Custom Design for Essex: 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 Essex, that comes with published pack pricing and door delivery in 5 to 7 business days.
With a community of 399 spread over 0.3 square miles, Essex 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: Penermon, MO (2 mi), Grayridge, MO (5 mi), Dexter, MO (6 mi) sit close enough that one order can outfit all of them. NSA Mid-South, around 102 miles from Essex, anchors the local military community we print for every week.
The whole process runs remote: rough idea in, free designer-built proof back, written approval, and finished gear delivered to Essex.
Because Penermon sits only 2 miles from Essex, joint orders across town lines are common here: one proof, one pack price, two delivery stops if needed.
The rescue service: old logos rebuilt as clean vector files that print sharp forever. One point of contact owns your order from first proof to delivery confirmation.
Unit art drawn right the first time, with anything trademark-sensitive flagged early. Nobody chases an order here. Your contact tells you where it stands before you have to ask.
Start with words alone: the design team turns a description into finished art. If a design will not print well at the size you want, you hear that before money changes hands.
Stencil, athletic, and period-correct lettering matched to the year that matters. Reorders match the first run exactly because we keep your art and specs on file.
A single visual system covering everything the event prints. We handle the art, the sizing spread, and the deadline. You handle handing them out.
Merch collections designed with selling in mind, not just decoration. Deadlines get treated like formation times, not suggestions.
Serving the military community is not a marketing line here, it is the operating system. Essex customers deal with one accountable person, get dates that mean something, and receive work held to a uniform standard.
The same discipline applies inward: an unrealistic date or a design that will not print well gets flagged before you commit, not explained 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.
Start from the garment and the rest follows. Among Essex customers, these three blanks carry most of the orders, each designable online on its real photos.
New designs debut on the Classic: 80-plus colors guarantee the right backdrop for the art. If a design will not print well at the size you want, you hear that before money changes hands.
Put the design on washed heavyweight cotton and it stops being a shirt and starts being merch. One point of contact owns your order from first proof to delivery confirmation.
Streetwear concepts belong on the 7.5oz max heavyweight with an oversized front or full back. Rush timelines get quoted honestly. If we cannot hit the date, we say so before you pay a cent.
Finished files are welcome but never required. A faded photo, a hand sketch, or three sentences of description all become professional vector art at no charge, proofed back to you within a day. The revision count is unlimited, the approval is in writing, and production does not move an inch until that approval exists.
Hands-on types can skip the wait entirely: the Design Lab puts your art on the actual garment with the price updating live.
Budget planning for Essex customers starts with real numbers. This is our light cotton tee pack pricing with the front print already included.
| Order size | Pack total | Cost per piece | Freight | Back side |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 pieces | $180 | $18 ea | $18 | $4 ea |
| 15 pieces | $250 | $16.67 ea | $18 | $4 ea |
| 20 pieces | $320 | $16 ea | $20.99 | $4 ea |
| 25 pieces | $375 | $15 ea | $20.99 | $3 ea |
| 50 pieces | $700 | $14 ea | $22.99 | $2 ea |
| 100 pieces | $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.
The first step is just getting the idea out of your head: type it into the quote form or mock it up in the Design Lab, rough edges and all.
Within 24 hours you have a proof in your inbox, drawn to size, on the garment and color you picked. Revisions are unlimited and free.
Your written approval is the gate. Until it exists, nothing prints; once it exists, exactly that design prints.
Standard turnaround is 5 to 7 business days from approval to doorstep, with rush available when the calendar demands it.
Art, thread colors, and size history stay archived, so the next season run starts with one email.
Every order ships tracked to Essex addresses with standard production plus shipping at 5 to 7 business days. Free shipping kicks in at 100 pieces, and pack shipping rates below that are published, not surprises at checkout.
Boxes get counted twice against the roster before they seal, and the tracking number reaches you the day of pickup. Damage or shortage claims are our expense and our rush.
The extended-size rule fits in one line: add $6 per piece below 25 total, $4 per piece at 25 or more. The Design Lab applies it automatically.
There are no returns on custom orders; once printed, the work is final. That is exactly why production never starts without your written approval of a free proof, and why the size roster deserves a second look before you submit.
Order ten, order fifty, order five hundred: 10 pieces is our floor, and for your Essex crew, bigger packs simply pull the per-piece price down.
Best case: vector art (AI, SVG, EPS, PDF). Very good case: a 300 DPI transparent PNG. Worst case: a screenshot, which our designers redraw at no charge anyway.
Yes, APO and FPO delivery is standard here, not an exception, and every state in the country ships the same way.
That is the point of the Design Lab: the complete number, packs, back prints, size upcharges, shipping, updates live while you design, before any contact form.
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.
More answers on the full FAQ page.
Zoom out to custom design across Missouri, back to the Essex hub, or into the custom design deep dive. Other services in Essex: Screen Printing, Embroidery, DTG and DTF Printing, Sublimation, Banners and Signs.
You will see the proof before you pay and the price before you talk to anyone. That is the whole pitch.