How will the holidays affect my order?

As the holidays approach it is important to look ahead to make sure everything we are purchasing will be delivered on time.

Although for most of the year our turnaround time is between 2-3 weeks for normal orders, during the holiday season Clockwise experiences much higher order volume across all of our services. We do out best to keep to the standard turnaround times because we want to exceed your expectations with each order, but even when everything runs smoothly in production, we are not the only industry that is experiencing increased volume at that time.

During the holidays, our suppliers and shipment providers are likewise overburdened and many are wrangling inexperienced seasonal staff to help best serve all of us. This leads to an increase in delays and errors throughout all these industries, and contributes to the increase in production time. If you are placing an order towards the end of the year and need to make sure it arrives by a certain date, it is best to place the order at least a month before your desired in-hand date.

Every year, Clockwise sends out an email to our customers about the latest date an order needs to be placed to ensure we ship it in time to reach you. Please mind your inbox and make sure print@clockwise.io is added to your safe sender list so that you receive our newsletter.

What can you do to help make sure your order is received on time?

• Order early - place your orders ASAP for the best chance at receiving them on time! Think you are ordering too early? Better to have your shirts with enough time to wrap them (or wear them!) than to incur rush fees and stress about whether or not they'll make it!
• Make sure your art is print-ready - We do our best to work with your art so that we can turn even a pencil drawing into a printed work of wearable art, but submitting artwork that is not print-ready takes more time to process and holds up production. (Click here for more detail on what art files we accept.) In brief:
  • Vector Files (.ai, or .eps) containing artwork built as vector graphics are ideal and work for any process.
  • Photoshop (.psd) files if they are 300DPI at the size you want it to be printed at and with each print color separated into its own layer.
  • PDFs versions of vector files or separated photoshop files are also accepted for screenprinting.
  • Embroidery and Digital Printing can accept any of the formats above, but also .jpg, .gif and .tif files.
• Check your emails - Clockwise uses emails to let you know when your order is ready for approval, or to discuss any hiccups along the way. Clockwise cannot move forward with producing your order until you have submitted your approval and/or we have worked out any kinks or questions that come up. Please check your email inbox (and spam folder!) and review your approval link carefully: once your order is approved, we cannot make any changes.
• Communicate early about your needs - Looking to make something ultra unique? We want to help you make it! Making sure you have the best possible results on your latest masterpiece means that we shouldn't be hashing out details during the holiday crunch time. Talk to us about that blank you *have* to use, or that special ink effect, or that off-the-wall print location now so that you can be sure to show it off at your holiday gatherings.
• Be flexible - Stock in-house and at our suppliers fluctuates wildly during the holidays. Even if you place an order, we may have an issue securing what you need. Being open to substitutions will help make sure that we can get your order out the door.