A personalised photo hoodie: the print area is square, and that changes everything
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Upload your photoYou see it on the hoodie before you confirm. $50.00, shipping included.
Printed to order, shipping included.
1. The print area is square, not vertical
This is the fact that decides everything else, and it is the one nobody expects. On a t-shirt the usable area is taller than it is wide. On a hoodie it is a square, about 30 × 30 cm (11.8 × 11.8 in), sitting on the chest above the pocket.
Phone photos are portrait, because that is how a phone is held. So a portrait photo on a hoodie loses its top and bottom — which is usually the head or the feet.
What to do about it:
- Prefer photos where the subject has room to its left and right. A dog lying down, two people side by side, a landscape.
- Crop mentally to a square before you judge a photo. If the square version still says what you want, it works.
- Keep the important part out of the bottom quarter. The pocket sits below the print, and the eye reads that zone as "near the pocket" rather than as part of the image.
- A photo with an obvious single subject beats a scene. At arm's length, nobody deciphers a busy image.
2. Nine colours: the photo has to agree with the fabric
Direct-to-garment printing puts ink into the fibre, and the fabric shows through the light parts of the image. So the garment is not a neutral background — it is part of the photo.
| Your photo | Garment that works | Garment to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Dark, moody, night-time | White, sand, sport grey | Black, navy — shadows disappear |
| Bright, pale, snow or sky | Black, navy, forest green | White — highlights vanish |
| Mid-tone, ordinary daylight | Almost anything — sport grey and sand are safest | — |
| One subject cut out on plain background | The colour closest to the background of the photo | Its opposite |
If you are unsure, pick a mid-tone garment. Sport grey and sand forgive far more than black or white.
3. Which photo to choose
Three tests, in order:
- Does it survive a square crop? If the answer is "only just", pick another.
- Is there one subject? A face, an animal, an object. Not a group at a table.
- Is the contrast strong? Fabric flattens contrast slightly compared with a screen. A photo that is already low-contrast becomes mush.
And use the original file from the camera roll. A photo pulled out of a messaging app has been resized and recompressed, and at 30 cm across that is visible.
4. Who actually wears one
Worth being honest about, because this is the item most often ordered and least often worn. A photo across the chest is a statement, and not everyone makes it.
It works well for: a group who all have the same one — a trip, a stag or hen party, a team, a family Christmas; a teenager, who will wear anything with their own dog on it; someone whose photo is a joke they are in on.
It works badly as a surprise for an adult who dresses plainly. If you cannot picture the person wearing it in the street, a framed print or a mug will be worn out by use rather than left in a wardrobe.
5. Size, fabric, washing
It is a Gildan 18500 hooded sweatshirt: fleece 270 gsm, unisex sizing S to 2XL, in nine colours. Unisex sizing runs straight rather than fitted, so someone between two sizes is usually happier with the smaller one unless they want it loose.
Washing, which is what decides how long the print lasts:
- Cold wash, garment inside out.
- No tumble dryer.
- No iron directly on the print.
- No bleach or softener on the printed area.
Nearly every "the print faded" story begins with a hot wash or a dryer.
6. Price and delivery
$50.00 for the hoodie, shipping included — the price shown is the price paid, from a single item. The crew-neck sweatshirt is $45.00 and the t-shirt $23.00, on the same terms.
Everything is printed to order by Gelato at the site closest to the delivery address: count 5 to 10 working days in the UK, Europe and the US, up to 15 elsewhere. For a group, from 10 items in the basket 10% comes off automatically, from 25 it is 15%.
Hoodie or sweatshirt?
The hoodie has the square print area and a pocket below it. The crew-neck sweatshirt gives a slightly taller usable area and no pocket, which suits a portrait-shaped photo better. If your photo is stubbornly vertical, the sweatshirt is the easier garment.
Before you order, the preview is computed in your own browser and nothing is transmitted; the print file goes to the printer at payment and is deleted after dispatch. Personalised items are exempt from the standard European right of withdrawal (Directive 2011/83/EU, article 16(c)), and anything that arrives damaged is reprinted at no charge. You must hold the rights to the photo you upload.
Frequently asked questions
What shape is the print area on a hoodie?
Which garment colour should I choose?
What is the fabric?
How do I wash it?
Does a photo really work on a hoodie?
Hoodie or sweatshirt?
Upload your photo: you see the square crop on the hoodie, in every colour.
Read next: which photos print well on a t-shirt · is your photo sharp enough to print? · prices and delivery, in brief
