FAQ's
What are your designs printed on?
We use only American Apparel t-shirts and hoodies. If you aren’t familiar with American Apparel, they are widely regarded as having the best stuff out there. They have simply the softest, smoothest, best-looking shirt available.
What style American Apparel shirts and hoodies are your designs printed on?
Men’s Tees: 2001 Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-shirt
Women’s Tees: 2102 Fine Jersey Short Sleeve T-shirt
Hoodies: 5495 California Fleece Pull-Over Hoody
Long Sleeves: 2007 Fine Jersey Long Sleeve T-Shirt
How do American Apparel shirts fit compared to other brands of t-shirts?
We’d say that they seem to fit smaller or more fitted than other brands so you might want to order a size bigger as they will also shrink 5-7% since they are all 100% cotton. Consult our sizing guides found on every product page as well as below.
How big is a large? How small is a small?
Here are our sizing guides in case you missed them on the product pages:
Men's Sizing Chart
Women's Sizing Chart
Hoodie's Sizing Chart
Long Sleeves Sizing Chart
Generally, the shirts and the print should last just as long as any other shirt you’d buy in a typical store. Turning the shirt inside out and washing it only in warm water and drying it on low may help extend its life though. We’d also recommend washing it only with like colors on the first wash…
Why do I have to create an account to checkout?
We require you to create an account so you can see your orders and order history, view when your items shipped as well as their tracking numbers, and store your billing and shipping addresses so you can place future orders a little quicker. We also plan on creating a loyalty program in the future...
What payment methods do you accept?
We accept every major credit card (Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover) directly through our website, and also offer Checkout via Paypal. Please note that we don’t accept eChecks through Paypal, and we don’t accept any orders over the phone, or by email or snail mail.
Is it safe to enter my credit card information on your site?
In a word, yes. Our website is secured with a GoDaddy.com Web Server Extended Validation Web Server Certificate. Transactions on the site are protected with up to 256-bit Secure Sockets Layer encryption. This is the most extensive SSL vetting process and protection in the industry. If you have Internet Explorer 7 or higher, you should notice your address bar turn green when you visit a secure page on our site such as the shopping cart or my account page. We also don’t store credit card data, and we are PCI Compliant.
What name will I see on my credit card statement?
The name on your statement will be “PAYPAL *BLKWATERTEE”, or “PAYPAL *BLACKWATERTEES COM”. Some credit card processors may remove PAYPAL * and you may just see either BLKWATERTEE or BLACKWATERTEES COM. Also, some credit card processors may also truncate either of the names above.
Why didn’t I receive a confirmation email? Why am I not receiving the weekly newsletters or any other promotional emails?
Any email you receive from us, whether it is an order confirmation or our weekly newsletter, or even an email announcing a promotion, will be coming from support@blackwatertees.com, so we recommend adding that address to your address book if you want to ensure you don't miss any emails from us.
Are you going to sell my information to spammers? What is your privacy policy?
NO! We don’t share your information with any third-parties. You will not be getting any more SPAM in your inbox as a result of making a purchase on our website. You can view our privacy policy by clicking on the Privacy link in the menu below.
How long does it take for my order to ship once it’s been placed?
Generally, your order will ship within 1 business day. If there is a problem that will cause a delay in shipping your order, such as an inventory issue, we will contact you. Otherwise, you should receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking number within 1 business day from the time you place your order.
I made a mistake when I placed my order such as selecting the wrong item or size? Can I change it before it ships?
Maybe… We can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to change your order before it goes out, but you can always exchange it if we can’t. If you notice a mistake, visit our “Contact Us” page and put “I Messed Up My Order” as the subject. Obviously, the quicker you contact us the more likely it is that we’ll be able to stop it and change it for you.
My order appears to have gotten lost in the mail… What do I do?
Rather than contacting us first, please contact the shipping carrier with your tracking number and see if they can help. If it has ultimately been lost, please use our contact us form on our “Contact Us” page and put “Order Not Received” and we’ll look into it and send you out another item or items if the situation warrants it.
The t-shirt or hoodie I bought is damaged or defective… What do I do?
DO NOT SEND IT BACK! Contact us through our contact form (on the “Contact Us” page) and put “Damaged/Defective Item” as the subject and we’ll send you out another item.
I want to return or exchange an item… What is your return policy?
You can read about our return policy by clicking on the Returns link in the menu below.
Where did your designs and ideas come from?
All of our designs are original and unique and thought of and created by us, one of our friends, or someone that contacted us with an idea. We own all of our designs and submit them all for copyright protection, so if you notice a person or business stealing from us, please give us a heads up. We will aggressively protect our copyrights…A link to our Copyright notice is in the menu below.
I think I have a great idea for a tee… Do you want to buy it? What are your terms?
We are always looking for new ideas… So, if we like an idea you submit, we’ll pay you $175, via PayPal, and send you a tee with your design on it. You can submit as many ideas as you want, but don’t get discouraged if we pass on some or most of them. If we want to use one of your ideas, we’ll reply via email within a week of your submission. If we don’t reply within a week’s time, it means we don’t want to use the idea, so you can feel free to submit it somewhere else. We don’t have time to send “reject” emails. Please put only one idea per email and submit them via our contact page. Make sure you put “Idea Submission” as the subject. We are just looking for ideas, so don’t worry about the artwork…we’ll handle that. The ideas need to be well thought out, original, and descriptive. And please no pop culture references…
If we decide we want to use your idea, we’ll send you an email with an agreement to sign stating that the idea is original, to the best of your knowledge, it hasn’t been taken or copied from another website or retail store, and that it hasn’t already been submitted and/or sold to any other website or retailer. It is also understood that we will own the final design. If you have already submitted it to another website, we most likely aren’t interested. As far as we know, we pay the highest amount in the industry for ideas…so come to us first.
Do you sell your tees and hoodies through any brick-and-mortar retailers or through any other websites?
At this time, no. Our products are available only through our website.
Do you sell your t-shirts and hoodies wholesale?
Currently, our products are available only through our website, but we will consider working with a brick-and-mortar retailer in order to bring our products to a broader audience, if we are presented with the right opportunity. Please use the contact form on our “Contact Us” page and put “Wholesale Inquiry” as the subject.
Are you looking to hire designers on a freelance basis?
At this time, we are not. We are very happy with our current designers, but we’ll be happy to put your info on file and consider you in the future if the need arises. Please send us an email via our contact form and put “I’m a Designer” as the subject.
I think your designs suck and/or are offensive…and I feel the need to tell you… Where do I send my complaint?
Not to us…
My question wasn’t answered here… What do I do?
Visit our “Contact Us” page and put “General Inquiry” as the subject and we should respond within 1 business day.
