Printing on a finished hoodie sleeve creates a 360-degree tube that causes overlap and misalignment. Smart factories print the flat sleeve panel first, then sew it into the garment, so the design extends cleanly to the edges without distortion.
And we can see that this sleeve has been printed with these two very big hits of embellishment right here. If you think about it, this is a sleeve, okay? And if you don't see how it's a sleeve, this is how it's a sleeve, right? If you have a fully sewn hoodie and you're trying to do a print on a sleeve, it's really challenging because a sleeve is a 360 tubular thing. So to get a print on both sides that comes out even is very, very hard. But to do it before it's sewn together, is infinitely easier and leads to a much more consistent and prettier result. You see how the print over here goes all the way to the edge? It follows all the way along the neckline. The ribbing is a separate piece. So since they did the printing on this panel before and then they attached the ribbing after, they were able to get right to the edge. Whereas if they tried to do the printing on this finished garment, they wouldn't be able to do that, right? The print would overlap on the collar.
