Most artwork arrives designed for a t-shirt: one logo, centred, on a flat front. A tube has no front, and it turns.

Think in repeats, not in placements

Whatever you print will end up somewhere unpredictable, because the wearer rotates the tube without thinking. The reliable answer is a repeating pattern with the mark appearing several times around the circumference.

Two or three repeats is usually enough for the brand to be visible from any angle without the garment looking like a billboard.

Allow for the fold

A gaiter is worn folded at the neck about as often as it is worn full height. Anything placed in the middle of the tube spends half its life hidden inside a fold.

Keep important marks in the upper third and the lower third, and treat the middle band as pattern.

Remember it stretches

Four-way stretch fabric distorts under tension, and it distorts most across the widest part of the neck. Fine lines and small type suffer first.

Heavier weights, especially brushed fleece, also soften edges slightly. We flag it at mockup stage when artwork has detail that will not survive.

Colour matching

Sublimation matches a colour reference closely and we send a printed swatch before any large run — screens lie, and team colours are the thing people notice.

Merino is dyed rather than printed and matches less precisely. If an exact team colour is essential, choose a printed polyester and use merino for solid neutral colourways.