The Plaid Studio / Guides / Print-on-demand pixel sizes
Print-on-demand pixel sizes
One sum decides whether a file prints sharp: pixels = inches × dpi. Below it is worked out for the products people actually sell, at the two resolutions that matter — 150 dpi for cloth at arm's length, 300 for paper in the hand.
| Product | Print area | At 150 dpi | At 300 dpi | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fabric, per metre (fat quarter) | 53.0 × 45.0 cm | 3,130 × 2,657 | 6,260 × 5,315 | A quarter of a metre of 106 cm cloth. |
| Fabric, full width | 106.0 × 100.0 cm | 6,260 × 5,906 | 12,520 × 11,811 | One metre of a standard 106 cm roll. |
| T-shirt front (A3 print area) | 29.7 × 42.0 cm | 1,754 × 2,480 | 3,508 × 4,961 | The usual maximum direct-to-garment area. |
| Tote bag | 35.0 × 35.0 cm | 2,067 × 2,067 | 4,134 × 4,134 | A square print on a standard shopper. |
| Cushion cover, 45 cm | 45.0 × 45.0 cm | 2,657 × 2,657 | 5,315 × 5,315 | One face of the cushion. |
| Scarf, 90 cm square | 90.0 × 90.0 cm | 5,315 × 5,315 | 10,630 × 10,630 | A classic silk square. |
| Wallpaper drop | 52.0 × 300.0 cm | 3,071 × 17,717 | 6,142 × 35,433 | One roll width, three metres tall. |
| Poster, A2 | 42.0 × 59.4 cm | 2,480 × 3,508 | 4,961 × 7,016 | Paper products want the higher figure. |
| Greeting card, A6 | 10.5 × 14.8 cm | 620 × 874 | 1,240 × 1,748 | Held at reading distance. |
| Phone case | 7.5 × 15.0 cm | 443 × 886 | 886 × 1,772 | Small, and looked at closely. |
| Mug wrap | 22.0 × 9.5 cm | 1,299 × 561 | 2,598 × 1,122 | The printable band around a standard mug. |
How to use it
- Take the product's print area, not the product. A tote is bigger than its printable square; a wallpaper roll is 52 cm wide however tall the wall is.
- Pick the resolution by viewing distance. Cloth, cushions and bags are read from a pace away and 150 dpi holds. Cards, phone cases and mugs are held, and want 300.
- For a repeat, size the repeat — not the product. A seamless tile is printed over and over, so what has to be right is its own physical size: a 20 cm repeat at 150 dpi is a 1,181 pixel tile.
- Generate at that size. Enlarging a small export adds pixels and no detail; the sharpness has to be there when the file is made.
What the platforms say
-
Spoonflower
- Prints at 150 dpi, and converts every upload to it: “we convert every file to 150 DPI during upload”.
- Will not print below it: “Spoonflower will not print anything under 150 DPI”.
- Its own worked example: an 8 × 10 inch file at 72 dpi is 576 × 720 pixels, which comes out as 3.84 × 4.8 inches at 150 dpi.
-
Printful (paper and digital print files)
- “The minimum accepted DPI for paper products is 75”, and they “strongly recommend the files be at 300 DPI”.
- Colour profile: “sRGB IEC61966-2.1”.
- Formats: “PNG or JPEG with at least 300 DPI” — PNG where there is transparency or fine detail.
We could not read Redbubble and Society6 from here on 20 September 2026 — their help centres refuse an automated request — so this page quotes no numbers for them. Check their own guide before you export.
How this page was written. The table is arithmetic, computed when the page was built, so it cannot drift. The platform lines are quotes from those platforms' own pages, read on 20 September 2026, with a link to each. Where a platform's page could not be read, this page says so instead of guessing. Requirements change: if something here is out of date, tell us at support@theplaidstudio.com.
Where this fits in the studio
The repeat width is a setting in centimetres, and the ruler along the stage measures it, so the tile you see is the size it prints. At export you choose the resolution: 1024px at 72 dpi on the free tier, up to 4096 at 300 dpi, 8192 at 600 and 16384 on the paid plans — and a PDF sheet on A4 with a centimetre ruler if a mill has asked for one.
Questions
How many pixels is 150 dpi?
Pixels are inches times dpi, so 150 dpi means 150 pixels for every inch of the finished print. A 45 cm cushion face is 17.7 inches, which is 2,657 pixels at 150 dpi and 5,315 at 300.
Is 150 dpi enough for fabric?
For cloth seen at arm's length it generally is, and Spoonflower prints at 150 dpi and converts every upload to it. Paper products held close — cards, stationery, small accessories — want 300.
Does a seamless repeat need to be the size of the product?
No, and that is the point of a repeat: the tile is printed over and over. What matters is the repeat's own physical size — a 20 cm repeat at 150 dpi is a 1,181 pixel tile — and that the tile is a whole number of pixels so the joins land exactly.
What if my file is smaller than the table says?
Then it will be scaled up at the printer and the detail will not be there. Generate at the size you need instead of enlarging: in the studio the repeat width is a setting in centimetres, and the export resolution is chosen at export time.
RGB or CMYK?
Both platforms whose pages we could read ask for sRGB — Printful names sRGB IEC61966-2.1, Spoonflower prints in sRGB. Send CMYK only if a specific printer asks for it.