Where should the logo go? A print placement and size chart for custom apparel

Almost every reprint we’ve done on a bulk order came down to placement, not print quality. The logo was clean, the colours were right, and the customer opened the box and said “it’s too big” or “it’s sitting too low.” Nobody had written down a number, so we used our house standard, and our house standard wasn’t what they had in their head.

This guide fixes that. Below are the placements we run, the sizes that go with them, and the two or three measurements worth putting on your order so the first sample is the right one.

Two numbers decide everything

A placement spec only needs two things: how wide the artwork prints, and how far down it sits from a fixed point on the garment.

Width, not height, is the number to specify. Your logo has a fixed aspect ratio — once we know the width, the height follows. Telling a printer “make it 10 inches” is ambiguous; “10 inches wide” is not.

For the drop measurement, the reference point matters. On a t-shirt we measure down from the centre back of the collar seam, because the shoulder seam moves as size goes up and the hem is a terrible reference. On a polo, we measure from the shoulder seam and across from the placket. On a cap, everything is measured from the seam where the crown meets the brim.

The standard placement chart

These are the ranges the industry runs on and the ones we default to when an order doesn’t specify. Treat them as a starting point for an adult garment, not a law — there’s a section further down on when to break them.

Two notes on that chart. A left chest logo is measured from the shoulder seam rather than the collar because the chest is what the eye reads — and the cap front is capped by the crown panel height, not by taste. Anything taller than about 2.25″ on a structured six-panel runs into the seam or the button, and it never looks intentional.

Placement by garment

T-shirts

Full front at 11″ wide is the default for event and merch tees, and it earns that default. Centre chest at 7″ is the quieter option that reads as a brand rather than a souvenir — better for anything staff will wear repeatedly. A left chest logo on a tee is a uniform decision; it makes the garment look like workwear, which is exactly right for a restaurant floor and exactly wrong for a fun run.

Hoodies and crewnecks

The pocket is the constraint nobody plans for. On a pullover hoodie, a front print has to finish above the pouch seam, which leaves roughly 8″–9″ of usable height instead of the 14″ you get on a tee. If your artwork is tall and vertical, put it on the back and run a left chest on the front instead. On a full-zip, a centred front print is impossible — the zipper splits it — so it’s left chest or nothing.

Polos

Left chest only, essentially always, at 3″–3.5″ wide. The placket is the reference: the logo sits about 4″ over from the centre of the placket and 7″–8″ down from the shoulder seam. Go wider than 4″ and it crowds the button line on smaller sizes. A left sleeve mark is the usual second placement if you need one.

Caps and toques

The front panel is the prime spot, but it’s small and it’s curved. Wide, horizontal lockups work; tall stacked logos don’t. If your logo is a square or a stacked wordmark, the fix is usually a one-line horizontal version made specifically for headwear, not a shrunken version of the main file. Side panels and the back strap take small marks well — roughly 2″ wide.

Jackets and outerwear

Left chest for the logo, upper back for the company name, and check the lining before you commit. Insulated and waterproof shells can’t always take a heat press, and quilted panels need the placement to land between stitch lines. This is worth a conversation before the order, not after.

Four mistakes that cause reprints

Using one print size across every garment size

An 11″ front print looks right on a large. On a youth small it’s a billboard, and on a 3XL it looks lost. For any order with a wide size run, we scale to two or three groups — typically youth, S–L, and XL–3XL. Screen printing charges per screen, so extra sizes can carry a setup cost; with DTG and DTF it’s free, and there’s no reason not to. If you’re still working out your size split, our size-run guide covers that side of it.

Forgetting minimum text height

Embroidered lettering below about 5 mm (0.2″) tall fills in and turns to mush — the needle can only do so much. Printed text can go smaller, but fine lines under about 1 pt break up on textured fabric. If your logo has a tagline or a website URL under the mark, it often has to be dropped or set on its own line for headwear and left chest work.

Ignoring seams, pockets and zippers

Side seams, chest pockets, zipper tape and collar seams all interrupt a flat print surface. A press needs a flat platen; anything raised under the artwork prints unevenly or not at all. Tell us if the blank you’ve chosen has a pocket — it changes the placement, sometimes the garment.

Centering on the garment instead of the body

A print that is mathematically centred between collar and hem sits too low on the chest, because the hem is below the waist. Optical centre is higher than geometric centre. This is why our drop measurements are taken from the collar and shoulder, and it’s the single most common reason a customer says “it looks off” without being able to say why.

Choosing placement by purpose

Once the mechanics are settled, the question is what the garment is for.

• Staff who serve customers — left chest, small, embroidered where the fabric allows. It should read as a uniform, not as merch.
• Crews working outdoors or on site — full back or upper back with the company name large enough to be legible from across a lot, plus a left chest. The back is the one that gets seen.
• Events and fundraisers — full front for the event mark, back for the sponsor wall. Sponsors expect the back; check your agreements before laying it out.
• Team and league kit — governed by league rules more than by design taste. Numbers, name placement and sponsor limits are usually written down somewhere.
• Corporate gifting and swag — smaller than you think. A left chest or a sleeve mark gets worn; a full-front logo gets left in a drawer.

What to send with your order

A placement spec takes about thirty seconds to write and it is the cheapest insurance in this business. Include:

1. The placement name for each location (left chest, full back, left sleeve).
2. Print width in inches for each location.
3. A drop measurement, or “use your standard” if you’re happy with the chart above.
4. Whether the size run needs scaled artwork (youth, adult, extended sizes).
5. Vector artwork, or a high-resolution file with a transparent background — the logo file requirements guide has the details, including what embroidery digitizing needs.

We produce a mockup before anything goes on a press, and the mockup carries the actual geometry — inches below the collar, inches from centre — so you’re approving a measurement, not a picture. If a number looks wrong on the mockup, that is the moment to say so. After the press run, changing placement means reprinting the garments.