Shopping and Saving On Custom Printed Apparel

Shopping around for custom printed apparel might be time consuming, but the results are well worthwhile. And like anything purchased, there’s much more to shopping around than just price hunting. In the end, we really do get what we pay for. That means getting good value all around – in other words, a combination of good price, good quality, and good service. When it comes to custom printed apparel, a price break on a higher volume order can make a big difference. And while many companies can offer low minimum orders, a low volume order clearly makes for a higher unit price. At the same time, customers should be astute. There’s no need to order 100 printed sweatshirts at a reduced price if only a dozen are needed.

For a screen-printing company, production setup is the most costly and time-consuming element of a custom order. That fixed setup cost is amortized over the total quantity of garments that are screen-printed. Needless to say, the fixed setup cost for one dozen sweatshirts is the same as an order for four dozen – the big difference is the unit cost once it’s amortized.

A good company salesperson can be very helpful when placing an order – and with good advice, it’s possible to save upwards of 25% on an order, without having to overbuy. This applies equally to virtually every apparel category - from T-Shirts, to team jerseys, to hoodies, to sweatpants. And the pricing equation applies whether it’s screen-printing or embroidery.

In many cases, it’s possible to save on custom printed apparel by reducing the number of colours in a graphic design. This is simply a production saving - a design with 3 separate colours is going to be more expensive than 2 colours. And although a company logo design might typically appear in “full” colour, the screen-printed version could easily be in only one colour.

There’s also an alternative to screen-printing – embroidery. The production cost is not based on the number of colours, so it’s a good alternative when colour scheme is vital to the look. In fact, with some projects, the embroidery option can offer significant savings. Here again, a seasoned salesperson can play around with pricing to attain the best possible value.

At first glance, screen-printing on the front of a garment, and on the back, may look impressive. But it can also get expensive, without delivering much extra value. Here, it would be important to be smart with the design setup. In short, reducing the number of printed locations on a garment makes affordable sense. If multiple locations are critical, then it’s a must.

There’s also quality to consider when shopping around for custom printed apparel. And nothing compares with high quality, whether it’s a sweatshirt, an athletic jersey, or a basic T-Shirt. Good quality means a good fit, good style, long life, and good colour options. And brand name products like Fruit of the Loom, American Apparel, and Gildan offer all of the above.