How to put your kid's made-up word on a hoodie

Type it and look at it first

Go to the Your word page and type the word. It appears on the hoodie as you type, in the lettering and the color you have picked, so you are looking at the actual thing before you decide anything. Up to 28 letters, and spaces and apostrophes are fine, so "Oh yea? Say what" works as well as "Hayo".

There are twelve lettering styles. The seventies one, fat with a proper drop shadow, is the house style and the one most people land on. Crayon and Comic suit a toddler's word. Varsity and Script read older. Try a few; it costs nothing to look.

Twenty colors, from white and sand through sage, Carolina blue, mustard and navy. The lettering adjusts for light and dark fabric by itself, so a cream hoodie and a black one both come out right.

Pick who it is for

Kid sizes run 2T to 4T for toddlers and XS to XL for about five to fourteen, each with a height range so you can pick without a tape measure. Grown-up sizes run S to 3XL. Between sizes, go up; a hoodie that is a little big gets worn for two years instead of one.

A kid hoodie is $33, a toddler one $32, a grown-up one $43. A tee is $22 for kids and $28 for grown-ups. The same word goes on a crewneck, a long sleeve, a baby bodysuit, a dad hat, a beanie, a mug, a water bottle or a $5 sticker, and the price is on each one before you add it.

What happens after you order

Nothing sits in a warehouse. The order goes to the printer the moment you pay, and the hoodie is printed for you, in the USA, over the next two to five business days. Then it ships, which takes another three to seven. Most orders arrive inside two weeks, and plenty in about one. You get an email when it goes in and another with a tracking number when it ships.

Shipping is a flat $5.95, free over $75, which is roughly a hoodie and a tee. For Christmas, order by the middle of December.

If it arrives damaged, misprinted or wrong, send a photo within thirty days and it gets reprinted or refunded, your choice, and you keep the first one. The one thing that cannot be swapped is a size that fit differently than you hoped, because each piece is made for one order. That is why the size chart has heights on it.

Words that print well

Short words print biggest. A six-letter word fills the chest; a twenty-letter phrase is smaller, still clear, but you lose some of the shadow. If you have a long one, the tee and the crewneck carry it better than the hoodie, because there is no pocket to steer around.

Capitals are your call. The lettering styles take whatever you type, so "Awesomer" and "AWESOMER" both work. Most people capitalise the first letter and leave it there.

A word nobody but your family understands is the point. Strangers will ask. That is how this whole thing started.