CustomizedGirl Blog

Volunteering In Our Community – Giving Back With NNEMAP

April 13, 2021April 13, 2021 CustomizedGirl Leave a comment

As a small business, we understand the importance of connecting with others and making an impact, especially in the local community. With businesses and events starting to open up, we decided to return to our local food pantry, a cherished partner of ours, to help give back.

Recently, our employees spent their time volunteering with NNEMAP Food Pantry. They helped organize and pack nutritious food and other resources to give away for families in need. These items were donated by local churches, civic groups, corporate and foundation sponsors, and more.

Our volunteers shared their experiences:

Alyssa – “My time spent with NNEMAP Food Pantry was incredible. I was truly amazed at how organized and prepared they were. Every volunteer I worked with that morning was so friendly and helpful. I loved spending my Friday morning feeling like I’m making a difference and having fun while doing it! It was such a rewarding experience and I will definitely be returning soon.”

Cindy – “After I left NNEMAP, I felt energized and wanting to do more. I enjoyed talking to the other volunteers, learning about the pantry, and the community. I’m excited for our next visit.”

Pictured below is a photo of the volunteers wearing shirts from our “Buy A Shirt, Buy A Meal” storefront. This storefront was created to help provide additional meals to families in need in the Columbus, Ohio area. All of the profit that comes from these sales will go directly to the NNEMAP Food Pantry to help keep their shelves stocked. This is such a fun way to give back and we encourage you to design your own tee from this storefront and help out the local community!

Giving back is such a fulfilling feeling and a great way to get to know your community. Whether you also decide to help out at a local food pantry in your area, or another organization that offers assistance to those less fortunate, we encourage you to step out of your comfort zone and give your time to those in need.

A big THANK YOU to NNEMAP Food Pantry for having us!

Tie-Dye Shirt Contest! Get Creative & Design Your Own For A Chance To Win!

April 1, 2021April 1, 2021 CustomizedGirl Leave a comment

If you thought the tie-dye trend was over, think again. In a time of uncertainty, now more than ever, we crave a source of comfort. Tie-dye has that nostalgic element and brings us back to our more innocent memories of childhood. Even so, there are new ways to reinvent tie-dye in 2021, like our new Unisex Dream Tie-Dyed Tee! It fits like a dream and feels like one too! Available in 3 different colors, sunset, purple dream, and lemon lime, it’ll be your new favorite to wear all summer long.

To celebrate this product launch, we are holding a Tie-Dye Tee Contest on our Instagram page! Win a FREE Tie-Dye Dream Tee with your own customized design just in time for #NationalTieDyeDay on April 30th!

HOW TO ENTER:

CUSTOMIZE Select our Dream Tie-Dyed Tee on CustomizedGirl.com and use our design center to customize any way you’d like. (choose any color)
SHARE Save your design & share it by taking a screenshot and posting to your Instagram story or feed. Make sure you tag us @CustomizedGirl
WIN We will select one winner. If you win, we will print your shirt and ship it to you!

Winner will be announced 4/8/21 @ 12pm on the post and the winner will be contacted via DM.

We hope you have fun designing and getting creative with us! Stay tuned for more product launches and giveaways just in time for summer. ☀️

5 Events That Tie-Dye Shirts Would Be Perfect For:

Sports Teams. Starting a new volleyball league this summer? Customize tie-dye tees with your team’s name & number and have the coolest uniforms in the league!

Family Reunions. Every generation loves tie-dye so why not customize tees to wear for the next family reunion?! These shirts make a great keepsake for years to come!

Charity Events. You’re sure to stand out and bring awareness to your charity with custom tie-dye tees with colors that pop!

Summer Days and Holidays! Fourth of July screams red, white and blue tie-dye. Customize your own patriotic tee to show off your American pride!

Parties. Get matching tie-dye tees for bachelor/ette parties or for your birthday party event! No matter the occasion, your group will love these bright and festive party shirts!

Custom Fit – Different Styles And Which Fit is Best For You

March 23, 2021March 23, 2021 CustomizedGirl Leave a comment

At Customized Girl we know that style is everything. That’s why we offer such a huge selection of fits and styles to make sure your custom apparel goes with whichever outfit you’re pulling off that day.

In this blog post, we wanted to discuss the different types of fitting styles we offer and how they’ll look when you wear them. Read below to see which fit is best for you.

1. Relaxed Fit

Relaxed Fit shirts are your common looking everyday type of shirt. The fabric is cut with a more generous fit. They do not cling tightly to the body or adhere closely to your body’s shape. There may be some fabric that hangs off the body a little more, giving the fabric room to breathe. A misses style will tend to have shorter sleeves and a more feminine cut than a unisex style.

2. Slim-Fit

Previously called “Junior Fit”, slim-fit shirts are cut to fit closer to the body, adhering more to the body’s shape. They can sometimes run smaller than relaxed styles. It may be a good idea to buy a size larger than you normally would when buying a slim-fit tee.

3. Flowy Fit

As the name implies, these shirts offer a flowy, loose fit that will hang plenty of excess fabric. This trendy style is popular for a laid-back casual look and moves easily with your body.

Decoration Methods – How do we do it?

March 10, 2021March 10, 2021 CustomizedGirl Leave a comment

Have you ever wondered how we produce all of the orders that come through our site? In this post, we want to share the various types of decoration methods we offer and how they benefit you! Read below to find out more.

1. Printing: Printing ink with a direct-to-garment digital printer

This is the method we use for almost all of our apparel. It involves state-of-the-art digital printers printing high-quality ink directly onto your item. This process offers several advantages over screen printers, including:

A full range of colors at no extra cost. Screen printers print only one color at a time, so each additional color is an extra cost for you.

No minimums and no setup fees. Our printing process is the same whether we are printing 1 item or 1,000. Screen printers, however, have a lot of up-front costs in setting up the screens, so they charge for it and require minimums.

Beautiful and custom direct-to-garment printing!

2. Film or Foil: Using an ultra-thin, precision-cut, heat-pressed “film” material

This is a great method to create a durable design on unique items. For example, it’s not possible to create custom, no-minimum designs using ink on items like duffel bags and mesh jerseys. We use film instead, and it works nicely.

Items decorated in film offer a wide range of specialty options including metallic, glitter, neon, and glow-in-the-dark.

Because we cut this material before heat pressing, we must avoid complex shapes. Items using this method cannot be distressed or use distressed fonts. Also, certain pieces of art from our library are too intricate for film. (These pieces of art are not selectable when designing a film-only item.)

Three or four layers of film overlapping each other can create quite an undesirable look and feel on your item. To avoid this, we limit the design center to one text style and one piece of art for film-only items.

Uploaded images are not available for film items.

3. Sublimation: Applying ink using sublimation

We use sublimation on our hard-good accessories such as custom mugs and shot glasses as well as some garments. It involves printing ink onto a very special transfer material and then applying that print to the item in a fancy heat press.

Sublimation results in very vibrant colors. You will usually notice that pinks and reds are brighter on mugs than other items.

White is not available with this process. If the item is white (like most of them are) that will be transparent and show up as the item’s color. However, if the item is metallic pink, the white will be transparent and show up the metallic pink of the item.

Beautiful vibrant prints on mugs with sublimation!

Virtual St. Patrick’s Day – How can you celebrate?

February 25, 2021February 25, 2021 CustomizedGirl Leave a comment

As we get closer to St. Patrick’s day this year, we also get closer to one year since our country was put into lockdown from the global pandemic. A lot has happened in a year but the light is finally at the end of the tunnel. Vaccines are rolling out and we’re finally starting to open back up, but we still have a little ways to go!

I think it’s safe to say we’re all hoping this is the last year we have to celebrate St. Patrick’s day virtually, but we’re here to share our ideas on how to still have the most fun while celebrating safely from home!

1. Custom St. Patrick’s Shirt Zoom Call

You may not be able to get with all your friends at the bar this year, but that doesn’t mean you can’t organize a rowdy Zoom call with your besties. Get everyone in the crew to make some custom St. Patrick’s Day tees, then hold a contest to see who has the best one! Give special prizes for the funniest, most creative, or best custom element!

Custom face uploads make for pretty hilarious custom elements!

2. Watch A Virtual St. Patrick’s Day Parade

With so many events still shut down, cities are getting creative with their St. Patrick’s day parades. Many are ditching the classic street displays and going fully virtual. Why not make some custom pajamas and snuggle up for Dublin, Ireland’s official virtual celebration? Get all the love from mother Ireland herself from the comfort of your own home for one more year.

Invite the whole family to watch the events with their own custom tees!

3. Learn some actual Irish history…maybe while day drinking?

The meaning of St. Patrick’s day can often get lost in all the noise of drinking and imitating bad Irish accents. Why not take this last year locked up to learn some actual Irish history….with a pint in hand of course. There are tons of fun and informative videos on Irish History on YouTube. Why not throw back a couple of cold ones while learning something?

Personalize these tees with your own Irish heritage.

4. Make Some Custom St. Patrick’s Day Drinking Gear

Customized Girl offers tons of fun products to customize and design. Why not spend some time designing your own custom shot glasses or custom ceramic stein? That way, next year when you can go back to the bars, you can tell them to just fill up your own stein! Not actually sure if that’s a thing, but it’s worth a shot…or stein.

Customize a stein with your clan’s name on it!

5. Participate In A Virtual St. Patrick’s Day Race

One more year of staying inside means one more year of virtual charity races for the St. Patrick’s day holiday. Check out some virtual races in your area here. But before you sign up, make sure to customize some St. Patrick’s day race tees. This is a good year to get back into practice before everyone sees you huffing in person next year.

Customize a tank for your St. Patrick’s day virtual race.

Guest Blogger Spotlight – VivaKolor

February 22, 2021February 22, 2021 CustomizedGirl Leave a comment

A note from CustomizedGirl: In reverence of Black History Month, we wanted to use our platform to help amplify black voices in the blogging community. So this year we’re featuring a post from a guest blogger. Her name is Alecia Grant and her blog is called VivaKolor. We encourage you to check out her blog where she writes about fashion and lifestyle topics from her home in New York. You can also read this featured article on her site here. For our guest spotlight, Alecia wanted to share her feelings on ‘How To Celebrate Black History Month On Social Media’. Check it out below!

How To Celebrate Black History Month On Social Media – by Alecia Grant via VivaKolor

During Black History Month, we celebrate the accomplishments, history and influence of the black community. I was compelled to write this post because now that we are home more and it’s a new year, it’s imperative for brands and creators to go further than a MLK quote. (not saying that there is anything wrong with that) And not to mention, 2020’s socioeconomic climate was an incredibly moving moment in the U.S. I feel that right now is the perfect chance to amplify voices while educating your audience, encouraging black creators to want to create more, focus on businesses advancing, and advocate for change.

So lets talk about how we can accomplish this:

1) Celebrate Black History All Year: Black History is more than a moment. To avoid being labeled as opportunistic, brands should prioritize black culture in everything that they do. Campaigns that are geared towards the celebration of the black community should provide value while being authentic, and empathetic.

2) Spotlight Creators and Q&As: By showcasing black creators, black-owned businesses and black-owned brands in your industry this can be a great way to introduce your audience to people and businesses that they can support.

There are so many ways to do so. A great idea is to host a virtual (of course) Q&A event either on IG live, facebook, Zoom…. with a Black creator in your industry.

For example, Adobe is giving black creators a chance to share their stories.

**Also, please value creators time and expertise by offering to work with a budget. Free products can’t pay the bills. This is important.

3) Use Your Platform To Amplify People or Organizations: Most brands’ social media channels have lots of followers, which makes this an excellent opportunity for brands to use their channels to highlight organizations, individuals, and others who fit within their value system. For example, YouTube has committed to amplifying black creators and highlighting injustice with lots of initiatives. According to YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, YouTube has over 2 billion users, and has created a multiyear $100 million dollar fund dedicated to “amplifying and developing the voices of black creators and artists and their stories”. This includes a series of roundtables, conversations and more that highlight black creators while raising money. Way to go YouTube!

4) Share History Facts of Black Inventors/Innovators/Designers: This is fun as you can choose people who are not that popular to the mainstream. This can be done on any social media platform as well as your website Also, this is an introspective way to get your audience to stick around and want to see more creativity from you. For example, if you’re a fashion brand—how about highlighting Ann Lowe who was a fashion designer and best known for designing Jackie Kennedy’s wedding gown.

Or highlight an impeccable author/poet like Alexandra Elle who uses her poetry to show compassion while inspiring.

This list can go on for a while, but I will stop here. So please continue to create content to celebrate black history all year on social media. I hope these strategies help and I am looking forward to seeing more value when creating content in the future.

2020 Statement Makers Customized Girl Scholarship Contest

February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 CustomizedGirl Leave a comment

The time has come once again to announce the winners of our 2020 Statement Makers Customized Girl Scholarship Contest!

First off, we want to give a huge ‘thank you’ to all of the inspiring individuals who took the time to apply for the scholarship. We thoroughly enjoy reading through all of your “statements for the world” and we are truly honored to be giving away two $500 scholarship awards.

Without further ado, the 2020 CG Scholarship winners are … (drum roll please):

Kera
Statement: “Queens wear crowns but also dry shampoo.”

Bethany
Statement: “I might not be the hero with all of the glory, but I hold the pen that writes my own story.”

Congratulations to these two winners! Thank you to all who participated and we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Don’t forget, we do this every year.

Eligible individuals can come back again for another chance to be selected as one of two $500 scholarship winners. And to those who will graduate this year, CONGRATS grad! If you can graduate during a global pandemic… you can do anything!