About Your Custom Button Up Shirts

When you design your custom all-over print button up shirt, you'll have seven areas to design. This includes the left and right side on the front, each sleeve, the back, collar, and your own label. This gives you an unrivaled amount of freedom to completely transform your garment. Use illustrations, photography, text, patterns, and more to create a shirt that you'll be finding an excuse to wear everywhere. 

You can choose from four lightweight and breathable fabrics for your shirt: Pima Lawn Cotton, Lino Linen, 100% Silk Satin and summer breeze Viscose. While Pima Lawn Cotton is beautifully light and made from 100% cotton, Lino Linen is 100% linen and a bit heavier with a crisp feel. Our Satin fabric, on the other hand, is floaty and made with pure silk for a dreamily soft touch. The 100% woven Viscose fabric choice is perfect for wear in the summer for its lustrous, soft feel. We use reactive printing which embeds eco-friendly ink deep into the cotton fibers, to develop bright colors that won't be washed away over time.

Your custom button up shirts will have seven buttons, which come in your choice of white or black. These buttons have a sheen to the face and will catch the light nicely against the fabric. You can also choose black or white thread for all the stitching.

The back of your shirt is made from two pieces of fabric that will be stitched together, but you will design them as one panel in the interface. The collar is designed this way as well. The top of the back panel and the collar are double-lined inside, so we'll mirror your design. This will all be visualized for you in the design interface, where you can easily preview your design and make changes. Just note that we can't guarantee exact pattern alignment across panels, as each piece is made and sewn by hand.

Sizing For Hemming And Shrinkage

We have a full Cut & Sew service here at Contrado, and are able to hem your fabric prints for a small additional charge. We create a small one- or two-fold hem that typically uses 0.2" to 0.75" (5-20mm) of material, depending on the thickness of the fabric. So, for example, if you want a finished piece of fabric that measures 39.37" x 39.37", you will need to order a size of 39.96" x 39.96" to allow for the hem (on top of that please also allow for shrinkage of min 2%). The thicker the fabric, the bigger the hem will be. You can choose to have your prints hemmed with either Black or White thread. On our silk and other light woven fabrics, one hemmed edge will be straight (vertically down the roll) and the other will be slightly rippled. The hemming material allowances are as follows and you need to make your print bigger to accommodate the hem:

• Light Fabrics (0.59oz-2.95oz): For silks and other light fabrics, we use 0.24" - 0.32" / 6mm-8mm in the hem (2 fold), so overall width/height will be minus 0.48"-0.56""/ 12-16mm
• Medium Fabrics (2.98oz-5.90oz): For medium-weight fabrics that fray, we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (2 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.4" - 1.6" / 35-40mm
• Stiff/Heavy/No-fray fabrics: we use 0.5 - 0.75" / 15-20mm in the hem (1 fold) so overall width/height will be minus 1.5" / 35-40mm

All of these measurements are approximate and can vary. Including with shrinkage, it can mean a fairly significant difference to ordered dimensions, so please plan your print accordingly. Depending on how open the weave is, our fabric can shrink anywhere from 2% to 8% with the average being 2.5%.

How Would you Like the Edge?

• As it comes. We cut around your image, leaving a simply scissor cut, perhaps uneven white fabric border. 
• Hem with thread. We can hem your fabric with a choice of black or white thread. Please allow 1-2 days additional production time. See below for information on how hemming affects the size of your print. We offer an overlock hem, as well as a folded hem (one or two fold depending on the fabric) however not all fabrics are suited to both hem types. If you can see both options, it means both are suitable, and you will be able to choose whichever you prefer. 
• Cut on the line. We will cut neatly on the edge of your design. This means that if you have a border around your design we will cut around that border, if your design takes the whole space of the fabric, then we will neatly cut around the edge of that image. Please be aware, when we cut along the line, we have to cut against the grain of the fabric. This is the standard procedure for fabric cutting. This means that with some fabrics, for example, Georgette and Mulmul, which have a slight wave in them, some fraying will occur. This is unavoidable, as the cut follows the grain of the textile. 

All of our fabrics are cut manually by hand, with the utmost care and attention. If your fabric has a slightly uneven look on the edges or a touch of fraying, this does not indicate a flaw in the textile. It is not always possible to achieve a perfectly straight cut with certain fabrics, so please do bare this in mind when it comes to your design. If you have any queries or would like to know about our cutting methods in more detail, please get in touch and we will be more than happy to discuss them with you.

Please note: As we make everything by hand, all sizes may vary slightly.

For further information about our fabrics see our FAQs.

Does it come with extra buttons?

We'll include an extra button, which will be sewn onto the inner side label of your custom button up shirt. In case one falls off, you'll have an extra one that you can easily sew on to replace it.

Is the fabric breathable?

Absolutely. All four of our fabrics are lightweight and designed to let air flow through easily. These fabrics make your button-up shirt perfect for vacations and hot summers.

Is this for casual or formal wear?

The short sleeve style lends this shirt to all types of casual and less formal settings. But of course, it all depends on how you design your custom all-over print button up shirt.