In this review, we’re diving into Custom Ink, a US-based online retailer specializing in custom apparel and promotional items. While Custom Ink isn’t primarily marketed as a corporate or swag gifting platform, its core services of custom printing on apparel and promotional items overlap with corporate swag platforms. As such, we deem it important to do an honest review of Custom Ink to provide you with a clear picture of whether it’s a good option for creating your company’s custom swag. 

With that out of the way, let’s begin!

Custom Ink Overview

Custom Ink is a company headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia, founded in 2000 by Marc Katz, Mike Driscoll, and Dave Christensen. The company primarily offers custom printing services on clothing and various items, including drinkware, bags, and tech accessories. Overall, the platform caters to individuals and organizations looking for customized apparel and promotional products.

Main Features

Four delivery options

Custom Ink offers four delivery options that you can choose from, depending on the urgency of your orders. These deliveries are fulfilled by the platform’s third-party logistics partners, such as UPS and USPS, so do keep that in mind.

Two-week standard delivery

As the name implies, this option guarantees that your order will arrive in two weeks.

One-week rush delivery

For this option, your custom-printed shirts and items are promised to be delivered in one week. However, you will need to pay an additional 15% based on the cost of your order.

3-day super rush delivery

If you need a super urgent delivery and only managed to place an order three days prior, Custom Ink has a Super Rush delivery option that you can choose at checkout. Do note, though, that this will cost you an additional 30% of the cost of your total order. It’s also not available for all products, specifically specialty items and those that need embroidery decoration.

Ship to multiple addresses 

You can also send your customized items directly to your team members or giftees through this multi-address delivery option. However, it’s priced at $9.95 per US address, which can get expensive, particularly if you have quite a lot of recipients. Additionally, this is only available for the contiguous 48 United States and Army Post Office (APO) addresses.

Design lab

Custom Ink’s Design Lab allows you to create your own custom shirt or promotional products using your own logo or artwork. There are also font and artwork options for you to choose from in the platform if you don’t readily have a design in mind.

Inclusive pricing for US orders

If you’re based in the US, then choosing Custom Ink can be a good choice. This is due to the platform’s all-inclusive pricing, where you get free 2-week delivery to specific US addresses, professional design review, and printing and artwork set-up. However, such perks are only applicable for US orders within the contiguous 48 states, as international deliveries (including those to Canada, Hawaii, and Alaska) have duties and taxes that you will need to pay for.

Pricing

Using Custom Ink’s platform is free, meaning you won’t need to pay any subscription fees to use its services. There are no setup charges, either.

Instead, the costs you’ll pay will depend on three things: 1) the specific product and its color, 2) the number of ink colors you want on each side of the product, and 3) the quantity of your order. The quote already includes artwork assistance, print setup, free shipping, and guaranteed delivery dates.

But, once again, these are only for the contiguous 48 United States. You would need to call Custom Ink to find out the price and shipping for Alaska, Hawaii, Canada, and other international destinations.

Pros and Cons

Pros

✅ Design lab: Using Custom Ink’s design lab enables you to customize your own shirts or promotional products, giving you complete autonomy over your designs.

✅ Volume discounts: Ordering more with Custom Ink gives you more savings. For instance, if you order 50 pieces of a jersey t-shirt, you will only need to pay a total of $500, putting the item at $10 each. However, it can get expensive the lower the quantity of your order is. If you order 1 or 3 pieces of the same shirt, it will instead cost you $30.65 each, a stark difference of more than $20.

✅ Real-time tracking: If you’re anxious about the status of your order, you can monitor it through the platform’s tracking system. This can give you peace of mind, especially for rush orders.

✅ One-time events: Custom Ink’s approach to apparel and promo item printing makes it suitable for you if you have an event where you would only need to buy printed items once.

Cons

❌ Focused on printing, not swag management: As established early on, Custom Ink is more of a retail printing company, rather than a swag or gifting platform. As such, the standard features of swag platforms, such as swag, swag kits, gift cards, automation, and integrations, among others, will not be available.

❌ Not suitable for employee recognition: Since Custom Ink isn’t a swag management platform, it’s not a great choice if you plan to use printed apparel or other promotional items to show appreciation to your team.

❌ Lack of warehousing option: You will also not be able to warehouse the swag you ordered from the platform since it doesn’t offer any warehousing storage.

❌ Actual items sometimes differ from online proofs: Several users of Custom Ink have reported discrepancies between the digital design proofs and the final products they received. Common complaints include colors appearing duller than expected and overall print quality not matching the preview shown during the design process. This can be quite concerning, especially if you have a large-scale event and require consistent branding across all items.

❌ High costs don’t reflect high quality: As mentioned above, ordering only a few items from Custom Ink can get quite expensive, as the discounts are available only to bulk orders. Despite the higher price point, though, a lot of customers still express dissatisfaction with the quality of their printed items. Complaints often focus on issues like misaligned prints or fabric quality not meeting expectations. This raises concerns about the overall value for the cost that you pay Custom Ink.

Custom Ink is best for…

… organizations looking for a printing partner 👍

Custom Ink is well-suited for you if you need a vendor for producing branded apparel or promotional items. If your primary need is to print custom designs on T-shirts, hoodies, tote bags, or other merchandise without requiring complex logistics or integrations, then Custom Ink is a good choice.

… teams that enjoy hands-on designing 👍

The platform’s Design Lab gives you or your team full control over product customization. If you wish to personally select colors, fonts, and artwork yourself, then you will likely appreciate the platform’s design preview tools. This also makes it easy to bring your creative vision to life without needing a graphic designer. Of course, this is still different from a swag platform’s design agency, where you will get both expert opinion and great designs to ensure your items’ print quality.

… enterprises with regular custom shirt orders within the US 👍

The more items you order, the greater the discount you’ll get with Custom Ink. As such, it can be an economical choice if you have large or recurring bulk orders for apparel and other promotional items. However, do remember that these discounts will only be applicable for US orders, as the pricing is different for international orders.

Custom Ink may not be a good fit for…

… companies looking for a comprehensive swag and gifting platform 👎

Custom Ink is primarily a custom printing service, which means it doesn’t offer tools for managing swag campaigns, sending gifts on demand, warehousing inventory, or integrating with HRIS or CRM systems. In essence, Custom Ink is just a platform for ordering swag items like apparel and drinkware. As such, if what you’re looking for is a comprehensive swag and gifting platform, then you’re better off looking elsewhere.

… businesses that want consistent and high-quality printed items 👎

While many customers have positive experiences, many others report issues with Custom Ink’s print quality, color accuracy, and inconsistencies between digital proofs and final products. This can be a dealbreaker, specifically if brand consistency is critical for your event.

… leaders and managers with international events or recipients 👎

As a US-based company, Custom Ink is more suitable for the US market with its free shipping options and cheaper rush delivery prices. As such, if you have global employees or recipients or even just an event in Canada, you might find Custom Ink lacking when it comes to cost-efficient international prices and shipping.

… enterprises needing swag stores and warehouses 👎

With Custom Ink’s focus on shirt and promo item printing, it doesn’t give much emphasis to swag stores and warehouses. These two are especially important if you want your recipients to be able to choose their preferred swag, or you have extra apparel and items that need to be stored. Instead, with Custom Ink, you’ll be forced to pay a much higher fee if you want to have your items delivered directly to your recipients or rent a storage space for your items.

… firms that need other gifting options 👎

Since Custom Ink is a custom printing company, you will find that it doesn’t offer any other option aside from swag, specifically t-shirts and other promotional items. While this is great for company-related events or one-off campaigns, it can be inadequate if you’re looking for alternatives like localized gifts or gift cards. 

Overall, Custom Ink is a platform known for custom printing, as well as its user-friendly design tool and flexible delivery options. However, it lacks features commonly found in swag management and corporate gifting platforms; this includes swag inventory management, HRIS and CRM integrations, campaign automation, and multi-country fulfillment, among others. Additionally, with Custom Ink, you won’t be able to get support from a customer success manager to identify the perfect swag for your recipients and manage your swag orders. Without these key features, it’s best to consider other platforms that actually offer comprehensive swag solutions.

Looking for comprehensive swag solutions? Explore the best Custom Ink alternatives

Unlike Custom Ink, which only centers on custom printing, other platforms like PerkUp and Sendoso offer end-to-end swag management, including On Demand swag, international distribution, and integration with HRIS and CRM systems. If these are what you’re looking for or if you’re planning swag programs, then alternative platforms may better meet your swag needs.

Custom Ink vs PerkUp, the #1 swag management platform for high-quality international swag and gifts

Custom Ink and PerkUp may both be in the corporate swag industry, but they have stark differences.  Custom Ink is essentially just a website for you to order swag items like apparel and drinkware, lacking the ability to manage and warehouse your swag or send them to international recipients. Meanwhile, PerkUp offers a more comprehensive platform designed for global swag management, warehousing, and gifting. In this Custom Ink vs PerkUp comparison, we’ll break down other key differences to help you decide which solution aligns best with your team’s needs and understand why companies like Hiro and Inhabit choose PerkUp.