The Ann Arbor T-shirt Company is composed of dozens of artists, screen printers, art techs, logistics professionals, embroiderers, and support staff, all operating out of Ann Arbor, Michigan (about 40 miles west of Detroit). We proudly design, print, & embroider the majority of our products completely in our Ann Arbor, MI factory!

From top to bottom, our people are proud of the product we produce, and can't wait to share it with you. If you ever find yourself in Ann Arbor, stop in for some coffee and a tour - we'd love to show you how we make our stuff! We give our employees subsidized healthcare, a 401k match, company soccer and kickball teams, catered employee lunches, and quarterly company parties around town. While we believe in treating our employees with respect as a matter of course, it makes business sense, too. Happy people make better shirts - cooler art, better prints, more exacting quality control, etc.

So what went into this? Our illustrators and designers create or license the artwork. Art techs convert the artwork and illustration into CAD style files that the embroidery machine can read. Embroidery technicians select threads and operation settings to ensure the optimal stitching outcome, sewing the design into the fabric. Our warehouse team checks quality, bags, and boxes the apparel for fulfillment centers across the country.

When you buy one of our products, your money is flying all around the country. The percentages vary between products as input prices fluctuate (and a small percent of our catalogue is fully imported), but for the most part, it looks something like this: Ann Arbor, MI - Design, Printing, & Production- 35%, Seattle, WA - Advertising & Platform Fees - 22%, Cincinnati, OH - Apparel Distributor - 6%, Atlanta, GA - Logistics - 4%, Roselle, IL - Printing Presses & Equipment - 4%, Texas & Southwest US - Cotton Farming - 4%, Toluca, Mexico - Fabric Sewing - 3%, Pineville, NC - Screen Printing Inks - 1%.

Screen printing is like cooking: it's not rocket science, but it's really easy to screw up if you cut corners or use sub-par ingredients. That's why we hire, train, and retain skilled professionals. We have internal apprentice and educational programs that result in screen printing professionals with a thorough understanding of how ink chemistry, curing heats, and apparel fibers all interplay. Getting the combinations wrong can result in crooked prints, faded inks, or scratchy shirt fabric. We also pay a bit more for top shelf inks because they are worth it! QCM inks are better for the environment (one of the first ink companies to go phthalate free), more vibrant, and last longer than the cheap stuff. Lastly, our screen printing presses and support equipment are engineered and manufactured by M&R in Roselle, Illinois. Having the best tools allow our printers to move faster with less waste, allowing us to create high quality products at a lower cost, which we pass to you!

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