Custom Design for Aplington: free 24-hour proofs, published pack pricing, and tracked delivery in 5 to 7 business days.
In-house designers turn napkin sketches and old low-res logos into print-ready vector art. Free with every order, proof in 24 hours. For Aplington, that comes with published pack pricing and door delivery in 5 to 7 business days.
With about 1,100 people spread over 0.7 square miles, Aplington gets the same flat delivery promise as everywhere else we serve: 5 to 7 business days to any door. If your people are spread out, that is fine: Parkersburg, IA (5 mi), Ackley, IA (9 mi), Stout, IA (10 mi) sit close enough that one order can outfit all of them. The closest major installation is Camp Dodge, roughly 75 miles out, and unit orders from there run through this same process daily.
No storefront visit required. Send a rough idea or finished art, a real designer builds the proof at no charge, and the finished gear ships straight to Aplington.
Custom Design demand around Aplington does not stop at the town line. Crews from Parkersburg (5 miles out) order through the same process, which is why coverage is priced by pack, never by zip code.
Unit art drawn right the first time, with anything trademark-sensitive flagged early. Every price is published before you talk to a person, so the budget math happens on your terms.
Start with words alone: the design team turns a description into finished art. Reorders match the first run exactly because we keep your art and specs on file.
The year on the shirt sets the type style, and the team knows the difference. Bring a rough idea, even a phone photo of a whiteboard, and our designers make it print ready at no charge.
One design system across shirts, banners, and signs so everything matches. We handle the art, the sizing spread, and the deadline. You handle handing them out.
A small collection designed to sell, not just to exist. Ask for the honest option and you get it, even when it is the cheaper one.
Faded, blurry, or tiny source art gets redrawn into crisp vectors. Reorders match the first run exactly because we keep your art and specs on file.
Serving the military community is not a marketing line here, it is the operating system. Aplington customers deal with one accountable person, get dates that mean something, and receive work held to a uniform standard.
It also means we say no when we should. If a design will not print well at the size you want, or a date cannot be hit, you hear it before you spend money, not after.
The Design Lab puts your art on the real garment, takes your size counts, and totals the whole order, shipping included, without asking who you are.
The right blank depends on budget, season, and how hard the gear will be worn. For Aplington customers, these three earn their keep.
Streetwear concepts belong on the 7.5oz max heavyweight with an oversized front or full back. Nobody chases an order here. Your contact tells you where it stands before you have to ask.
The proving ground for new art, with an 80-color palette to frame it perfectly. What you approve in writing is what ships. That rule has no exceptions.
Serious designs deserve the garment-dyed heavyweight, which reads brand rather than handout. Every price is published before you talk to a person, so the budget math happens on your terms.
The gap between what you have and what a press needs is our designers job to close, free with any order. Whatever the starting point, the output is the same: clean vectors, correct insignia, a proof within 24 hours, and unlimited revisions until you approve it in writing. Only then does anything print.
The Design Lab offers the self-serve path, with your art positioned on real product photos and the total priced as you go.
Here is what Aplington customers actually pay, starting from our light cotton tee. Every price includes a standard front print, and the number only moves down as the pack gets bigger.
| Order size | Pack total | Cost per piece | Freight | Back side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 pack | $180 | $18 ea | $18 | $4 ea |
| 15 pack | $250 | $16.67 ea | $18 | $4 ea |
| 20 pack | $320 | $16 ea | $20.99 | $4 ea |
| 25 pack | $375 | $15 ea | $20.99 | $3 ea |
| 50 pack | $700 | $14 ea | $22.99 | $2 ea |
| 100 pack | $1200 | $12 ea | FREE | $2 ea |
Options price per piece: back prints at the listed rate (falling to $3 at 25 and $2 at 50), oversized full-body fronts at $3 under 25 pieces or $2 above, and 2XL-plus sizes at $6 under 25 pieces or $4 above. Every heavier garment keeps this same pack shape at its own numbers, and the Design Lab totals it live while you build.
Two doors in: the quote form if you want a person on it immediately, or the Design Lab if you want to see it on the garment first. Either way, unfinished ideas are the expected input.
Twenty-four hours gets you a designer-built proof on the exact blank you chose. Iterate freely until it is right.
You approve in writing before production starts. No surprises at the box opening, because you already saw the shirt.
Approval to doorstep runs 5 to 7 business days as the default, faster when rush is booked and honestly refused when it cannot be.
The specs live in our archive permanently: same art, same colors, same result, on demand.
The timeline to Aplington addresses is fixed and published: 5 to 7 business days door to door, production included. Shipping rates are flat, visible in the table, and free from 100 pieces.
Orders ship boxed and counted against your size roster, with tracking sent the day they leave. If anything arrives short or damaged, photograph it and send it over, and we correct it at our cost.
Yes, and without giving up your email: the Design Lab keeps the complete total, packs to shipping, on screen while you design.
Five to seven business days, all in, from approval to arrival. Rush exists for real deadlines and gets an honest yes or no up front.
Design help is included free. Whatever you have, a napkin sketch, a faded shirt photo, a sentence, becomes a print-ready proof from a real designer within 24 hours.
Large orders are the specialty, not the exception: hundreds of mixed-size pieces, roster-counted boxes, one accountable contact.
Simple math: 2XL and up cost $6 more per piece on small orders and $4 more per piece from 25 pieces. No other size fees exist, and the Design Lab totals it live.
Custom work does not come back: due to custom orders, all work is finalized and no returns are accepted. The protection is up front instead, a free proof that must be approved in writing before anything prints, so check sizing and art carefully at that stage.
More answers on the full FAQ page.
Zoom out to custom design across Iowa, back to the Aplington hub, or into the custom design deep dive. Other services in Aplington: Screen Printing, Embroidery, DTG and DTF Printing, Sublimation, Banners and Signs.
A designer proofs your art free within 24 hours, and production waits for your written approval. Every pack price is already published.