How does RIPT Apparel choose artists and designs?
Anyone in the world can become a RIPT Apparel artist. All one has to do is have access to a Paypal account, create a design, and be able to submit a digital file of that design. Every design at RIPT Apparel was created by an individual or group of individuals. Designs that are submitted to RIPT Apparel are put into a queue that is reviewed privately by staff of the company.
How do I submit a design?
First you must register for an account here.
Once registered, you are then able to submit at design using your account credentials. Submit designs here.
What are the technical requirements to submit a design?
All designs must be submitted using a 300dpi RGB 4500 by 5700 pixel .png file with a transparent background. A handy submission kit in .psd format is available for download here. Further more detailed instructions on how to place and save your file are written within the submission kit.
How and when do artists get paid?
Artists automatically receive 10% of every item featuring their design that is sold. After your 36 hour sale period has ended, you will be paid via the paypal email address specified in your submission information. This is usually paid out within 3 business days. If there is a problem with your payment, please notify us.
As an added bonus, RIPT Apparel offers artists a free copy of their tee in the size of their choice. The shirt size, style of garment, and shipping address is requested upon each submission. This information cannot be modified after the submission and we cannot bundle this with other products. There may be instances where the free tee is not shipped, returned to sender due to an incorrect address, or simply lost in transit. Although we are aware artists are very much looking forward to getting a sample of their work, we cannot send additional shirts in circumstances where there is a problem with this free order. We apologize in advance for this.
Can I order more shirts or other garments and ship them with my free artist shirt?
Unfortunately, the free shirt sent to artists is a bonus to their commission that we cannot bundle with other orders. You will have to make a separate order for any additional types of garments featuring your design.
How do I know what is legal for RIPT to print?
We very carefully choose which designs we print based on a variety of selection criteria. One of the most important of these factors is whether or not the design directly infringes on any other third party intellectual property. The question of what is ‘ok’ to print and what isn’t sparks a multitude of debates. To help guide our artists through this murky territory, we are providing a brief guide from the RIPT legal team helping to define what is acceptable at RIPT.
You can download the RIPT Apparel Copyrighted Material Guide by clicking here.
Who owns the designs at RIPT Apparel?
When artists submit designs to RIPT Apparel, they are agreeing to our terms and conditions. The standard agreement is that RIPT Apparel will be granted a licensed to sell the design by the artist, and the artist will receive 10% of the revenue from any item sold featuring that design. The artist retains the rights to their work and they are free to do whatever they wish with their design from then on.
Can I sell my design to RIPT Apparel?
When you submit a design, there is an option to name a price to sell your design upfront to RIPT Apparel. If your submission is selected for print and you put a price RIPT Apparel is willing to pay, you might hear from us via email with a request to buy this design. If you choose to sell your design to RIPT Apparel, we will provide contract outlining the transfer of ownership of your design to RIPT and how much you will be compensated. You will then be replacing the typical 10% royalty for a one-time upfront commission payment.
How many print colors can I use?
Since you are submitting full color png’s, there isn’t a limit on colors.
What color shirts are available?
The color options available at RIPT Apparel change periodically, but we typically offer around 20 basic garment colors. You are able to choose the intended color of your shirt when making a submission after uploading your artwork file. If your design is selected for print, RIPT Apparel may make a change to the garment color prior to the sale. The color chosen for the t-shirt will determine the colors of all other non-tshirt garments but non-tshirt garments may vary depending upon availability.
What other types of printing techniques are available other than standard ink?
Currently RIPT Apparel is not offering any printing techniques outside of standard plastisol inks and DTG cmyk printing. This means we are not offering glow in the dark, metallic, or fluorescent inks. Sorry!
What are my options for placement of graphics on the shirt?
The standard placement for designs submitted to RIPT Apparel is centered on the chest about 3 inches from the neck line. However, the actual placement of the print depends on how you place it within the 4500x5700 submission png. Think of the rectangle dimensions of the file as being locked in place on a t-shirt, and wherever your place your artwork within that rectangle will be relative where it’s printed on the shirt. Please refer to the instructions in the Submission Kit for a more visual representation of how the placement of your print will appear on the final product.
Do I need to separate my files into channels or color layers?
This is no longer a requirement for printing at RIPT Apparel, since we will be able to separate the final artwork from the submitted png. Please keep in mind that your submissions will be the final print file!
After submitting a design, how are artists notified of their sales?
After submitting a design to RIPT, artists can login to their account and then visit the “Artist Dashboard" tab to see the status of their submissions and designs. Designs submitted to RIPT typically will be in the queue up to 10 days, but there are special exceptions. Statuses of designs go in this order: Submitted, Under Review, Scheduled, Sold, & Declined. If your status is "Started," then there was an error with your submission and you must try again. Notify us if you have further problems.
Why are some submissions in the queue for longer than 10 days?
Sometimes, RIPT Apparel will place a cluster of designs in a Possibly-Tees gallery for voting by our fanbase. These galleries typically last a week and a design placed in a gallery will not be declined until the gallery is over. This may extend the time a design is under review past 10 days. If a design is still under review past, RIPT Apparel staff may just be waiting for the right time to schedule that design.
What are the reasons a design is declined?
The staff at RIPT Apparel looks over each submission individually, without seeing who created it. Each design is judged off of it's artistic quality and the value it may have to the RIPT Apparel Community. A lot of different qualities of a design are considered, and the other designs in the queue at the time of review are also deciding factors. RIPT Apparel does not openly or privately discuss the outcome of any particular submissions. It's also frowned up to submit the same design multiple times, because there is an archive of all previous submissions.
Can I get feedback on a sketch or particular design before I submit it?
RIPT Apparel does not consider designs that are not already in the submission queue. However, if you would like to get feedback on a particular design, your best option is to join the discussion in our RIPT Artist Facebook Group, which is welcome to all. If you are not already a member, you will be required to fill out the Facebook questionnaire prior to your entrance into the group.
I’ve submitted a design but I’ve either sold the full rights to it elsewhere or don’t want to print it anymore.
Unfortunately, once you submit a design, you are agreeing to let RIPT Apparel print it up until we give you a notification that we have declined it. We try to get these notifications out to artists via email within 10 days, but there are exceptions, noted above. Once you a submit a design to RIPT Apparel, it is considered good practice to avoid submitting this design to other potential sellers until it’s been scheduled or declined. There is nothing more frustrating for us than to curate a specific set of designs and then be told one of them is being sold elsewhere during the same time frame.
