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We make your logo look so good on glassware and mugs that you’ll want them to last forever. Does that mean keeping them out of the dishwasher?

As much as we love our dishwashers for saving us from manually washing dishes, we don’t love how much they chip the edges and designs on our favorite drinkware. We don’t love when that happens to your customers’ favorite promo drinkware either.

To give you peace of mind when choosing promo glasses and mugs, we put a load of ours through the dishwasher 12 times, to find out if they truly are dishwasher proof. Warning: Reading this article will change how you load the dishwasher (and we can’t be held responsible for any subsequent arguments you may have on that topic with your partner.)

How Dishwashers Clean and Damage Dishware

Dishwashers use the same four elements to clean dishes as you use to clean yourself (hopefully) and washing machines use to clean clothes. These are heat, water, chemicals, and friction.

The dishwasher pulls in water, heats it up to about 120F to 140F, and sprays it at your dishes using spinning jets in the bottom of the dishwasher and under the top rack. The spraying also helps lather and spread the detergent. While this combination of friction and heat work very effectively at cleaning leftover food off your plates, they also damage drinkware and its printed decorations.

The heat causes the mug to expand. When it cools, it contracts, which can crack the ceramic. This can also affect the design: The paint sits on top of the ceramic, so when the two materials expand and contract at different rates, the paint peels away. Sanitize settings are particularly problematic for this, since they increase the temperature of the final rinse to over 160F. And it’s not just the hot water: some dishwashers use a heating element to dry the dishes after the wash, introducing yet more heat.

A diagram showing the labeled components of a dishwasher.

Meanwhile, the water from the jets can chip at the ceramic and the paint, and bash your dishware into each other. The water jets below the bottom rack are under higher pressure than those on the top rack (since they’re closer to the pump and also because of gravity.) This means dishware on the bottom rack is subjected to stronger blasts of water. That’s great for dealing with greasy pans and stubborn stuck-on food, but dangerous for your favorite glass or mug.

These issues are even more pronounced in commercial dishwashers, which are like the professional athletes of the dishwasher world. Everything your dishwasher at home does in an hour, they do in 2 minutes, and they sterilize too. Their secret weapons are high temperatures and high pressure – both of which, as we’ve just seen, are a recipe for cracked dishware. Leave extreme dishwashing to the professionals.

Method

A diagram of a small dishwasher, with plates, mugs, and a jug.

We wanted to put our mugs and glasses through the absolute extreme dishwasher scenario, so we cranked up the heat and water pressure settings as much as possible. We also put one of each product on the top rack and one on the forbidden bottom rack, to directly compare the results. For all those dishwasher enthusiasts out there, we used the SHV865WG3N 24″ model from Bosch’s 500 Series.

  1. 1

    We put one of each product on the top rack and one on the bottom rack.

  2. 2

    We ran the dishwasher on the Heavy cycle with the Sanitize and Extra Dry options at the end.

  3. 3

    We did 12 cycles and photographed the drinkware after each cycle to record any damage.

Video



Results

Drinkware: 26 Dishwasher: 2

The majority of our drinkware survived the dishwasher test completely unscathed, with no obvious chips to the material or to the design. Only two of our drinkware showed signs of wear, and those were very minor.

A photo of a falling shot glass with water splashing out of it.

Let’s play a game: The following photos show our two damaged glasses before our test and after all the washing cycles. Can you spot the difference? The answer is on the third slide.

2oz Traditional Shot Glass (Q70379)

Can you see it? Look closely!

  • A photo of a shot glass with a green shield print design.

    First Wash

  • A photo of a shot glass with a green shield print design.

    Last Wash

Next   ❯
  • A photo of a shot glass with a green shield print design, with a small chip in the shield.

    Normal View

  • A zoomed in photo showing a tiny chip in the green shield pattern that’s printed on it.

    Zoomed View

Answer: There’s a tiny spot missing from the shield.

Start Over

16oz Mason Jar with Handle (Q70584)

Can you see it? Look closely!

  • A photo showing a glass mason jar with a handle. The jar is printed with a red road and road sign, and ROAD TRIP in red.

    First Wash

  • A photo showing a glass mason jar with a handle. The jar is printed with a red road and road sign, and ROAD TRIP in red.

    Last Wash

Next   ❯
  • A photo showing a glass mason jar with a handle. The jar is printed with a red road and road sign, and ROAD TRIP in red. There’s a slight chip in the design.

    Normal View

  • A photo showing a close-up of the damage on a red screen print a glass mason jar. The design is a red road and road sign, and ROAD TRIP in red.

    Zoomed View

Answer: There’s a chip next to the tail of the “y” in “therapy”.

Start Over

If you look really hard, you can spot the damage. But that was all the damage we could see on all of the 28 products we tested. (And we looked really hard, because we wanted to have something to write about in this article.) Interestingly, all two of the damaged drinkware were washed on the top rack, which really goes against everything we thought we knew about how to load a dishwasher.

Screen Printing Proves Itself Again


A photo of someone scraping green paint over a yellow screen to make a screen print.

Most of our drinkware is decorated using a method called screen printing. You can read more about screen printing on this blog post. The short version is that you make a stencil, stick it on your item to decorate, and scrape paint over it so that when you pull the stencil off, the design stays.


We already knew that screen printing is a resilient technique when it’s used to decorate t-shirts, thanks to this laundry test we already did. And it now looks like it holds up well on drinkware too.

We should also give a shoutout to the two Full Color Ceramic Mugs (Q1069), decorated in a full-color print, which means the design is printed directly onto the mug in CMYK color. (We’ve also covered that!) These mugs also didn’t sustain any damage in our test, so don’t hold back on your colorful ideas if that’s what you want for your design.

Lighten the Load


Our drinkware survived all the heat and water pressure we threw at it without cracking. That leaves one main culprit of dishwasher drinkware damage: friction. We left a bit of space between all our mugs and glasses, which meant that even under the pressure from the water jets, they weren’t bashing into each other. And unlike in a regular wash, there were no pots or pans on the bottom rack for them to bash into either. So if you keep finding cracks in your favorite mugs, try loading less into your dishwasher per cycle.

A photo showing a loaded dishwasher with plates, pans, cutlery, and mugs.

The Bottom Line

To answer our original question, no, you don’t have to hand wash promo printed mugs and glassware. They really can survive being washed in the dishwasher, even at high temperatures and on the bottom rack. Just make sure you leave space between each item so it can do the dishwasher dance without bumping and grinding.


Q# Product Name Image + Clip Damage View Product
Q1068 Budget Coffee Mug (11 oz)
A photo of a white mug with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q1069 Full Color Ceramic Mug (11 oz)
A white mug with a a green print on it.
No change View Product
Q24533 Campfire Mug (15 oz)
A photo of a speckle orange campfire mug with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q28377 Old Fashioned Glass (11 oz)
A photo of a short glass with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q28378 Clear Pint Glass
A photo of a shot glass with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q65027 Curvy Diner Mug (10 oz)
A photo of a light blue curved diner mug with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q68013 Stemless Wine Glass (15 oz)
A photo of a stemless wine glass with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70210 Traditional Ceramic Coffee Mug (11 oz)
A photo of a purple mug with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70218 Ceramic Campfire Coffee Mug (13 oz)
A photo of a speckled mint green campfire mug with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70221 Bistro Two-Tone Ceramic Mug (16 oz)
A photo of a black bistro mug with a blue inside and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70224 Bistro Glossy Coffee Mug (16 oz)
A photo of an orange bistro mug with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70228 White Bistro Glossy Coffee Mug (16 oz)
A photo of a white bistro mug with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70234 Stemless Wine Glass (9 oz)
A photo of a curved glass with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70235 Miami Two-Tone Bistro Mug (16 oz)
A photo of a curved white mug with a yellow inside and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70237 Clear Shot Glass (1.75 oz)
A photo of a clear shot glass with a blue bottom and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70239 Two-Tone Latte Mug (12 oz)
A photo of a black mug with a green inside and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70241 Pint Glass
A photo of a tall shot glass with a pink bottom and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70343 Clear Cordial Shooter Shot Glass (2 oz)
A photo of a tall shot glass with a green bottom and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70379 Traditional Shot Glass (2 oz)
A photo of a shot glass with a black bottom and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
Top rack: Tiny chip at the top of the shield on 3rd cycle. View Product
Q70441 Premiere Champagne Flute Glass (6.25 oz)
A photo of a flute-shaped glass with a red stem and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70451 Frosted Shot Glass (1.75 oz)
A photo of a frosted shot glass and blue bottom, and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70584 Mason Jar With Handle (16 oz)
A photo of a mason glass with a handle and purple bottom, and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
Top rack: Tiny chip under the P in therapy on 7th cycle. View Product
Q70599 Mason Jar Drinking Glass (16 oz)
A photo of a mason jar with a blue bottom and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q70656 ARC Can Shaped Beer Glass (16 oz)
A photo of a can-shaped glass with a blue bottom and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q88079 Stemless Wine Glass (12 oz)
A photo of a curved glass with a black bottom and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product
Q91092 Cosmic Speckled Clay Coffee Mug (11 oz)
A photo of a speckled brown mug with a darker brown bottom, and with YOUR DESIGN HERE printed on it.
No change View Product

Let our team of awesome, incredibly good looking,
and fun promo nerds help you select awesome promotional swag today!

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Natasha Lavender

Natasha is an experienced writer and editor who has covered topics including technology, health and safety, business, and pop culture. Her work has been published by Good Housekeeping magazine, Forbes, Success, and more.

View all posts by Natasha Lavender