Scalable Press

Scalable Press is a contract printer and print-on-demand fulfillment network for businesses that sell custom apparel, drinkware, phone cases and posters. Its home page puts the model in one line: it "lets you order 1000s of print-on-demand products from different suppliers through a single-invoice ordering platform". Behind that sits a network the site heads "10+ SUPPLIERS DISTRIBUTED GLOBALLY", with locations listed as Los Angeles, CA; Dallas, TX; Toronto, ON; Exeter, UK; Prague, CZ; Zhejiang, CN; and Melbourne, AU, plus "5 fulfillment facilities across US". The offer is aimed at online sellers, brands and apparel businesses that want blanks, printing and white-label shipping handled in one account, and the site says it has printed over 10 million items.

What a seller gets

The pitch rests on consolidation. The home page promises "Blanks, printing, and whitelabel fulfillment in a single invoice", so a seller pays one supplier for the garment or mug, the decoration and the shipment, even when the work comes from different partners in the network. The home page says the print network uses "the top partners globally" for each customization type, and that the company's globally distributed technology team builds the software that runs it.

Five print types are offered, each with its own page and figures on the home page:

• Screen printing, which the site calls "the industry standard for high-volume printing on textiles", with 1000+ products available and up to 8 print colors.
• DTG printing, a digital technique for full-color work on textiles with no minimum orders, 100+ products available and unlimited print colors.
• Digital printing for posters and paper products, with 4 paper types, unlimited colors and 72 hour turnarounds.
• Sublimation printing for full-color, full-wrap work on drinkware and phone cases, with 20+ products and 72 hour turnarounds.
• Embroidery, marked NEW, a no-minimum thread decoration on textiles with 1000+ products and up to 15 print colors.

The catalog page advertises 4,000+ products in total, and the home page says they come "from top brands". Named blanks on the product pages include the Gildan Cotton T-Shirt (SKU 5000), the Bella Flowy Racerback Tank (SKU B8800) and the Gildan 50/50 Hoodie (SKU 18500) for DTG, and the 11oz and 15oz Beverage Mugs and the iPhone 6/6s Case for sublimation. The pricing estimator adds a Fruit of the Loom Cotton T, a Jerzees 50/50 Hoodie, a Fruit of the Loom Ladies Heavy Cotton T-Shirt, a Gildan Long Sleeve T-Shirt, a Gildan Sweatshirt in crew neck, a Next Level Ladies Racerback Tank and a Fruit of the Loom Youth Cotton T. The sublimation page says phone cases come in gloss or matte finish and the mugs are 100% ceramic.

Orders go in through the website or automatically. Each service page says sellers can "Order manually or choose from different automated ordering options", the footer lists API and online ordering under integrations, and the service pages list Shopify and API as integrations. New sellers start with "REQUEST AN ACCOUNT" or a sign-up button.

Prices on the pages

Scalable Press publishes per-piece prices without a login. The pricing page has an estimator: choose a product type (apparel, embroidery, drinkware, phone case or poster), a print type (DTG or screenprint) and a quantity, and it returns a price per piece. Its small print says the figure is for printing on white products, excludes shipping, and is "Estimate only". The page adds: "Please contact us for high-volume pricing."

The service pages give example prices:

• DTG: a white shirt in full color at $5.50 per shirt and a dark shirt in full color at $7.75 per shirt. The DTG page adds that a high monthly volume may qualify for further discounts.
• Sublimation: an 11oz white mug at $3.50, an 11oz black mug at $4.50, and a phone case in any style at $5.00.
• Embroidery: "Simple pricing: $5 flat rate". The examples are a black or white shirt with 1 thread color, a navy shirt with 4 thread colors and a teal hoodie with 2 thread colors, each $5.00 at any quantity, "plus shipping and blanks".

Embroidery also comes with free digitization when ordering through the company, so a seller does not pay separately to have artwork converted for the embroidery machines.

The service pages say a little about how the work is done. Sublimation prints "wrap around the item, covering the front, sides, and edges of its surface", and the film transfers are printed on high-fidelity digital printers. The DTG page says its processes and inks are designed for detail, vibrancy and washability. The sublimation page frames the low prices as the result of the company building its own technology to run production and passing the savings on to customers.

Production and shipping speed

In the US, the DTG page says "Orders are auto-routed between facilities in CA, IN, and PA", and the embroidery page describes "facilities across the nation" giving more capacity and speed. The home page adds the tag line "WE ARE NATIONAL AND WE SHIP FAST".

The service pages give ship times rather than delivery times. DTG orders "typically ship within 1 - 3 business days". Sublimation orders "typically ship within 2 days", with same-day shipping "available at select times". Embroidery orders ship within 1-5 business days. Digital printing and sublimation are both listed with 72 hour turnarounds on the home page. The pages do not publish shipping rates.

Minimums are low across the board. The DTG page says "All of our products have no minimum order quantity", the sublimation page describes a "single-item minimum", and the embroidery page says JIT automation makes the minimum order 1 piece.

Support and track record

Sales can be reached by phone and email, with hours listed as Monday to Friday, 9AM to 5PM EST. The service pages say 5,000 businesses use Scalable Press, and they carry testimonials from sellers, including the owner of Coloristees.com and a seller at Gearzilla, that praise the prices and customer service. One testimonial, from the Power Rocket shop, says the company does not send a product "until it's perfect". There is also a careers page and a blog.

Who it suits

Scalable Press fits a US apparel or merch business that wants one account for several decoration methods, especially one that runs its own shop through the API or Shopify and wants to know unit costs before signing up. The public price examples, the free embroidery digitization and the no-minimum policy suit a seller testing designs, while the high-volume pricing and screen printing suit a brand that already sells in quantity. The detailed service pages describe the US operation, with its routing between facilities in CA, IN and PA, so the offer reads most complete for sellers whose customers are in the US.