printing in China
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- npduggins
Anyone ever had any print jobs done in China?
A client has asked us to get some quotes for lookbook printing as they reckon it will be much cheaper.
- detritus0
Well, if they've a good track record of working with western companies, sure.
I've not had any significant dealings with China for about 7 years, and I'm glad of it, because if there was any opportunity to fuck things up, to misconstrue or misinterpret, they'd bite down on it with relish.
More recently I 'helped' a client move her once-artesanal Italian glass product shift over to Chinese production - I warned her against it, saying that if she wanted to do it properly, she'd have to go to China for a month or two and just stand over the process 'til they got it right.
Eventually she did. Product, last I saw of it anyway, was severely compromised - from the glass itself to the secondary process that I used to fulfill for her. I checked her site recently - she appears to have utterly stagnated for 18 months.
So, imo, if your budget includes someone going over there and sitting on things, and it's still cheaper than what you can get locally and supporting your own country's or region's economy, sure.
I'd just as soon not bother.
- quality control is major issue.
I know someone has a constant issue with products even if they show a good sampleyurimon
- quality control is major issue.
- microkorg0
Pound is strong against the Euro at the moment so why not look to cheaper European countries?
- Beeswax0
I always print my business cards here. Die-cut, embossing everything is so cheap. And free shipping.
I heard they chop virgin forests that's why it's so great and affordable. Poor trees.
- detritus0
Oh, OP is a Brit?
Cripes, our nation's in dire enough straits with our haemophilial trade deficit, especially with the likes of China — go local, if you can.
Elsewise the money in your client's pocket will be even less valuable this time next year, no matter the short term savings.
- mekk0
Where in China? Hong Kong is pretty cool, more rural areas use Machines no one ever saw, their font management is not made for western stuff, they use RIP's from the end of the time. A lot of them do not use windows or mac, no known to us standards (X3, etc. at all).
What you want seems to be "print in china, ship back, save money" Printing has become so dirt cheap these days, I wouldn't recommend doing it in china unless it should be shipped to asia.
- monNom0
^ I think you'll find that a lot of the online printers just broker stuff to china anyways. Pick one of them. They'll take a bit of a markup, but they're managing the quality on a day to day basis.
- capn_ron0
Stay local please!!! support a UK company rather than sending money to China. The money you'll save is not worth the hassle.
- pressplay0
I recently printed a book in Poland. I picked a printer just out of google search and asked for a quote.
The book turned out great and the price was about half or even a third what it would have cost with a local printer in Germany.
The process was kind of cumbersome, but if you know exactly what you want and don’t need any consulting, this might be a better alternative than China.
I also heard a lot of people outsource printing, programming or photoshopping to the Baltic States, so you might look into that. At least keep it EU, mate.