HomeResourcesGuidesCheap Blank T-Shirts: What You Actually Pay Per Shirt
Cheap Blank T-Shirts: What You Actually Pay Per Shirt
Blank t-shirts can be genuinely inexpensive. The lowest advertised price and the amount you end up paying per usable shirt are two different numbers, and the gap is where most budgets go wrong.
Here is what is actually driving the price, and what to watch for.
Why cheap blanks are cheap
The low end of the market is not a trick. Those shirts cost less to make, for reasons you can see in the garment.
- Open-end yarn
- Faster and cheaper to spin than ring-spun. Coarser hand, slightly rougher print surface. The single biggest lever on price.
- Tubular construction
- Knitted as a tube with no side seams. Less labour and less waste. It can also twist after washing, which matters more on a retail shirt than a giveaway.
- Volume basics
- A handful of styles are produced in enormous quantities. Scale, not compromise, explains a lot of their pricing.
- Blends
- Adding polyester usually lowers cost while increasing wrinkle resistance and reducing shrink. Whether it feels better is a matter of taste.
The four costs that erase the saving
A cheaper blank is only cheaper if it survives to become a finished shirt.
- Extended-size upcharges
- Quoted per shirt on sizes above XL. A run weighted toward larger sizes can be meaningfully more expensive than the headline price suggests.
- Colour
- White is the cheapest. If your design needs a specific heather or a deep saturated shade, the base price you compared may not apply.
- Shipping
- Shirts are bulky. On a small order, freight can rival the difference between a budget blank and a good one.
- Spoilage
- A coarse surface that fights fine detail produces more rejects. Losing a few extra shirts to misprints can wipe out the per-unit saving entirely.
When cheap is exactly right
Plenty of jobs genuinely do not need a premium blank: a one-day event, a charity run, a promotional giveaway, a practice shirt, a set of staff tees that will be replaced next season.
Paying for ring-spun cotton on a shirt somebody wears once is not quality, it is waste. Match the shirt to the job.
When cheap costs you money
If you are selling the shirt, the blank is your product. A customer who finds it scratchy or watches it twist in the wash does not blame the blank — they blame your brand, and they do not buy again.
The same is true for anything photographed, anything with fine artwork, and anything expected to last more than a season.
How to compare prices honestly
Compare landed cost for your actual size spread and your actual colour, including shipping, not the advertised price of a white medium.
Then check availability across the full spread. A slightly cheaper shirt that is out of stock in two of your sizes is not cheaper, it is unusable.
Common questions
What is the cheapest blank t-shirt?
Generally a basic open-end cotton tee in white, in a standard size. Each step away from that — ring-spun yarn, a specialty colour, an extended size — adds cost for a specific reason.
Do I need to buy a case to get a good price?
Case quantities usually price better per unit, but we do not require them. Buying a case of a style you have not sampled is a common and expensive mistake.
Are blended shirts cheaper than 100% cotton?
Often, and they wrinkle less and shrink less. Whether they feel better is personal — some people strongly prefer cotton, and for a retail shirt that preference is worth respecting.
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More guides
- How to Order Blank T-Shirts in BulkWhat a bulk blank t-shirt order actually involves: size spreads, dye lots, lead times, and the mistakes that cost you a reprint.
- Bulk T-Shirts: Choosing the Right Style for a Volume OrderWhich blank t-shirt style to buy in volume, and why the cheapest line is sometimes right and sometimes the reason a run fails.
- How to Print Your Own T-Shirts: Five Methods ComparedScreen printing, DTG, DTF, heat transfer vinyl and sublimation — what each costs, what each is good at, and which blank each one needs.
- From Design to Shirt: The Best Way to Get Your Artwork PrintedHow to take a design from an idea to a printed shirt — file formats, colour, placement, and the decisions that decide whether it looks right.
- Company T-Shirts: A Practical Buyer's GuideOrdering branded shirts for a team: sizing everyone fairly, getting brand colours right, and what to do about the people who never reply.