Merch glossary.
50 terms you will meet ordering merch, from underbase and mesh count to tech packs and 3PLs, each explained in plain English with links to the guides that use it.
- 3
3D puff embroidery
Raised embroidery made by stitching dense satin columns over a layer of foam, so the design stands up from the garment with rounded edges.
- 3
3PL (third-party logistics)
Third-party logistics: an outside company that stores your inventory and picks, packs and ships orders for you, usually connected to your online store.
- C
Chain stitch
An embroidery stitch made of interlocking loops of a single thread, giving a textured, hand-drawn line associated with vintage jackets and bowling shirts.
- C
Combed cotton
Cotton that has been combed after carding to pull out short fibers and debris, leaving longer, parallel fibers that spin into a smoother, stronger yarn.
- C
Cut and sew
Making garments from scratch: fabric is cut into pattern pieces and sewn into a new design, instead of decorating a ready-made blank.
- D
Digitizing
Turning artwork into an embroidery machine file that defines every stitch: its type, direction, length, density, order and the color changes between them.
- D
Dimensional weight
A billing weight that carriers calculate from a package's length, width and height, charged instead of the actual weight whenever it is higher.
- D
Discharge ink
A water-based ink mixed with an activator that removes the dye from cotton where it prints, leaving the fabric's undyed color or a new pigment color in its place.
- D
DTF (direct to film)
Direct to film: printing a design onto PET film, coating it with hot-melt adhesive powder, curing it, then heat pressing the transfer onto the garment.
- D
DTG (direct to garment)
Direct to garment: printing a design straight onto fabric with a specialized inkjet printer that uses water-based textile inks, with no screens involved.
- D
Dye migration
When dye from a polyester garment turns to gas under curing heat and moves into the ink above it, tinting a white or light print with the garment's color.
- E
Embroidery backing
Stabilizer material hooped under the fabric during embroidery that supports the stitches and keeps the fabric from stretching, puckering or shifting.
- E
Emulsion
The light-sensitive coating spread on a screen's mesh that hardens under UV light and, once the unexposed design areas wash out, becomes the stencil the ink passes through.
- F
Flash cure
A brief burst of heat from a flash unit that sets the surface of a wet ink layer on press, so another color can be printed over it without smearing.
- F
Four-color process (CMYK)
Printing full-color images by overlapping halftone dots of four transparent inks, cyan, magenta, yellow and black, which mix optically into the other colors.
- G
Garment-dyed
A garment sewn first from undyed fabric and then dyed as a finished piece, giving a soft, washed and slightly uneven color.
- G
Grading
Scaling a base garment pattern up and down into every size in the range, following set increments for each measurement.
- G
GSM (grams per square meter)
Grams per square meter: the weight of one square meter of fabric, used to compare how heavy or light a garment's material is.
- H
Halftone
A pattern of tiny dots that vary in size or spacing to create shades and gradients from a single ink color, the way newspaper photos are printed.
- H
Hang tag
A printed card attached to a garment with a string, loop or plastic fastener, carrying branding and retail details such as size, price and barcode.
- H
Heather
A mottled fabric color made by blending fibers of different shades, or fibers that take dye differently, so the knit looks speckled rather than flat.
- H
High-density ink
A thick, firm plastisol printed through a tall stencil to build a raised layer with sharp, square edges, without the expansion that puff ink relies on.
- M
Mesh count
The number of threads per inch (or per centimeter) in a screen's woven mesh, which controls how much ink passes through and how fine a detail the screen can hold.
- M
MOQ (minimum order quantity)
Minimum order quantity: the smallest number of units a supplier will produce in one order, often set per design, color or style.
- O
Open-end cotton
Cotton yarn made by rotor spinning, a fast method that feeds loose fibers into a spinning rotor, producing an economical, slightly coarser and bulkier yarn.
- P
PFD (prepared for dye)
Prepared for dye: fabric or garments that are scoured and bleached but left free of softeners and optical brighteners, so they take dye evenly.
- P
Pick and pack
The warehouse process of picking the items in each order from storage, packing them with the right materials and labeling the parcel for shipping.
- P
Plastisol
A screen printing ink made of PVC resin particles suspended in a liquid plasticizer, which stays wet in the screen and only sets when heated to its cure temperature.
- P
Platen
The flat board on a screen printing press, DTG printer or heat press that holds the garment in place and defines the size and position of the print area.
- P
Polybag
A clear plastic bag that holds a single folded garment to protect it from dust, moisture and handling during storage and shipping.
- P
Pre-order
Selling a product before it is made or in stock, collecting the order (and usually payment) now and shipping once production is finished.
- P
Pretreatment
A liquid applied to a garment and heat pressed dry before DTG printing, so the ink, especially the white, stays on the surface and bonds properly.
- P
Private label
Products made by a manufacturer but sold under your brand, with your labels and packaging, so the customer sees your brand rather than the maker's.
- P
Puff ink
Screen printing ink mixed with a heat-activated puff additive that expands as it cures, leaving a raised, soft, slightly spongy print.
- R
Registration
How accurately each color in a multi-color print lines up with the others, so outlines, fills and halftones land exactly where the artwork places them.
- R
Ring-spun cotton
Cotton yarn made by continuously drawing out and twisting the fibers on a ring spinning frame, producing a finer, stronger and softer yarn than open-end spinning.
- S
Satin stitch
An embroidery stitch that zigzags closely back and forth across a narrow column, creating a smooth, glossy band used for lettering, borders and outlines.
- S
Simulated process
A screen printing separation method that rebuilds a full-color image from a small set of opaque spot inks and halftones, often used on dark garments.
- S
Size run
The breakdown of an order's quantities across sizes, for example how many smalls, mediums, larges and extra-larges of each design and color.
- S
Spot color
A screen printing approach where each color in the design is printed from its own screen with its own mixed ink, usually matched to a Pantone reference.
- S
Squeegee durometer
The hardness of a squeegee's blade, measured on the Shore A scale, which changes how much ink the blade pushes through the screen and how sharp the print is.
- S
Stitch count
The total number of stitches in an embroidery design, which sets how long each piece runs on the machine and is the main basis for embroidery pricing.
- S
Strike-off
A test print made on the real garment with the real inks and screens, so color, placement and feel can be checked and approved before the full run.
- S
Sublimation
A heat transfer process in which special dye printed on paper turns to gas under a heat press and bonds into polyester fibers, leaving no surface layer.
- T
Tear-away label
A neck label on a blank garment designed to be torn out cleanly, so the shirt can be rebranded with your own label without unpicking stitches.
- T
Tech pack
A technical specification document that tells a factory exactly how to make a garment, from flat sketches and measurements to materials, construction and labels.
- T
Tri-blend
Fabric knit from a blend of three fibers, usually polyester, cotton and rayon, known for a soft, drapey feel and a heathered look.
- U
Underbase
A first layer of ink, usually white, printed beneath the other colors on a dark garment so they look bright and true instead of sinking into the fabric.
- W
Water-based ink
Screen printing ink that uses water to carry its pigment and binder, soaking into the fabric for a soft feel and curing after the water has evaporated.
- W
Woven label
A label made by weaving text and a logo directly into fabric with colored threads on a loom, then cutting and folding it to sew into a garment.
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