Artwork & uploads
What you can upload
Our design studio prints your artwork on real products, so we have to follow copyright and trademark law on every order, even an order of one. Here is the simple version.
Good to go
- Artwork, designs, and photos you made yourself
- Photos you personally took, when everyone recognizable in them has agreed to be printed on a product
- Stock images with a license that covers printed merchandise (keep your receipt — standard licenses usually do not cover products)
- Images you have verified are in the public domain
- Your own company or organization logo, when you are authorized to order for that company
- Original text and quotes you wrote, in standard fonts
We will need something from you first
- Photos of other people — if someone recognizable appears in the image, we need their written permission to print it on a product, and a parent or guardian's permission if they are under 18. This applies even to photos you took yourself.
- Professional or studio photos — school portraits, wedding photos, team pictures. The photographer owns the copyright, so we need the photographer's print release.
- Artwork someone else made — including commissioned art, tattoo designs, and anything a third party supplied to you. We need written permission from the artist or rights holder.
- Stock images — proof your license covers merchandise.
- Parody designs — reviewed case by case. Famous brand logos still cannot be reproduced.
Send permissions to sales@purechoiceapparel.com with your order number and we will keep them on file.
About AI-generated images
AI images are not automatically cleared to print. AI tools are trained on other people's work, and they can reproduce a protected character, a brand logo, a distinctive style, or a real person's face without you intending it or noticing it. The rules on this are also still unsettled.
So we review AI artwork the same way we review anything else. We may ask which tool you used and what prompt you gave it, and we may decline artwork that looks like it carries copyright, trademark, or likeness risk. If we decline, we refund the order and we are glad to help you build something original instead.
We cannot print these
- Sports team, league, school, or university logos, unless you are the licensed organization
- Cartoon, movie, game, and comic characters, including fan art and “inspired by” versions
- Brand logos and designs, like Nike, Supreme, or Harley-Davidson
- Band logos, album covers, movie stills, and celebrity photos
- Images with a watermark
- Anything you found online or bought without the right to reproduce it on products
We can always ask, and we can always say no. We may ask you for proof of your rights in an image at any point, including after you have paid, and we may decline or remove artwork that we believe carries legal risk. We would rather ask an awkward question than print something that gets you or us sued.
A few honest answers
Is there a “personal use” exception?
No. There is no personal-use exception in copyright law — a single shirt for yourself is treated the same as a run of five hundred.
If I change the image enough, is it mine?
No. Changing an image by some percentage does not make it yours. There is no percentage that makes a protected design safe to print, despite what you may have read.
I bought the digital file — doesn't that mean I own it?
Usually it means you own that copy, not the right to print it on products. Those are different rights, and merchandise rights are the ones we need.
What if I'm not sure?
Ask us before you order and we will help you figure it out. And if you hold rights to something on the “cannot print” list — great. Send us the paperwork and we are glad to print it.
Not sure about your artwork?
Send it over before you order. We would rather answer a question than refund an order.