Apliiq ‑ Print On Demand

I've used various print on demand providers over the years and this company is now at the bottom of my list. Actually, they are no longer on my list as the quality of their print work on sweatshirts is so low that I will never use them again.

I sell my art designs on Gildan sweatshirts every year for the holidays and this year I decided to go with Apliiq because of their excellent reviews and I wanted to automate this portion of my business.

Unfortunately, their print on demand quality, especially on RED GILDAN SWEATSHIRTS, is far from excellent... more subpar and below average. Anything printed white appeared as pink. So my Santa Claus's beard was pink... a pink beard on Santa?! Oh... he had pink eyes too. One person comment how my Santa looked high... that was NOT the look I was going for.

I brought this concern to customer service and they pretty much told me that's just the way DTG is, even though I insisted that my other DTG vendors were able to print white on red without issue.

That was the moment I should have left but I didn't and decided to give them a chance. So I kept them as my supplier and processed over 300 orders with them between October through mid December 2022. Now I'm dealing with customer complaints daily in my inbox and on social media. Every single last complaint was about the print quality. I understand that some of the fabric will bleed through the ink but the amount of bleed through from their printing process was terrible. I offered red, green, black and dark gray sweatshirts and the print quality on all of them were extremely poor but was most noticeable on the red ones. Some of my customers have now requested refunds just from looking at the shirt right out of the package while others have requested refunds due to the art fading away after one wash. I even had one customer who bought a shirt from me 5 years ago and from this year share photos of how the shirt from this year has faded. The 5 year old shirt looks like it was the one just bought.

In addition to the terrible print quality, they ran out of stock on the blanks I needed the most and didn't alert me until well after that fact. This caused me to scramble to find a replacement vendor AND to cancel orders. All in all, I had 22 order cancellations due to them being out of stock.

Other issues were present but were most likely due to the rush of the season. Still, having customers request refunds and shame me on social media all because of Apliiq's poor print quality has put a stain on my business. My customers don't know who Apliiq is so I'm the one dealing with the fallout.

Lastly, their online portal is outdated and does not do a good job of keeping track of the nuances with each order.

If you're only using Apliiq to print your t-shirts you may fair better than me. However, if you're using them to print on sweatshirts for your apparel business... RUN!!!

Shout out to their customer service rep KIM who was the most helpful even though I was not happy with all of the headaches. The one star is for her.

Really wanted to like this company because of the large product selection, customization and white label options (we actually spent $100 on private label hang tags), but the shipping just takes too long and the process isn't transparent. One of our Canadian customers has been waiting 2 months for a hoodie and it's been a struggle getting this resolved with the Apliiq team (although I will say that Kim is great). All in all, it's a shame about the shipping times as we likely won't be able to see any ROI on our hang tag investment.

The shipping time on orders is insane. Customers will not receive orders for over a month or 2 after placing the order even post Covid. There are items on the site that they don't have in stock but you don't know until after the customer places the order. Would not recommend especially for beginners unless you have very very patient and undersatnding customers.

Update: 2 star because simply they dont care, specially if you`re small fish! Simply absurd what they are doing! It`s not so simple cancelling orders like they suggested! Extremely disappointed

I've just opened my store and I`ve been impressed with Apliiq since day one! As soon as i got my first sample I was hooked! It was the most perfect embroidery ever! Also the customer service has been spot on, cant complain. The fact that they have a designer to overlook the prints helped me a lot. So far has been an incredible experience and hopefully we will grow together! !!

Apliiq has a wide range of products, making a rich catalog possible. They didn't meet 100% of what i needed, BUT they always make things right, by providing the best customer service. Exactly what makes ecommerce a positive experience; whether it's b2b, or d2c.

Welp..

I was so excited to partner with Apliiq. Completely left the other companies I was doing business with, left my printing company. I was sold on everything they were selling... In the beginning. They simply can't produce the product in time. Minimum wait time has been 60 days. I've lost countless dollars and countless customers over Apliiq not holding up their end of the deal. They have given their customers the same line "We are working hard to fix it" but nothing has budged in months. These reviews are very discouraging because if they had it together in the 10 years they've been operating I feel they could be a powerhouse.. I am currently making the move to take my business elsewhere. I wouldn't recommend building a site to work with Apliiq..

How is a business allow to run when they only promise but never deliver? I'm not going to waste my time on any long post about apliiq, or warn anyone just find out for yourself. I just want them to return my money.

Customer service is A+. I had some bumps along the way, but Peter has been able to smooth the path for me, and the team of reps have always been polite and helpful. Production has been fast. Faster than I expected. I will say, as an international buyer, I have been a bit frustrated with shipping times. While they do their best to get the product out on time, the shipping to Canada has been quite disatisfying. Hopefully, some new shipping options become available for us in the future.

Totally disappointed with this company, Sent in orders on June 27-28. My customers won't receive their orders until 8/8. I only spoke to their customer service 1-2x !sr week in June. After that, there is no way to get in touch with customer service. I have left messages for the past month and sent email to ensure they used Bella Canvas on my orders since their revision request stated Gildan. No response no email. Until today 8/4 I get a VM from someone from PA returning my call. After an month! I have since moved my products to other PODs even if that means losing $100 to private label my tags. Also be aware they charge $20 initial fee to design a bucket hat. They were charging me $20 for all buckets hats I ordered. Another reason why I was calling them. But NO calls and NO way to get in touch with them. VERY POOR customer service.
WARNING: All orders they get are also being dropshipped to other companies. When you order from Apliq then they will also send an order for the materials from another company. If the latter company doesn't have the material then Apliq wont be able fulfill your order This was from their customer service person whom I initially spoke to in June. So BEWARE!

Apliiq could be 10 stars. Honestly, I was so excited when I found them, I literally used Shopify to make my website specifically to work with them. They offer everything I was looking for in a POD service, except that it takes them months to complete an order. If you want to build a business and customer service is important to you, i'm afraid Apliiq isn't the best fit. Overall, the prints are usually solid, although I have received prints from them that were obnoxiously and obviously off. I just can't continue to put the success of my business in the hands of Apliiq. To make my customers wait 3 months for their order just to have it be messed up when they get it won't set me up for success. I really do hope these guys get it figured out.