Custom Bar Shirts
Custom bar shirts for the people who run the room after dark. Olive Branch Apparel prints bartender shirts and staff tees for bars, pubs, dive bars and cocktail lounges, along with the shirt your regulars keep asking to buy.
The studio below opens on a soft, lightweight tee that stays comfortable through a long shift behind the well. Add your logo, set the quantity and see your price as you go. There is no minimum order, so one shirt is a fine start.
Design Your Bar Shirts Here
Drop your logo on a soft tee and build custom bar shirts for the whole crew. Change the quantity and the price updates live, so you can compare a handful for staff with a bigger run that puts a stack behind the bar to sell.
Custom Bar Shirts Have to Work in the Dark
A bar shirt is seen under dim bulbs and neon, across a crowd, by someone trying to catch a bartender's eye. Much of it is hidden behind the bar itself. Two facts about the room should shape the design before any artwork is drawn.
The Bar Top Hides Half the Shirt
From a stool, a guest sees the bartender from about the ribs up. Anything printed low on the front or near the hem is hidden by the bar and the rail. The useful space is the upper chest, the sleeves and the top of the back.
The back matters more than people expect, because bartenders turn around constantly to reach bottles, the register and the taps. A print set high between the shoulder blades faces the room every time. Keep it above the line of the bar top and it will be read all night.
Low Light Eats Subtle Ink
Tone on tone prints, such as charcoal ink on a black shirt, look refined in daylight and disappear at night. Thin script and fine outlines go the same way. In a dim room the eye picks out contrast and shape first, and detail hardly at all.
Choose a light ink on a dark shirt, or the reverse, and give the letters some weight. One or two ink colors usually read better than five. Colored light shifts ink too. A red print under red neon flattens out, so judge the artwork against the lighting you really have.
The test is simple. Stand at the far end of the room on a busy night and ask whether a newcomer could tell who works there. If the answer is no, the shirt needs more contrast, a higher print or a color nobody in the crowd is wearing.
Bar Shirts and Staff Gear We Make
Bartender and Barback Tees
Bar staff shirts printed high on the chest and back in strong contrast, so the crew stands out behind the bar and out on the floor.
Shirts for the Regulars
The house design on a soft tee for the people who drink there every week, printed in runs as small or as large as the shelf needs.
Embroidered Hats and Beanies
Caps and beanies stitched with the bar's mark, worn by door staff on cold nights and sold over the bar with no size guessing.
From Bar Logo to Boxed Shirts in Six Steps
You approve a proof before anything is printed, so placement and contrast are settled before the run starts.
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1
Pick Your Garment
Three we actually recommend, with the reasons why. Full catalog is one click away.
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2
Drop In Your Art
Upload a logo or start from a sketch. We fix files that will not print.
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3
See Your Price
Per-piece pricing moves as you change quantity and print locations.
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4
Approve A Proof
Nothing runs until you have seen exactly what we are about to make.
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5
We Print It
Screen print, embroidery or DTF, whichever your art and quantity call for.
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6
It Ships
About 14 days from the day you approve the proof, printed and boxed.
Price the Staff Run and the House Shirt Together
Set quantities in the studio and see your price for the crew shirts and the stack you sell over the bar. Nothing to fill in first, and no waiting to hear back.
Order Just One
There is no minimum order. Print a single shirt to see the logo under your own lights, then order for the crew. The per-piece price drops as quantity goes up.
Approve the Proof First
A proof shows placement, size and ink colors on the shirt before anything is printed. You check the contrast and the position, and nothing runs until you approve it.
Old Sign, New File
A photo of the neon in the window or a scan of a matchbook is enough to start. We clean up or redraw rough logos so they print well.
Daytime Phone Help
A person answers the phone on weekdays, 9am to 5pm Mountain. Call before your shift starts with a question about timing, sizes or artwork and get a straight answer.
Pub Crawl, Anniversary and Other Dated Runs
The everyday house shirt has no deadline. Dated runs do, and bars have more of them than most businesses. Each of these is a short run tied to one night or one week, ordered to a headcount and gone when it is over.
A shirt with the year on it, sold only around the anniversary party. Regulars collect them, and old years spotted in the crowd become part of the bar's story.
Pub shirts for a crawl need a date or a route and a color that keeps the group together on the street. Order to the sign-up list, since there is no minimum.
The nights around the winter holidays and Saint Patrick's Day pack the room. A one-off design for staff marks the night and sells to guests who were there for it.
Dart leagues, pool teams and trivia regulars are loyal and like to be recognized. A small run for a house team is easy with no minimum, and it gets worn back into the bar every week.
Count back from the night itself. Standard turnaround is about 14 days from proof approval, and artwork takes time before that. If a date is tight, ask, because sometimes it can be done faster. Keep dated runs lean so nothing is left in a box afterward.
Fabric, Fit and Print for a Long Night Behind the Bar
A bartender's shift is hot, fast and wet. Ice wells, dish sinks and a crowded room mean the shirt is damp by midnight. Lighter cotton and cotton blend tees dry quicker and move better than heavy ones, which is why a soft lightweight tee is the usual starting point.
Dark shirts earn their place. Bitters, red wine, grenadine and coffee liqueur all stain, and black, navy, charcoal and deep green hide a splash until the wash. Dark fabric also gives light ink the contrast a dim room demands, so the practical choice and the visible choice line up.
Screen printing suits most bar staff shirts. It lays down bold, solid color that stands up to frequent washing, and the per-piece price drops as the run grows. Keep large designs open instead of solid, since a thick block of ink across the chest holds heat on a busy night.
Embroidery works for hats, beanies and polos, and it fits a cocktail lounge where a small stitched mark on a polo looks more composed than a big print. Direct-to-film handles full color art, such as a painted sign or a mascot, and short runs with many colors.
Order more than one shirt per person. Anyone working several nights a week needs a few in rotation, and bar shirts tend to wear out at the collar before the print goes. We do not make aprons or button-up work shirts. Tees, tank tops, polos, hoodies and hats are what we make for the crew.
Got a Crawl or an Anniversary Coming Up
Tell us the date, the headcount and what you have for artwork. We will quote the run and tell you plainly how the timing looks.
When Regulars Want to Buy Your Custom Bar Shirts
At some point a regular asks where to get the shirt the bartender is wearing. That question is the whole case for selling one. A bar shirt is bought as proof of belonging, and it sells because the person already loves the place, with no display or discount required.
Decide early whether staff and regulars wear the same thing. In a neighborhood dive it is often one shirt, and that is part of the charm. If the crew needs to stand out on a packed night, keep one color for staff only and sell the same art in another.
Resist the urge to keep redesigning it. The shirts people hold onto for years are usually the plainest, with the name, maybe the street or the neighborhood, and an old sign or a mascot. Leave off the phone number, the hours and the list of specials. Nobody wears a menu.
Stock it lightly and keep it behind the bar. A short stack in the common sizes, with one pinned up near the register, is plenty. Note which sizes run out. With no minimum order, a small refill is easy, and the studio shows your price at any quantity.
Bar Shirt Questions
Is there a minimum order for custom bar shirts?
No. One piece is fine, and so is a full run. That suits custom bar shirts well, because a small bar may need only a handful for staff plus a short stack to sell. The per-piece price drops as quantity goes up, and the studio shows your price live.
What colors read best in a dark bar?
High contrast wins. White, cream or a bright ink on a black or navy shirt stays readable under dim bulbs, while tone on tone prints fade into the fabric. Remember that colored light changes ink. If the room glows red or blue, picture the proof colors under that light before approving.
Where should the print go on bartender shirts?
High. The bar top hides the lower half of the shirt from anyone seated, so place the main print on the upper chest and across the top of the back. Bartender shirts get seen from behind constantly as staff turn to the back bar, which makes the back print worth the most.
Can we order a small run for a pub crawl or an anniversary?
Yes. With no minimum order, a dated run can match your sign-up list or guest count exactly. Standard turnaround is about 14 days from proof approval, so lock the artwork well ahead of the night. If a date is tight, ask. Sometimes it can be done faster.
Should staff shirts and the shirts we sell be the same?
Either works. One design for everyone is simple and fits a neighborhood bar. If staff need to be picked out in a crowd, print the same art on a color reserved for the crew. Both versions of your custom bar shirts can be built and priced in the studio.
How many shirts does each bartender need?
Plan on a few per person for anyone working several nights a week, so a clean one is always ready. Shirts worn behind a bar are washed hard and often. Ordering the whole rotation at once also raises the quantity, and the per-piece price drops as quantity goes up.
Our logo only exists as an old sign. Can you use it?
Yes. Send a clear, straight-on photo of the sign, a coaster or a matchbook. We clean up or redraw rough logos so they print well, and you approve a proof before anything is made. Hand painted lettering usually translates nicely to custom bar shirts once the edges are tidied.
Do you ship to bars outside Colorado?
Yes. The shop is in Fort Collins, Colorado, and orders ship across the United States. Design your pub shirts in the studio, approve the proof and the order arrives boxed at the bar. A person answers the phone on weekdays, 9am to 5pm Mountain, if you have questions.
Where We Are
Olive Branch Apparel
706 East Stuart Street
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Put the Bar Name Where the Room Can Read It
Design a high contrast print, set the quantity and see your price live in the studio. Approve the proof, and your custom bar shirts ship from Fort Collins to your door.