalty of perjury that you own the rights to the intellectual property in question and that you are acting under a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized. There may be legal consequences for submitting a false IP claim.
Your claim may be forwarded directly to the alleged infringer, and the infringer may submit a counterclaim. We strive to respond to all IP claims and counterclaims within 1-2 business days. Once we have reviewed your case, you will be notified of the outcome.
In order to expedite the process, all IP claims must be submitted via our Notice and Takedown Report Form. In the event you have technical difficulties with the form, please reach out to policy@spri.ng
How to file a claim
When filing an IP claim, your complaint must include the following important information:
1. An electronic or physical signature of the intellectual property owner (or agent authorized to act on behalf of the intellectual property owner;
2. A description of the matter claimed to have been infringed;
3. The URLs identifying where the claimed infringing content is located on the Spring site. URLs should be in the following form: https://teespring.com/[campaign];
4. Your address, telephone number, and email address;
5. The date you first created the work;
6. The date and manner in which you first made the work public or used the work in commerce;
7. A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the owner, its agent, or the law;
8. A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that:
the above information is accurate; and you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the rights involved; and
9. Electronic documents, images or links to URLs establishing the following:
A copy of the work
The date you first created the work or used the work in commerce
The date and manner in which you first made the work public
Any other documents or information supporting your claim (i.e. trademark or copyright registration information, proof of ownership/authorization to act, etc.)
As a space for creators to thrive and succeed with their unique ideas and designs, Spring takes intellectual property very seriously. We comply with intellectual property laws and industry best practices in order to maintain the integrity of our platform. We review notices of intellectual property infringement and counter-claims, and will follow up with requests for additional information as needed.
If you have a trademark or copyright registration number for your work, you can submit that information as part of your claim. If you have not yet registered your trademark or copyright you can still file a claim, but you will need to provide proof of ownership of the intellectual property in question. Registering a trademark or copyright creates a presumption that you own it, and may therefore make it easier to protect. You can learn more about how to register your intellectual property with the US Patent and Trademark Office by visiting their website. We also consider valid registration from other jurisdictions.
IP claim form
The IP Claim Form is available for individuals or businesses who would like to report infringement on their intellectual property. Please be advised that by submitting this form, you are swearing under penalty of perjury that you own the rights to the intellectual property in question and that you are acting under a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized. There may be legal consequences for submitting a false IP claim.
We strive to review all IP claims within 1-2 business days. Once we have reviewed your claim you will be notified of the outcome—including whether the reported content (and corresponding creators) have been removed or an estimated timeframe in which all reported content will be removed.
You can sell designs you buy online, provided you have permission from the intellectual property owner. For example, you may hire a designer to create something for you or you may have a license to use a particular design. Please be aware, however, that there are many different types of licenses. In addition, each platform likely has its own policies and terms, which you should read carefully.
Spring is not able to offer legal advice. If you’re not sure whether your content infringes on someone’s intellectual property, you can contact the intellectual property owner or consult an attorney. If Spring receives proper notice of intellectual property infringement, we will comply with our policies and remove the infringing material.
FAQ’s
1) If my design is removed for copyright infringement, would I just send the IP team my licenses to get reinstated?
If you believe your listings have been removed in error, you can submit a counterclaim or write to us at policy@spri.ng. Correct. However, if you or the claimant (or both) have an exclusive license, then it is possible that only one of you is entitled to use the licensed design. In such instances, Spring will typically allow you both to sell the design on Spring and it will be up to you to work out any such dispute amongst yourselves (and with the original designer).
2) Can the original designer file an IP claim on Spring?
Yes, it’s possible that the original designer you purchased your license from could file an IP claim on Spring. We intend on responding to this as we would with any other IP claim.
3) Someone copied my original artwork that I used in conjunction with purchased design elements. Can I file an IP claim?
Correct, if you’ve substantially modified the purchased design and someone copies it pixel for pixel, you can make an IP claim and we will look into this for you.
Remember, there are lots of free and affordable tools out there if you prefer to create your own designs. Many don’t require design experience. 😉
After landing on a design idea, get designs ready to apply to your products and prepare promotional content. You don’t have to be a design professional to create products for your community, and there are tons of helpful tools online, as well as expert designers who can help. Below are some helpful tips from creators as well as some step-by-step guides.
Quality of design is important. You want to launch something that will excite your fans, not just the idea, but how it’s visually represented as well. But don’t let that scare you, it’s super easy to create or source a cool design and It’s ok to keep things simple – slogan and typography-based designs are all the range at the moment.
Free design tools
We’ve listed the most popular tools used by creators to come up with effective designs. Whenever purchasing pre-made artwork or a design element, you should research the design’s license limitations to ensure your design complies with IP laws. See our guide for selling purchased designs here.
Placeit: Create designs within seconds using Placeit’s 10,000+ on trend templates. UYou can also use Placeit to create lifestyle mockups to share with your community on social platforms. Spring creators have access to unlimited features at a discounted rate of $12 a month. Click here to learn more.
Canva: This popular app is amazing for creators to choose from premade templates, stock photos, cartoon images, shapes, icons, and more when creating a design. Similar to Spring’s text tool, Canva also has a text generator with over 100 different fonts to choose from. Canva is great for creating designs for digital products.
Creative Fabrica: This platform offers a full license for creators who want to use purchased designs to sell on products. It’s not uncommon for people to purchase design elements instead of creating a design from scratch.
Video tutorials
Spring creator and leading YouTube art channel Jazza [5.43M subscribers] created a really helpful video offering tips and tricks for creating designs using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Jazza covers useful topics such as how he comes up with design ideas and a step by step guide to creating files ready for print.
Another creator who makes incredible content focused on graphic design tutorials specifically for products, is Charley Pangus. Spend some time checking out the full range of useful and insightful tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/c/charleypangus/videos
Here’s one of our favourites:
Specific Spring resources
Specialty product templates
Follow the video playlist below for guided tutorials on applying your designs to specialty products. Download templates to start using once you have access to the product here.
Once you’ve unlocked specialty products, you’ll see them in the launcher. Find design templates here to help you create product designs and check out these video tutorials for tips.
Take advantage of these free design patterns all creators can apply to all-over print products such as leggings, phone cases, blankets, pillows, and more.
Our creative team here at Spring have kindly shared with us their 2021 Pinterest board, which houses an ever-growing collection of different design styles and pieces of inspiration for you to help inspire you. Check it out here.
Collaborate with 99designs
Providing you an extra layer of support, Spring has partnered up with 99designs. This service allows you to collaborate with world-class designers, to create designs for products beyond your expectations (without being a design guru). With this design sourcing service, you will now be able to transform your vision into a fully-fledged design, simply by submitting a brief and letting the 99designs algorithm match you with the best suited designers.
You have the safety and comfort of knowing there is a money back guarantee if you don’t receive the design you’d hoped for.
Transfer of copyright. Any designs you have created are now yours to sell.
99 designs have collaboration tools in place allowing creators to provide feedback easily as well as work closely with the designer seamlessly.
All for a price that won’t break the bank
Spring’s design services
In addition to our partnership with 99designs, Spring also offers a free in-house design to any new creator with over 100,000 followers on any social platform. To apply for our design services, please fill out the form here, and our support team will be back in touch soon.
Social media tools
As a creator, you’ll know how important it is to get your social media platforms looking flawless and consistent with your branding. As well as this, the promotional content you share with your community linking to your products and social store should catch your fans’ attention. We’ve collected a few easy, straightforward apps for doing this.
GifLab is perfect for creating .gif videos and it’s super simple. Use it to show off all color options for your products, or highlight all products available in your newly dropped collections.
Layout is a great collaging app. It’s integrated with Instagram, so you can share the image directly to social media.
Splice enables you to create videos quickly and easily, with a unique zooming function too. Generate close-up shots of your products creating amazing promo videos and showing the details of your products.
Videoshop is another great app that offers a variety of features to create quality videos. You can combine photos and videos, add slow-motion edits, create animated titles, and more.
Legend is ideal for creating animated text. You could use this tool when sharing special promotions and discounts for example.
PlaceIt enables you to choose from thousands of stunning, professionally designed ad templates to promote your products across all social media platforms. They are ridiculously easy to modify and you can download images formatted correctly for just about every platform.
Canva makes it easy for everyone to create professional-looking graphics. There are hundreds of templates available with beautiful layouts for text editing. Each template is designed for a specific purpose like sharing on Instagram, Instagram Stories, Twitter, or Snapchat in newsletters, etc.
Creative Fabrica: This platform offers a full license for creators who want to use purchased designs to sell on products. It’s not uncommon for people to purchase design elements instead of creating a design from scratch.
