Custom T-Shirts for Business: Printing Methods Compared
A custom t-shirt is the cheapest piece of walking advertising a small business can buy. Staff wear them at events, customers wear them around town, and unlike a pen or a keyring nobody throws one away because it ran out.
The hard part is not choosing a design. It is choosing the printing method and the blank, because those two decisions set your per-shirt price, how the shirt feels, and whether the print survives twenty washes. This guide covers both.
The four printing methods
1. Screen printing
Ink is pushed through a fine mesh stencil, one screen per colour. Setting up those screens takes time, which is why screen printing has a setup fee and a minimum order — but once the screens exist, each additional shirt is cheap.
The print is thick, opaque and extremely durable. It is the standard for event shirts, team kit and anything ordered in volume.
Best for: 24 shirts or more with a design of one to four solid colours.
Watch out for: each colour adds a screen and a cost. A six-colour photographic design is the wrong job for screen printing.
2. Direct-to-garment (DTG)
A specialised inkjet printer sprays water-based ink directly into the fabric. There are no screens, so there is no setup fee and no real minimum — you can order one shirt.
DTG handles unlimited colours, photographs and gradients, and the print feels soft because the ink sits in the fibres rather than on top of them.
Best for: small runs, complex or full-colour artwork, and test batches before committing to a big order.
Watch out for: per-shirt cost stays the same no matter how many you buy, so it gets expensive at volume. It also works best on 100% cotton; results on polyester blends are less reliable.
3. Embroidery
The design is stitched into the fabric with thread. It never cracks, peels or fades, and it reads as the most premium of the four options.
Embroidery is priced by stitch count, not colour count, and requires a one-off digitising fee to convert your logo into a stitch file.
Best for: polos, staff uniforms, hats and jackets — anywhere you want a left-chest logo that looks expensive.
Watch out for: fine detail and small text disappear in thread. Embroidery adds weight and stiffness, so a large back design is rarely a good idea on a t-shirt.
4. Heat transfer vinyl (HTV)
Solid-colour vinyl is cut to shape and heat-pressed onto the garment. It is the standard method for names and numbers, because every shirt can differ at no extra cost.
Best for: personalisation — individual names, numbers, one-offs.
Watch out for: vinyl sits on top of the fabric as a solid layer. Large areas feel heavy and can crack over time, so keep designs small.
Quick comparison
| Method | Best quantity | Colour range | Feel | Durability | Setup fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen print | 24+ | 1–4 spot colours | Slight texture | Excellent | Yes, per colour |
| DTG | 1–24 | Unlimited, photographic | Very soft | Good | None |
| Embroidery | 6+ | Limited by thread | Raised, heavy | Outstanding | Digitising, one-off |
| Vinyl (HTV) | 1–50 | Solid colours only | Noticeable layer | Fair to good | None |
Choosing the blank shirt
The blank matters as much as the print. A great design on a scratchy shirt still ends up unworn in a drawer.
Fabric
- 100% cotton — breathable, takes every print method well, and the safest default. Shrinks slightly on first wash.
- Poly-cotton blend (usually 50/50 or 65/35) — shrinks less, wrinkles less and costs less. A good middle ground for giveaway shirts.
- Tri-blend (cotton, polyester, rayon) — the softest and most flattering, with a slightly heathered look. Costs more and prints slightly muted.
- Performance polyester — moisture-wicking, for sports and outdoor staff. Needs specific inks, so confirm the printer can handle it.
Weight
Fabric weight is quoted in ounces per square yard, and it is the clearest signal of quality on a spec sheet:
- 4.0–4.5 oz — lightweight and soft, slightly see-through in pale colours.
- 5.0–5.5 oz — the standard mid-weight. Softstyle-type shirts sit here and suit most business use.
- 6.0 oz and above — heavyweight and hard-wearing, better for workwear than for a giveaway.
Fit
Order a "softstyle" or fashion-fit shirt if you want people to actually wear it, and a classic boxy fit if it is workwear. Always offer unisex and women's cuts if you can — a unisex-only run leaves half your team with a shirt that does not fit.
How many of each size?
Ordering the wrong size spread is the most common and most expensive mistake. For a general adult audience in the US, this spread is a reasonable starting point:
| Size | S | M | L | XL | 2XL | 3XL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Share of order | 10% | 20% | 30% | 25% | 10% | 5% |
| Per 100 shirts | 10 | 20 | 30 | 25 | 10 | 5 |
Adjust for your actual audience. Note that 2XL and above usually carry a surcharge of a dollar or two per shirt — budget for it rather than being surprised by it on the invoice.
What it costs
Typical US per-shirt pricing, including a one-colour front print on a mid-weight blank:
| Quantity | Screen print | DTG |
|---|---|---|
| 12 | $14–20 (setup dominates) | $12–18 |
| 50 | $8–12 | $11–16 |
| 100 | $6–9 | $10–15 |
| 250 | $5–7 | Rarely offered |
These are typical market ranges for budgeting, not quotes. Blank choice, print size, number of colours and print locations all move the number — always confirm with the supplier.
Artwork: what printers actually need
- Vector files (.ai, .eps, .svg or vector PDF) for logos and text. Vector scales to any size without blurring.
- 300 DPI at full print size if you can only supply a raster file. A logo pulled off your website at 72 DPI will print blurry.
- Transparent background — a PNG with a white box behind it prints the white box too.
- Pantone (PMS) codes if exact brand colour matters. Screen inks are mixed to Pantone; "close enough" on screen is not close enough on fabric.
Five mistakes to avoid
- Printing light ink on a dark shirt without an underbase. Dark garments need a white underbase layer or the colours look muddy. Confirm it is included in the quote.
- Cramming the logo, slogan, website and phone number onto the chest. One message. People read a shirt from across a room, not across a table.
- Forgetting the back. At an event, people see your staff from behind most of the day. A back print costs a little more and does most of the work.
- Ordering at the last minute. Standard production runs one to two weeks before shipping. Rush fees are steep.
- Skipping the proof. Always approve a digital proof, and check spelling on it yourself. A typo reprint is on you.
Where t-shirts fit in your marketing
Shirts work hardest when your team wears them at an event rather than when you give them away at random. Staff in matching shirts behind a branded table read as an organised business even in a small booth — see our guide to choosing a custom table cover and our budget booth breakdown.
If you want the premium look without reprinting shirts every season, consider embroidered patches instead: one patch design can move across jackets, caps and bags.
Final thoughts
For most small businesses the right answer is a 5–5.5 oz softstyle cotton shirt, screen printed in one or two colours, ordered in a run of 50 or more with a left-chest logo and a simple back print. It is the cheapest per wear, it survives the laundry, and people keep it.
Order a single DTG sample first if you are unsure about the blank. Paying $15 to check how a shirt feels before committing to 200 of them is the best money in this whole process.