FAQ
Asked before you asked.
The questions buyers, founders and merchandisers put to us most often. If yours is missing, the enquiry form reaches the people who actually run the work.
Working with us
How do we start a project with you?
Send an enquiry through the Start Your Project form or email us directly. The most useful brief tells us the garment and fabric, where the branding sits, roughly how many pieces, and when you need them. Artwork helps but is not required to begin. We reply with a recommended route and a sampling plan.
Do you have minimum order quantities?
Minimums are set per project, because a single-colour tape print and a layered multi-technique emblem carry very different set-up work. Tell us the quantity you have in mind and we will confirm what is workable. For brand launches, Studio by Simsotex is built around low-minimum runs.
How does sampling and approval work?
Nothing goes to bulk on our say-so alone. You receive physical strike-offs and pre-production samples, and we check wash, adhesion and stretch against the garment's real duty cycle. Bulk production starts after you have approved a physical sample, not a photograph of one.
What do you need from us for a quote?
The technique or finish you are after (or the effect you want, if you are not sure of the technique), colours, placement and print size, the fabric, expected quantity and target timeline. If artwork is ready, send it; if not, describe the reference and we will work from that.
Do you work with brands outside India?
Yes. The factory produces for global apparel programmes, and many of our relationships run through buyer nomination, where a brand's buying office nominates us as the decoration and trims source for its manufacturers. Our Leicester roots keep us close to UK and European seasonal development.
Can we visit the factory?
Yes, by appointment. The production facility is at A-22, Sector-68, Noida, an hour from central Delhi. Write to us with a couple of preferred dates and we will arrange it.
Screen printing and finishes
Which print survives stretch fabrics best?
Silicone. It elongates with the fabric and recovers without cracking, bonds well to synthetics like polyester, nylon and spandex blends, and adds grip as a side benefit, which is why waistbands, compression garments and performance product lean on it. Our elastic and tape prints are engineered to hold at 100% stretch.
Can you print on water-repellent or coated fabrics?
Yes. Silicone normally refuses to adhere to coated and water-repellent surfaces; through years of R&D we developed systems that bond to them and stay put through riding and washing. It is one of the capabilities we are asked about most.
What is the difference between direct printing and heat transfers?
Direct printing lays ink straight onto the fabric on press, giving fine control of hand-feel and finish. A heat transfer is built separately as an engineered component and pressed onto the garment later, which suits finished garments, tricky placements, and constructions direct printing cannot manage, such as multi-height and layered builds.
What is sublimation printing, and which fabrics does it suit?
Sublimation turns dye into gas so it bonds into the fibre of polyester and other synthetic blends. The colour becomes part of the fabric rather than sitting on it. Prints do not peel or fade, tones are continuously photographic, and coverage can run edge to edge across the whole garment. It does not suit untreated natural fibres like plain cotton.
How soft can a print feel?
Softer than most people expect. Water-based and PU inks sink into the fabric rather than sitting on top, discharge inks replace the garment dye itself, and heat-transfer size labels can remove the sewn label altogether. If the brief is 'you should barely feel it', say so. Softness is a specification we print to, not an accident.
Do you offer effect inks like glow, reflective or colour-change?
The ink kitchen runs the full effects range: glow-in-the-dark, reflective in silver and our rainbow reflective, and inks that change colour with heat, light or water. Heat-sensitive prints are popular on babywear, where a visible temperature cue is useful. Glitter, foil, metallic, puff, suede, caviar beads and cracking effects sit alongside them.
How do you make sure a print survives washing?
By testing against the life the garment will actually live, not a single sample wash. Before bulk approval we run wash, adhesion and stretch checks matched to the product's laundering cycle. A gym legging and a fashion tee are not tested the same way.
Trims, labels and emblems
Can every trim on a garment match one identity?
That is the point of how we develop trims. Collar label, exterior patch, printed tape and hangtag: we build them as one set so colour, finish and feel agree across every component, instead of sourcing five parts from five suppliers and hoping they match.
What label types do you produce?
Woven labels in multiple constructions and colourways, printed labels and tickets, heat-transfer size labels for label-free comfort, shoe labels, and high-frequency labels where durability and a premium finish matter on technical product.
What are Fusion Fit and Apex emblems?
Our two sculptural emblem systems. Fusion Fit gives a smooth, raised profile that integrates cleanly into the product; Apex carries sharper dimensional forms for a more engineered look. Both are branding you register by touch before you read it.
What can badges, patches and hangtags be made from?
Badges come digital, screen-printed or embroidered, stick-on or stitch-on, cut to any shape. Beyond that: premium suede badges, silicone and rubber badges for performance product, laser-marked natural materials such as cork, and hangtags in papers or sustainable fabrics with matched inks.
Studio by Simsotex
Who is the Studio for?
First collections and growing labels: anyone who wants to launch product without building a supply chain first. You bring the idea and the designs; the Studio handles blank garments, decoration, labels and packaging as one managed run.
What does a Studio run include?
Blank garments in a range of fits and colours, every decoration technique in the building, woven or printed labels, badges and hangtags, physical sample approval, then a low-minimum production run finished retail-ready, with tags, seals and packaging included.
We have a rough idea but no finished artwork. Can you still help?
Yes. Send the reference, the mood, or the half-formed idea, and the development team will turn it into printable artwork with you. You approve physical strike-offs before anything multiplies.
Company and compliance
Where is Simsotex based?
Production runs from our fully automated facility at A-22, Sector-68, Noida, Uttar Pradesh; the corporate office is at C-157, Phase-I, Ashok Vihar, Delhi. The company began in Leicester, UK, in the 1980s, and our UK side still studies seasonal trends and develops samples for buyers.
How much can the factory produce?
The Noida facility is built for volume: capacity for 40,000 printed panels and 500,000 heat transfers a day on fully automated lines, alongside a sampling studio for development work.
Do you hold social and environmental certifications?
We follow the social and environmental compliance requirements of our buyers' programmes, and audit documentation is available on request for a specific programme. We list certifications on this site only once they are verified for public display. If a document matters to your sourcing decision, ask us for it directly.
Which brands do you work with?
We produce for major global apparel brands and licensed character brands, but we do not publish client names without written approval, the same discretion your own brand would expect from a supplier. Our work pages show techniques and constructions with neutral titles for that reason.
Didn't find it?
Write to simsotexindia@gmail.com or send the brief itself.