Custom Daycare Shirts
Custom daycare shirts for child care centers, preschools and home daycares. Staff tees that survive paint, snack time and a daily wash, plus bright field trip shirts that make a headcount quick. Printed in Fort Collins, Colorado and shipped anywhere in the United States.
Daycare staff shirts, preschool shirts, hoodies and hats with no minimum order. Put your center's logo on a real shirt in the studio below, set the quantity, and see your price before you take it to your budget.
Design Your Center's Shirts on This Page
Add your center's logo to a real shirt, pick a color the children can spot, and set how many you need. The price for your custom daycare shirts updates as you go, so you can price a staff order and a classroom order separately. It opens on a heavy cotton tee that handles daily washing.
Custom Daycare Shirts Are a Safety Tool on Trip Day
A field trip shirt has one job that matters more than how it looks. It lets a teacher count heads in seconds in a crowded place. Design it for that job first, and the choices about color, wording and size get much easier.
Color You Can Count
Pick one bright color that stands out against grass, pavement and other groups. Safety green, orange, bright yellow and hot pink are popular for a reason. Pale blue and white disappear in a crowd, and a dark shirt on a hot playground is uncomfortable for a small child.
Use the same color for every child in the group and a different one for staff and chaperones, so children know which adults to walk toward. If several classrooms travel together, one color per room lets each teacher count only their own.
Words That Help
Put the center name large on the front and a center phone number on the back or the sleeve, so an adult who finds a wandering child knows who to call. Keep the lettering thick and simple. Thin script is hard to read at a distance.
Leave children's names off the shirt. A name printed where anyone can read it lets a stranger call a child as though they know them. If you need to tell shirts apart, write initials on the inside tag with a laundry marker.
Order a few spares in each size for the child who spills at breakfast or enrolls the week before the trip. Not every garment comes in small youth sizes, so check the size run in the studio before you settle on a shirt.
Daycare Shirts We Print and Embroider
Field Trip Shirts
Bright screen printed field trip shirts with the center name on the front and a phone number on the back. Made to be seen from across a zoo path.
Daycare Staff Shirts
Heavy cotton tees and long sleeves for teachers and aides. Dark and mid-tone colors hide marker and paint, and the print holds up to constant washing.
Embroidered Polos and Hats
Stitched polos for directors and front desk staff who greet families and give tours, plus hats for teachers on playground duty in the sun.
From Center Logo to Boxed Shirts in Six Steps
You approve a proof before anything is printed, so the wording, colors and phone number are right before trip day.
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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 Staff Shirts and Trip Shirts in One Sitting
Set a count for teachers and a count for children in the studio and see the per-piece price for each.
One Shirt for a New Hire
When a teacher joins partway through the year, order a single shirt. There is no minimum, and the price per piece drops whenever you place a larger order for the whole team.
Check Every Word First
Your proof shows the center name, the phone number and where each sits on the shirt. Nothing is printed until you approve it, so a wrong digit gets caught on screen.
Hand-Drawn Logo Is Fine
Plenty of center logos began as a drawing or a clip from a flyer. We clean up or redraw artwork so it prints with clear edges on a small shirt.
A Person on the Phone
Call on a weekday between 9am and 5pm Mountain and a person answers. Nap time is a good window if you need to talk through sizes or a trip date.
When Daycares and Preschools Order Shirts
A child care year has a few fixed points, and shirts are easiest when they are ordered ahead of them. Count back about 14 days from the date you need the box in hand, and allow a few more days to collect sizes from families.
New families and new staff arrive together. A staff shirt order before the first week helps parents learn who works in the building, and it gives new teachers something to wear from the start.
Farm visits, zoo days and park outings cluster in spring. Collect sizes with the permission slips so both come back in the same envelope, then order once.
Summer camp weeks mean more outings and more water play. A camp shirt in a bright color, plus spares, gets you through a season of weekly trips.
A class shirt for the children moving up to kindergarten is a keepsake families hold on to. Order it early in spring so it arrives well ahead of the ceremony.
The simple approach is one staff shirt and one trip shirt that carry over from year to year, with small reorders for the sizes you run short on.
Print Methods for Custom Daycare Shirts That Get Washed Daily
Few shirts are washed as often or as hot as the ones worn in a child care room. Paint, glue, formula, sunscreen and playground dirt all end up on them. The fabric and the print both need to take that, and the print needs to stay soft against a child's skin.
Screen printing on cotton is the dependable choice. The ink bonds into the fabric and flexes with it through wash after wash. Price per piece falls as the run grows and each ink color adds cost, so a one color design on a bright shirt gives you the most visibility for the budget.
Keep the print light on small shirts. A large solid block of ink across a little chest is stiff and warm, and children notice. An open design with lettering and a simple outline shape breathes better and dries faster after water play.
Direct-to-film handles full-color logos, such as a rainbow or a hand-drawn mascot, and it suits short runs where screen setup does not make sense. Embroidery works well on staff polos and hats. It is less suited to thin tees, where the stitching and its backing can feel scratchy on the inside.
Children's art makes a lovely design, and it needs a little help first. Crayon lines and handprints have soft edges that print unevenly. Send a clear scan or photo and we will clean it up or redraw it so the drawing keeps its charm and still prints with solid lines.
Field Trip Date Already on the Calendar
Give us the date and your headcount. Standard turnaround is about 14 days from proof approval. If the trip is sooner than that, ask, because sometimes it can be done faster.
Collecting Sizes From Families Without the Chaos
Sizes are the hard part of any order that involves children. They grow between the day you ask and the day the box arrives, and parents answer forms at different speeds. A simple system keeps the order from stalling while you wait on the last few replies.
Send the size request home with something parents already have to return, such as a permission slip or an enrollment packet. Ask for the size the child wears now and suggest going up one if they are between sizes. A slightly big shirt gets worn longer than one that is snug on trip day.
Look at the size run before you promise anything to families. Youth sizing starts at different points on different garments, and the smallest sizes are not offered on all of them. The studio lists what each shirt comes in. If a style does not go small enough for your youngest group, call us before you order.
Decide whether the shirts go home or stay at the center. Shirts that stay can be handed out on trip mornings, washed together and reused by the next class, which keeps the cost per trip low. Shirts that go home become a keepsake, and families are often glad to pay for them.
For staff, order at least two or three shirts per person so nobody is doing laundry every night. With no minimum order, adding a single shirt when you hire in the middle of the year is easy, and it will match what the rest of the team wears.
Daycare Shirt Questions
Is there a minimum order for custom daycare shirts?
No. You can order one shirt for a new teacher or custom daycare shirts for every child and staff member in the building. The price per piece drops as the quantity goes up, and the studio shows that change as you adjust the number. Small top-up orders for new enrollments are fine.
Do the shirts come in sizes small enough for our youngest children?
It depends on the garment. Not every shirt comes in small youth sizes, and the smallest size offered varies from one style to the next. The studio lists the size run for each garment, so check it before you collect sizes from families.
What color is best for field trip shirts?
A single bright color that contrasts with the places you visit. Safety green, orange and bright yellow are easy to spot against grass and crowds. Put staff and chaperones in a different color so children can find an adult quickly. A dark one color print on a bright shirt is the most readable combination.
Should we print each child's name on the shirt?
We would leave names off. A visible name lets a stranger address a child as if they know them. The center name on the front and a phone number on the back do more for safety. Custom daycare shirts without names can also be reused by the next class, which stretches the budget.
How long do preschool shirts take to arrive?
Standard turnaround is about 14 days from the day you approve your proof, then shipping from Fort Collins, Colorado. Allow extra time to gather sizes from families. If a field trip or a graduation is closer than that, ask before you order. Sometimes it can be done faster.
Will the print hold up to washing every day?
A properly cured screen print on cotton handles frequent washing well. Turning shirts inside out and avoiding the hottest dryer setting helps any print last. For custom daycare shirts that are washed constantly, a simple one or two color design ages better than a heavy block of ink.
Can we use a drawing one of the children made?
Yes, with a parent's permission. Send a clear scan or a photo taken straight on in good light. We clean up the lines so they print solidly while keeping the hand-drawn look. You will see the result on a proof, and you can ask for changes before anything is printed.
Do you make smocks, bibs or one-piece baby outfits?
No. We do not make art smocks, aprons, bibs, one-piece baby outfits or nap mats. What we do make covers the staff and the older children, which is t-shirts, long sleeve tees, tank tops, polos, hoodies, hats and beanies, in the sizes listed for each garment, decorated with screen printing, embroidery or direct-to-film.
Where We Are
Olive Branch Apparel
706 East Stuart Street
Fort Collins, CO 80525
Put Your Center on a Shirt You Can Spot
Open the studio, add your logo and see the price for your staff and your classrooms. One shirt or the whole center, you approve the proof before anything is printed.