Ad copy, or advertising copy, refers to the words or text chosen to be imprinted on an item. This can include stuff like the company’s name, their tagline, and/or their sales message.

Anti-pilling is a unique treatment applied to apparel that helps garments resist the formation of the little balls, or “pills”, on the surface usually caused by abrasion during wear.

Artwork refers to the logos, photos, illustrations and/or lettering you submit for imprinting on an item. Artwork files are usually created in programs like Adobe® Photoshop, Adobe® Illustrator, Quark®, and Corel Draw®.

Awareness is the percentage of the population or target market that is aware of your Company or brand. Customized promotional products help promote awareness and can increase the probability that your customers will recall your Company when it counts.

Back pleats are the small folds in the fabric on the back of a shirt that allow for more space and comfort.

A bleed is when the artwork goes all the way to the edge of a page. You have to print off the page in order for it to cover the edges.

Blind debossing is a decoration method whereby an image is pressed into a sheet without ink or foil, creating a lowered area.

Boldface, or bold type, is a heavy or thick typeface that is used for emphasis. Boldface type is usually used for titles in ad copy.

A box pleat is a single, even fold in the back center of a shirt that allows for more space and comfort.

A brand is a set of promises about a Company’s products or services. It is the combination of a Company’s name, words, and symbols that distinguished it from competing products. Companies that have been successful with their brand include Apple®, Nike®, and Coca-Cola®. Promotional products can help you establish relationships between your customers and your brand.

Brand asset management is a strategic approach to building the meaning of a brand. It addresses how the brand will be communicated both to its customers and to its employees. Promotional products and giveaways can be used to boost brand value, brand profitability, and brand returns.

When used in a marketing sense, branding is the use of logos, symbols, or product designs to promote consumer awareness of goods and services. It is the sum total of a company’s value, including products, services, people, advertising, positioning, and culture. Branding Iron Studios can help you with your branding efforts. Visit our Marketing Education Center for ideas on building brand awareness. Branding also refers to an imprint method for promotional products. It uses a hot iron to burn an imprint into leather and wood products.

Any drawing, photo, illustration or lettering suitable for photographic reproduction. Camera-ready art can be supplied in hard copy.

Chambray is a dressier fabric woven with colored and white yarns. It is often used for professional-looking men's dress shirts.

CMYK refers to the printing inks used in four-color process printing. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black are the only four colors used to produce full-color photographs and designs. These colors can be combined and printed to emulate a wide number of other colors.

A two-step process combining the deboss process and filling the die struck image with foil or color. Used on leather and leatherette products for a 3D look with color.

The separation of multi-colored original art by camera or laser-scan techniques to produce individual separated colors. There are four common separations: yellow, magenta, cyan and black.

Cotton fiber that has been through a mechanical process that removes the short fibers and impurities, strengthening and aligning the fibers.

A technique used to control shrinkage in fabric during the manufacturing process.

A sport shirt collar construction in which the back portion of the collar is wider than the front tips. This assembly helps to cover the back neck seam.

A toggle or stopper on a drawcord that keeps it from drawing back into the garment.

Photograph, painting or other pieces of art in which black & white tones gradually merge into one another.

To eliminate a portion of a picture, illustration or photograph that contains unnecessary material or to highlight a certain area of the image.

Typically used on coasters, awards, and clocks, custom crafted medallions add an elegant touch to your promotional product. They are cast in metal molds/dies and show amazing detail and quality.

In debossing, a design is heat-pressed into the surface of the product with a die, creating a depression. Debossing can enhance the appearance of your promotional products by adding a 3D effect. Used on leather and leatherette products.

Artwork is produced on a transparent decal and then the decal is applied to the promotional product.

Deep etch is our highest caliber etching technique rendering a crisply detailed and permanent dimensional image. Deep etch is the technique of choice to add that “wow” factor for prestigious presentations. Deep etch with colorfill adds another dimension by adding depth to the etching.

A reverse die is made of the imprint, then machine struck onto the metal surface. Die struck pieces are predominantly metal (lapel pins, etc.) and may be color filled.

DTG printing is when a large format inkjet printer is used to print a design directly onto a garment. This decoration method is very smooth to the touch since the inks are absorbed directly into the fabric.DTG is optimal for small quantities.

DPI stands for dots per inch. Also referred to as pixels per inch. When referencing bitmap images, this is the number of individual elements of color information per inch.

A finish used on a bottom hem and/or sleeve that uses two needles to create parallel rows of noticeable stitching. Double-needle stitch gives wearables and totes a cleaner, more finished look, as well as adding durability.

A characteristic design feature in which a dress shirt is shorter in the front and longer in the back.

Embossing is a technique which raises flat surfaces into raised, 3D patterns. Embossing provides dimension to designs on promotional products.

Embroidery is a decoration method where colored threads are sewn onto fabric to create a design. Embroidery provides a very professional look for your promotional products, especially wearables. Embroidery is more expensive than screenprinting or direct-to-garment printing, but is a very impressive way to show off your design. Stitch count is calculated by the size and intricacy of your logo.

For wearable products, enzyme washed is a laundering process where a catalytic substance is added to the wash to produce a transformation in the fabric resulting in an extremely soft finish, a smoother appearing surface, and reduced shrinkage.

Epoxy domes add dimension and shine to your logo by placing it under a clear, high-gloss polyurethane dome.

EPS stands for Encapsulated Postscript, which is a file format for capturing precise image and text information. EPS files use a mathematical basis for building an image and are the most reliable method for communicating artwork for your promotional products.

Engraving is a decorating method used for transferring a design to hard, smooth material such as metal and wood. The engraving is done by cutting into the material. With wood products, this process leaves the natural color of the wood to bring the design to life.

Etching is usually the preferred imprint method for glass and crystal honor awards and employee incentive and service awards. Etching ranges from light etch, to deep etch, to sandblasting. The difference is how deep the etching is in the surface.

Fleece is a type of apparel that uses a multi-yarn fabric characterized by a soft napped interior and a smooth exterior.

Foil stamp is a decoration method where heat is used to leave a foil imprint of a design on a surface. Foil stamps are available in many colors, but are limited to one color for an entire design.

Four color process, or process color, is a printing process where you begin with finished full-color artwork and separate out the artwork into CMYK format – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. When four color process printing is done with care, the end result looks fantastic. With just four colors you can get an entire spectrum of colors to match the original artwork very closely and very economically.

A font is the complete typeset you want to use from a particular typeface. Examples of popular fonts include Helvetica, Times New Roman, and Arial.

A generic brand is a product not associated with a private or national brand name.

A .GIF is a Graphics Interchange File and is one of the most popular types of bitmap image formats. However, while GIF images are great for the web, they do not always provide a high enough resolution, or clarity, for your promotional products.

An image produced by breaking the subject into small dots of varying intensities of gray ranging from white to black.

Hand-painted products are personalized one at a time delivering exceptionally unique results.

Heat stamping, or hot stamping, is a decoration process in which an engraved image mold, or hot stamping die, is heated then forced down against a product with a colored marking foil sandwiched in between. The area where the die-cast mold meets the product is where the ink from the foil is left behind. Hot stamping is used on many types of different materials, most commonly plastic and wood.

A wearable option, herringbone is a decorative fabric pattern made up of rows of tiny slanted parallel lines alternating direction each row. It provides a very professional look for your wearable promotional products.

A direct ink method typically applied to plastic bags. This is usually an optional imprint opportunity for the outer packaging of the promotional item you are purchasing.

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