I belong to a UC Berkeley campus organization and my group was trying to make some hoodies for our current members and alumni. We had a few hoodie design ideas on the drawing board and thought it was a good idea to start looking for a print shop so we could have the hoodies ordered promptly once we agreed on the final design. I was the only one in the group with design experience and also experience in dealing with print shops, but this was my first time dealing with print on clothing, so our group was pretty much in the dark.
I knew that ordering print jobs from distant online shops were a bad idea for many reasons, so I decided to shop around locally instead. I came upon D.G.H. Outfitters during my research, and I decided to give them a try among other competing shops. It was easy to set up an appointment with the shop owner, Phil, and we immediately discussed our options given my group's design proposals, budget, and time constraint. Phil was very friendly, professional, and knowledgeable in his field of work; he was very eager to help us meet our needs with quality set as the highest priority. The shop also showcased a wide variety of jersey and sweater designs from previous print jobs that served as good references for the types of printing that were possible through this shop.
Phil and I held at least half a dozen meetings over the span of three months because my group was very indecisive with what we wanted our hoodies to look like. Throughout the whole time, Phil was very patient and understanding with our indecisiveness, and continued to provide us consultation every time I had to go back to him with new or revised proposals. We went back and forth not only between different designs and colors schemes, but also between different fabrics and print types (screen, embroidery, twill) as well.
Eventually, it took my group four months to finally decide what they wanted, and Phil was ready to take our job into production. It took a little more than a week from our order submission until the hoodies were printed and ready to be picked up (we ordered thirty hoodies in various sizes). I thought this was a very fast turnaround time considering D.G.H. had to custom order a specific brand of hoodie that my group wanted but the shop didn't already have in stock. The quality of the print job was superb and beyond my expectations (in comparison to most custom and mass printed hoodies I've seen on the market).
Our hoodies incorporated a large twill patch print on the front, with a very small section of screen printing on the back right underneath the hood. I understood our hoodies required a lot of quality time and precision work as the uniquely shaped large twill patches needed to be sent out to a different shop to be machine cut, but were brought back in-house to be pieced together and individually hand-sown onto each hoodie (remember, thirty in total). Despite the amount of time and labor required for the job, the turnaround time was very quick, and the price was very reasonable and justified. My group members were amazed by the quality of the final product and also thought it was very affordable as well.
In the end, it was my pleasure to have gotten my print job completed with Phil and D.G.H. Outfitters. From my firsthand experience dealing with Phil and D.G.H. over the span of a couple months, I consider Phil to be a very nice guy and he is willing to go beyond the regular level of courtesy to meet his customers' printing needs. D.G.H. Outfitters is a business that I can trust, not just because of the superb quality of work they can produce, but more importantly because of the quality of people running the business.
If you're in the Bay Area and in need of quality work and attention from people who really care about your stuff, then D.G.H. Outfitters is your best choice!
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