HomeResourcesGuidesCompany T-Shirts: A Practical Buyer's Guide
Company T-Shirts: A Practical Buyer's Guide
Company shirts fail in predictable ways. They fit badly, the logo colour is not quite the brand colour, and a third of the order sits in a cupboard because nobody asked what people wanted.
All three are avoidable, and none of them are about the shirt itself.
Decide what the shirt is for
A trade show shirt worn for two days by staff who have no choice is a different purchase from a shirt you hope people wear at weekends.
If you want it worn voluntarily, it has to be a shirt someone would pick up in a store: a decent blank, a restrained logo, a colour that goes with other clothes. A large chest logo on a stiff promotional tee will be worn exactly once.
Collect sizes properly, then order for reality
Ask everyone, with a deadline and a named cut, because Large in a fashion cut and Large in a classic cut are not the same shirt. Where possible, put a sample of each size somewhere people can try it.
Some people will not reply. Order those at the most common size in your responses rather than guessing individually, and order a few spares across the middle of the range for new starters and the inevitable wrong guess.
Offer both a straight cut and a fitted cut if you can. It costs a little more and dramatically changes how many people wear the shirt.
Get the brand colour right, or decide not to chase it
Brand colours are specified for screens and print, and fabric is neither. An exact match is achievable with screen printing and mixed ink, at a cost, and approximate with most other methods.
Decide in advance which matters more: an exact match, or the budget. Chasing an exact match on a low-volume digital print usually disappoints.
One reliable shortcut: a single-colour logo in white or black on a coloured shirt sidesteps the problem entirely and almost always looks sharper than a full-colour logo on white.
Keep the branding small
A left-chest logo reads as a uniform people are comfortable wearing in public. A large back print reads as advertising, and staff notice the difference even if nobody says so.
If you want something people wear outside work, lean further still — a small mark, or the brand expressed through colour and a design rather than a logo slapped on a blank.
Plan for the second order
There is always a second order: new hires, replacements, the person who spilled coffee on day one.
Write down the exact style number, colour name, print method, ink colours and placement. Six months later nobody remembers, and a near-miss reorder next to the originals looks worse than a completely different shirt.
Remember that a reorder will be a different dye lot. If a handful of shirts must match exactly, order them now rather than later.
Common questions
How many extra shirts should we order?
Enough for new starters over the period the shirts will be in use, plus replacements. Extras in middle sizes are far more useful than extras at the ends of the range.
Should we offer different cuts?
Yes, if budget allows. A single unisex cut fits some people well and others poorly, and the ones it fits poorly are the ones who never wear it.
Can we match our brand colour exactly?
With screen printing and custom-mixed ink, very closely. With digital methods, approximately. Decide which matters more before you choose a method, not after seeing the sample.
Do you offer printing?
No, we supply blanks. Many companies buy blanks from us and use a local decorator, which also keeps the printing relationship close to home for reorders.
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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.
- Cheap Blank T-Shirts: What You Actually Pay Per ShirtWhere the low prices on blank t-shirts come from, which savings are real, and the four costs that quietly undo them.
- 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.