Why Print-to-Order Is Better for Everyone

The standard model works like this: a brand guesses how many units it will sell, manufactures them in bulk, ships them to a warehouse, and hopes the forecast was right. When it is wrong - and it usually is - the surplus gets marked down, donated, or destroyed. The customer pays for the overproduction in the original price. The environment pays for it in landfill.

How Print-to-Order Works

Print-to-order reverses the sequence. Nothing is produced until someone orders it. Your garment is printed, assembled, and shipped directly to you. There is no warehouse full of unsold stock. No end-of-season clearance. No waste sitting on a shelf waiting for a markdown.

This means production takes longer - 3 to 5 business days instead of next-day dispatch from a warehouse. That is the trade-off. The garment arrives because someone wanted it, not because a forecast said they might.

What This Means for the Garment

Print-to-order does not mean lower quality. It means a different supply chain. The same heavyweight fabrics. The same construction standards. The same embroidery and print processes. The only difference is when the garment is made - after the order, not before.

In many cases, the quality is higher. Without the pressure to produce tens of thousands of units on a forecast timeline, each piece gets the attention it needs. There is no incentive to cut corners to hit a bulk shipping date.

What This Means for Waste

The fashion industry produces an estimated 92 million tonnes of textile waste annually. Most of it comes from overproduction - garments that were made, shipped, stored, and never worn. Print-to-order eliminates the largest source of that waste: the gap between what a brand thinks it will sell and what it actually sells.

We do not make what we hope to sell. We make what you order. That is the difference.

The DeVries Model

We design in the Netherlands. We print to order, globally. Every garment starts with your decision to buy it. No surplus. No dead stock. No markdown cycle. Just the piece you wanted, built to the standard we set, delivered directly.

Designed in the Netherlands. Fulfilled globally.