Bulk T-Shirt Printing: How Price Breaks Really Work
By The Velocity Wear Team
If you've had quotes for bulk t-shirt printing, you might have noticed the price per shirt moves a lot depending on quantity, colours and shirt choice. It's not random. A bulk price is built from a few ingredients, and once you know them, you can decide where to spend and where to save.
What a bulk t-shirt price is made of
- The shirt itself: weight, cotton quality, fit and colour.
- Setup: screens for screen printing, digitising for embroidery.
- Print cost per shirt: size, number of colours, number of positions.
- Extras: labels, individual names, packaging.
- Delivery.
Why price per shirt falls with quantity
Setup costs are mostly fixed. Spread across 20 shirts, they add a lot to each one. Spread across 500, they barely register. Production also gets more efficient with longer runs. That's why our per-shirt price steps down at 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000.
The price break trap
Sometimes 100 shirts cost only a little more in total than 80. That's tempting. But extra shirts are only a saving if you'll use them. For an event, leftover shirts are waste. For a brand, they're stock that ties up cash. Check the price calculator at a few quantities, then order what you'll genuinely use.
Ways to lower your price without looking cheap
- 1Reduce ink colours. Two strong colours often look better than six.
- 2Print one position instead of three. Front and back is plenty for most designs.
- 3Choose a standard shirt colour rather than a hard-to-source shade.
- 4Keep one design across the group, and add names only if they matter.
- 5Order once for the season rather than three small orders.
Where not to save
The shirt. A cheap, thin, scratchy tee doesn't get worn, which makes it the most expensive shirt of all. Combed ring-spun cotton costs a little more and gets worn a lot more.
Mixing sizes and designs
With us, the minimum is 20 per design and sizes can be mixed freely. Different designs or shirt colours count separately. So one design at 100 pieces is cheaper per shirt than five designs at 20 each.
Setup for reorders
If you reorder the same design, some setup work already exists, which can make repeat runs more efficient. Keep your artwork files and order details somewhere safe.
Compare total cost, not headline price
Some quotes look cheap because they leave things out: setup, a second print position, delivery, or a proper shirt. Always compare the total for exactly what you want delivered to your door. If one quote is for a thin basic tee and another is for combed ring-spun cotton, they aren't the same product, even though both say t-shirt.
Also ask when the price was quoted and whether it's fixed. Cotton and freight prices do move, and a quote from three months ago may not stand.
Invoicing and VAT
Businesses ordering in bulk should check whether quotes include VAT and delivery. We invoice in pounds among seven currencies. Confirm totals in writing before approving.
Planning annual needs
If you know you'll need shirts across the year, one larger order often costs less per shirt than several small ones.
Get real numbers
Our tees start from $13 each at 20 pieces with one standard print. Play with quantity, method and positions on the calculator, which shows pounds. Production is 10 to 15 working days after artwork approval. Browse custom t-shirts.
