Custom Made Long Sleeve Shirts: How Ordering Actually Works

Most business owners assume ordering custom long sleeve shirts means picking a design, waiting weeks, and hoping the finished print or stitch matches what they pictured. At Arklavo, the process for a custom made long sleeve shirt runs four steps you can walk through in one sitting: submit your artwork, review a free digital proof, wait two days for production, then two to five business days for shipping. Nothing in that sequence requires a phone call or a sales meeting unless you want one.

The reason this matters is that the process is identical no matter which of the custom long sleeve shirts in the catalog you pick. There are 15 long sleeve tees across Gildan, Champion, Comfort Colors, and AS Colour, split between embroidered and printed decoration, and every one of them moves through the same four stages. Picking the shirt is a separate decision from understanding how the order gets built.

This guide walks through each stage: what artwork you need to hand over, what actually happens during the proof, why production only takes two days, how shipping timelines work, whether embroidery or printing changes anything about the process, and what to do if a size runs wrong or you need to reorder.

How does the custom long sleeve shirt ordering process actually work?

The process runs in a fixed order: artwork submission, digital proof approval, two days of production, then two to five business days of shipping. Each stage depends on the one before it, so the fastest way to slow an order down is to sit on the proof approval. Everything else moves on its own schedule.

What makes this different from a lot of custom apparel processes is how little of it is a black box. You are not handing over a logo and waiting to see what comes back in three weeks. You approve the exact placement and size of the design before production starts, and production itself is short enough that a mistake at the ordering stage is the only thing that meaningfully delays a shipment.

What artwork do I need to submit for a custom long sleeve shirt order?

You need a clear image file of your logo or design, and the requirements differ slightly by decoration method. A vector file (AI, EPS, or a high-resolution PDF) is ideal for both embroidery and printing because it scales cleanly, but a large, high-resolution PNG or JPG usually works too if the vector does not exist yet.

Artwork for embroidery

Embroidery translates a flat design into thread, so fine text and thin gradients need simplifying before they get stitched. Solid shapes and bold outlines embroider cleanly. If your logo has small text under about a quarter inch tall, expect a note during the proof stage suggesting a slightly larger or simplified version so it stays legible on the finished long sleeve shirt.

Artwork for printing

Printed designs have more room for detail, gradients, and multiple colors, since the artwork is reproduced rather than reinterpreted in stitches. The main thing to get right is resolution: a design that looks sharp on a screen at a small size can look blurry once it is enlarged across a chest or sleeve, so send the largest file you have.

If you do not have a polished logo file at all, that is not a blocker. Rough concepts, sketches, or even a description of what you want get worked into a proof you can react to and revise before anything is produced.

What happens during the digital proof step?

The digital proof shows your artwork placed on the actual long sleeve shirt you selected, at the size and position it will actually be produced, and it is free. This is the checkpoint where you catch a logo that is too small, a color that reads wrong on a dark garment, or a placement that sits off-center.

You review the proof and either approve it or request changes. There is no charge for revisions at this stage, and nothing moves to production until you sign off. This single checkpoint is what prevents the most common custom apparel complaint: a finished order that technically matches the request but looks wrong once it exists in the physical world.

Approving the proof promptly is the single biggest lever you have over total turnaround time. A proof that sits unanswered for a week adds that week directly to your delivery date, since the two-day production clock does not start until approval comes back.

How long does production actually take?

Production takes two days once the proof is approved, regardless of order size or decoration method. That window covers pulling the blank long sleeve shirts, running embroidery or print decoration, and quality-checking the finished garments before they ship.

Two days is fast enough that most customers plan around the shipping window rather than the production window, since shipping ends up being the longer half of the total timeline. It is worth building that into how far ahead you order: if you need shirts for a specific date, count backward from that date using shipping time first, then add the two production days on top.

How long does shipping take after production, and does that change by location?

Shipping takes two to five business days after production finishes, and Arklavo ships globally, so this window applies to orders headed outside the United States as well as within it. The exact number of days within that range depends on how far the destination is from where the order ships out.

Stacking the numbers together, a typical custom long sleeve shirt order runs from proof approval to delivery in roughly four to seven business days total: two days of production plus two to five days of shipping. That is the realistic planning number to give a team lead, an event coordinator, or anyone else asking when the shirts will land.

Does the process change based on which long sleeve shirt or decoration I choose?

No, the four-step process is the same across all 15 long sleeve shirts and both decoration methods; only the artwork prep and the price change. Whether you pick a budget Gildan tee or a heavyweight AS Colour shirt, the order still moves through artwork, proof, production, and shipping in that order.

Decoration and price by brand

The catalog spans $17.99 to $48.99 across the four brands, with 8 embroidered and 7 printed options split roughly evenly between men's and women's cuts. A quick reference of where each brand tends to land:

If you are choosing between the two decoration methods rather than the process itself, our embroidery vs printing for long sleeve shirts guide breaks down durability, look, and cost in more depth. For a full cost breakdown by quantity, see the custom long sleeve shirt cost guide, and for help narrowing down which of the 15 options fits your team, the custom long sleeve shirts buyer's guide covers fit and fabric weight.

What should I do if a size runs wrong or I need to reorder?

Reordering follows the same four-step process, and because your artwork and proof are already on file, a repeat order skips straight to a quick placement confirmation before production. There is no minimum order quantity, so replacing a single mis-sized shirt or adding five more for new hires works the same way as the original order.

The practical move for teams that grow or turn over staff is to keep the artwork file and the approved proof on record and just reference the original order when reaching out. That turns a reorder into a two-day production job plus shipping, without redoing the artwork or proof stages from scratch.

For teams that need a mix of long sleeve shirts alongside short sleeve tees or additional embroidered pieces, the custom t-shirts and custom embroidery apparel collections run through the identical process, so a combined order does not add any new steps.

Frequently asked questions

Process questions land on timing, artwork, or what happens when a proof comes back wrong. The answers below run in the order the steps actually occur.