Bulk Custom T-Shirts, Priced Properly
Past about seventy-two pieces the maths changes. Screens beat digital, blanks get cheaper, and setup stops mattering because it is spread across the whole run.
Here is where the real breaks land, how to plan a size run that does not leave you with forty extra smalls, and what to hand us so the quote comes back fast.
The Curve, and Where It Stops Being Worth Chasing
Per-shirt price falls fast at the start and then flattens. Going from two dozen to four dozen saves you real money. Going from three hundred to five hundred saves you cents.
That matters when you are deciding how deep to buy. The instinct is that more is always better, and it is true right up until you are buying shirts you will not use to chase a discount that has already mostly happened.
The honest advice is to buy the number you will actually hand out, then round up to the next break if you are close. Sitting at 130 pieces? Look at 144. Sitting at 260? Look at 288.
Bella+Canvas 3001, dark garment, full-colour front print, as quoted by the studio today. Notice the drop from 48 to 144 is worth about three dollars a shirt, and the drop from 288 to 500 is worth about sixty cents.
Two separate things get cheaper as your order grows. The blank itself, because we buy deeper, and the printing, because the setup work spreads across more pieces. Both are already in the number the studio shows you. There is no second discount to negotiate later.
Planning a Size Run You Will Not Regret
The most expensive mistake in a bulk order is not the price per shirt. It is ordering the wrong sizes and eating the difference.
If you have a roster, collect actual sizes. It is tedious and it is worth it. If you are printing for an unknown crowd, like a race or a retail table, you are guessing, and there is a standard shape to that guess.
A rough default for a general adult crowd is a bell centred on large. Something close to 10 percent small, 25 percent medium, 30 percent large, 22 percent extra large, 13 percent across 2XL and up. Skew it larger for trades and sports crowds and smaller for a youth or fitness audience.
| Situation | How to plan it | The trap |
|---|---|---|
| You have a roster | Collect real sizes from every person. No guessing. | Assuming last year's sizes still hold. |
| Staff or uniform order | Real sizes, plus about ten percent spare in the middle sizes. | Ordering exactly headcount, then hiring somebody in March. |
| Event giveaway | Bell curve centred on large. Fewer smalls than you think. | Ordering an even spread across every size. |
| Retail or merch table | Weight toward medium and large, carry a couple of 2XL. | Buying deep on sizes that sell last. |
| Youth or school | Get the sizes. Youth sizing varies far too much to guess. | Treating youth large as adult small. |
Extended sizes above XL usually carry an upcharge from the mill, which the studio shows you as you build the run.
What Changes at Volume
Screens beat digital, and you keep the difference
Past a few dozen pieces screen printing is both cheaper and more durable. The studio switches you over on its own and the saving lands in your per-shirt price.
Color count starts to matter again
On small runs colors are free. On a big screen-printed run every color is another screen and another pass, so a simplified design is a genuinely cheaper design.
One design, many garments, is usually fine
Same artwork across a few garment colors normally prints from the same setup. Five different designs is five setups, no matter how the piece count adds up.
Buy once, not twice
Two orders of a hundred cost more than one order of two hundred. If you know a reorder is coming, plan it into the first run and say so up front.
What to Send So the Quote Comes Back Fast
Four things get you a real number instead of a range. The total piece count, the size breakdown if you have it, the garment or at least the vibe you are after, and the artwork.
The artwork is the one that changes the answer most. A vector file means we can tell you immediately how many screens the job needs, which is most of the printing cost on a bulk run.
If you do not have any of that yet, that is fine. Build a version of it in the studio, get the shape of the pricing, and then send us the real numbers when you have them.
Get the Shape of It Before You Call
Set the quantity to what you think you need and see where the number lands. It will not be a formal quote for a five hundred piece job, but it will tell you the ballpark and let you compare garments.
Then send us the real details and we will price it properly.
Big Order? Let Us Price It Properly
Send the count, the sizes and the artwork. You will get a real number from a real person, not a form response.
Bulk Order Questions
What counts as a bulk order?
Practically speaking, anything from about seventy-two pieces up. That is where screen printing is clearly the right method, where the blank pricing gets meaningfully better, and where it starts being worth a conversation rather than a self-serve checkout.
Where are the actual price breaks?
At 12, 24, 48, 72, 144, 288 and 500 pieces. Those are real thresholds in our pricing, not marketing rounding. If you are close to one from underneath it is almost always worth going up to it.
Do I have to order all one design?
No, but it matters. Every distinct design is its own print setup, so five designs at a hundred pieces each prices like five orders of a hundred, not one order of five hundred. Same artwork on different garment colors is usually fine.
Can I split the order across sizes and colors?
Sizes, yes, freely. Colors, mostly. Printing the same art on both very light and very dark garments sometimes needs two versions of the file, and we will tell you if yours is one of those.
Do you hold stock for reorders?
We can plan for it. If you know you will reorder, say so up front. Buying the blanks deeper on the first run and printing in batches is usually cheaper than two separate orders at two separate prices.
Is there a discount if I supply my own garments?
Get in touch. Printing on customer-supplied garments is possible but it changes the risk on both sides, so it is a conversation rather than a checkbox.
Olive Branch Apparel
Custom screen printing, embroidery, DTF and DTG. We source blanks from suppliers across the country and ship nationwide.
Start an order
Build it yourself in the studio and check out when it looks right.
Open the design studioPrice Your Bulk Order
Tell us the count and the artwork and we will come back with a real number.