frequently asked questions

EthiCAL (/Eth-i-kal/) Apparel is a student-run organization based in UC Berkeley that designs and sells its own line of apparel as well as providing design and apparel printing services. We support local nonprofit organizations and small entrepreneurs by donating our profits and forming partnerships. Our members gain hands-on experience in entrepreneurship, sales, social outreach, marketing, and design by helping us run our apparel business. If you are interested in joining, we recruit at the beginning of each semester — please keep an eye out on our social media and website!

We offer custom printing services for any organization! Examples of products that we print on include t-shirts, sweaters, tote bags, stickers, and more. You can provide us with your own design to print, but we also provide free design services for these custom orders. Please read the “Custom Orders” section of the FAQ for additional details.

Additionally, we sell our own line of products, which you can buy on our online shop! These are designed by our personal team of designers. Please see the “Our Clothing Line” FAQ section for more information.

You can fill out an order form on our website here. After your request has been submitted, our associates will get back to you within 48 hours with price quotes and other details about moving forward with your order.

After you submit an order request, you will be assigned one sales associate who will be responsible for processing your order. The sales associate will communicate your vision for the design to a design associate assigned to the order. Completion of your design will usually take about 1 week, but this will vary depending on 1) the complexity of it and 2) the communication between our team and you. We will do our best to provide updates and respond promptly, so please be detailed in your messages and don’t hesitate to get in contact with us. Once the design is finished, the screen printing and delivery process will take 2-3 weeks. If you need your custom apparel sooner, we can also rush your order for an additional fee.

We have a wide range of clients, including startups, nonprofits, campus clubs, corporations and individuals who have custom apparel ideas — the possibilities are limitless. We print for just about everyone!

Our price quotes are based on the number of colors used in a design, the number of printing locations on the apparel, and the quantity of apparel. In addition, we offer 100% organic fair-trade shirts at premium prices. The minimum for custom order apparel is 24 pieces of apparel. We offer bulk pricing starting at 50 pieces of apparel. For more details on pricing, please refer to our price chart here.

The minimum order for custom stickers is 75 individual stickers. Pricing for custom stickers is dependent on the number of stickers ordered, sticker dimensions, and finish.

We currently only offer free design services for custom apparel orders with an initial $50 down payment that is subtracted from your total at the end. We’re happy to create a design that will be printed on your apparel, but for logo design work only we recommend Innovative Design, another UC Berkeley organization.

We require designs to be submitted as an .ai (Adobe Illustrator) file. If you do not have an .ai file, please submit a .psd (photoshop) file or the highest quality file you have. We may be able to recreate an .ai file for you.

Designs must be within 12” by 12” and cannot contain gradients.

We cannot use or alter designs from our own line for custom orders.

We have a team of very talented designers from all different backgrounds who are able to bring their vision to life through our custom apparel line. We typically have predetermined themes for each of our design launches and the rest is left up to the creativity of the designer. The process typically consists of brainstorming sessions, hand drawn sketches, low/high fidelity Adobe Illustrator mockups, and several critique sessions throughout. After the designs are finalized, they are sent for screen printing.

We sell our products in-person on Mondays and Thursdays on Upper Sproul from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM! You can also purchase our products on our website and either pick it up on Sproul or ship it nationwide. We also sometimes participate in marketplaces and other events—stay updated with upcoming events through our social media!

We table Mondays and Thursdays on Upper Sproul from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM, so feel free to stop by our table anytime then to pick up your online order!

Domestic shipping is free for all orders over $40! Orders are processed and shipped on a weekly basis. Orders placed before Friday at 11:59 PM will be processed by Sunday and shipped out on Monday. In an effort to reduce paper waste, we will be sending you a digital packing slip that corresponds with your order. This digital packing slip includes your order tracking number, which can be used to track your shipment. Note that apparel will arrive in a package, while stickers will arrive in an envelope. Stickers ordered with apparel will be placed in the same package as the apparel.

Disclaimer: At this time, we can only ship within the US. Shipping internationally results in the production of excess emissions - as a result, EthiCAL has decided that we will not be able to offer international shipping without compromising our values of sustainability. We apologize for any inconvenience to our international customers.

Please note that EthiCAL Apparel is not responsible for lost or stolen packages/letter envelopes deemed delivered by the carrier. EthiCAL Apparel is also not responsible for packages and items that were damaged by the carrier. We will not be issuing refunds in these cases. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Please contact ethicalapparel@gmail.com for inquiries about returns and exchanges!

Please send any additional inquiries to sales.ethicalapparel@gmail.com. A sales associate will get back to you within 24 hours.

A social enterprise is an organization that applies commercial strategies to maximize improvements in human and environmental well-being—this includes maximizing social impact alongside profits.

The biggest difference between a social enterprise and a non-profit is that non-profits get their funding from public/private donations (“no-profit business”), while a social enterprise is a for-profit business that is completely self-sustainable independent from donations. In short, we make our own money in order to fund our efforts in social good and sustainability.

We tend to donate around 60% of our profits to local organizations. This percentage can vary based on operating costs for the club, but we generally average at or above 60%.

Nope! EthiCAL’s social outreach takes a variety of forms. In addition to donations, we also work with organizations we’ve partnered with by volunteering with the organizations (if applicable), promoting their existing initiatives, and meeting with them to see how we can best support them. Additionally, EthiCAL members volunteer with local organizations such as the Berkeley Food and Housing Project as well as the Berkeley Project.

We partner with and donate to local organizations that align with our goals. In past semesters, we’ve donated to and worked with organizations relating to food insecurity, water conservation, human labor rights, and climate change — issues that are impacted by fast fashion. This semester, we’re focusing on “Trash to Treasure” — encouraging mindful, environmentally-friendly consumption by transforming discarded items into valuable treasures.

We offer HAE NOW shirts for custom orders, which are fair trade certified and are made from 100% organic cotton. We strongly encourage using HAE Now shirts because they are produced sustainably and support equitable wages for workers. However, we also offer conventional offers for custom orders.

Not every item in our own line is printed on HAE Now, but we are in the process of transitioning to entirely sustainably produced material for sweatshirts, and hats. Although we face some limitations as a small organization, we do our best to be conscious of the materials we use in our line and pick the most sustainable printing companies, while also providing reasonable prices for our customers.

Currently, apparel orders will come in a naturally biodegradable paper mailer made of 100% recycled content and 97% post-consumer waste. It is also fully curbside recyclable, which means you can easily recycle it from your home. Sticker orders will arrive in curbside recyclable paper mailers that are 100% recycled with 70% post-consumer content.