The Rush Order After Closing Time

That evening, around 7 p.m., HUIPRINT was closing for the day. We'd just locked up at Sunshine Plaza, ready to call it a day.

Our family had been hunting for a new flat — our lease was ending soon, and with a little one in tow, viewing appointments were mostly after work. That day was no different. We'd shut the shop, the two of us and our kid, and were heading out to catch a bus to see a rental.

That's when the phone rang.

A client had a last-minute T-shirt print — needed it the same day.

No choice but to change plans.

My husband took our child to the viewing while I headed back to the shop to handle the rush job.

We pulled a plain cotton tee from our own stock — the client wanted their text logo printed on it. Simple enough — the original image had a box around the text, and they just wanted the text, with the box removed.

But the catch was that the client was waiting in-store.

I was already pretty comfortable with DTF printing and heat pressing, but image editing software wasn't quite my strong suit yet. So I sent the image to my husband, who was already out on the viewing trip.

Luckily, his phone had an AI photo editor.

He uploaded the image and typed in the instruction: "Remove the outer frame, keep only the original text logo, transparent background."

Out came the edited image in no time.

He checked that the text hadn't warped, then sent it straight back to the shop.

A plain cotton tee with DTF heat transfer — honestly, that's what we do best. This kind of job is right in our comfort zone.

Once the file was ready, it was the usual routine: print the transfer film, apply the heat-melt powder, cure it, mark the placement on the shirt, then press the design onto the cotton tee with a heat press.

One thing we've become increasingly mindful of, though, is that just because AI edited the image doesn't mean it's ready to print.

Before going into DTF production, you still need to check whether the background is truly transparent, whether the text edges are intact, whether the sizing is right, and how the design will actually look in proportion on the garment.

After all, a few millimetres off on screen isn't obvious — but once it's on the chest of a T-shirt, the placement and size make all the difference.

I carried on with the rush job.

Meanwhile, my husband was out with our little one, chatting with the landlord about the flat.

The place was nice, and the landlord was open to a family of three. But since I hadn't seen it yet, he didn't want to commit on the spot — just arranged to bring me back for a proper look later.

Back at the shop, the T-shirt was already pressed.

Cooling, peeling, checking.

The finished product looked good.

The client left happy with the shirt.

Only after wrapping up did I switch off the machines, lock up, and rush to meet my family.

After we'd viewed the flat together — checking the neighbourhood, the preschool, the amenities — the day finally felt complete.

On the way home, it suddenly hit me: we'd rushed the order just fine, but in the chaos I'd almost forgotten to charge the rush fee. The client laughed and said, "You guys are too honest." Honestly, that one line felt worth more than any Google Review.

I could only laugh — but it felt warm.

That's what the early days of running a shop are like.

No dedicated customer service, no in-house designer, and no real separation between work and life.

At 7 p.m., we should've been heading to view a flat; one client call later, and the shop doors were reopening.

One of us printing inside, the other viewing outside, with AI helping bridge the gap over a phone.

It might've just been a plain cotton T-shirt, but for HUIPRINT back then, every rush order like this was a reminder: what clients really need isn't just someone to "put a print on something" — they need to know whether you can still figure out how to get it done when they're in a pinch.

That day, we rushed a T-shirt. And we kept rushing through life.