The Corporate Apparel Pricing Guide

Ask five suppliers to quote 100 polos with a logo and you'll get five numbers, from about $19 to $70 a piece. All five are fair prices for five different shirts. The five drivers below let you read any quote and know which shirt you're being offered.

The five cost drivers

The blank garment

The garment is the biggest line in any fair price, and what you pay for in it is fiber, yarn, weight and construction. A 220 GSM ring-spun tee costs the maker about double what a thin open-end promo tee does, and you can't see the difference in a photo. The fabric guide explains why. When a quote looks impossibly low, this is where the money came out.

Decoration method and coverage

A left-chest mark and a full-back print are different manufacturing events. Embroidery is usually priced by stitch count, DTF by print area and screen printing by colors times pieces, so coverage scales cost inside every method. We charge one flat fee per method on a piece instead, $3.78 for a DTF or DTG print ($2.02 on a cap) and $3.03 for vinyl, whether it covers the chest alone or the chest and back. We offer screen printing too and can tell you which garments suit it. Embroidery and screen printing are priced in one business day, and the decoration guide has the comparison.

How volume spreads the fixed costs

Design time and setup are fixed per order, and so is most of the shipping. Every extra piece carries a smaller share of them. This is the one driver you still control, and the worked examples further down show what it's worth.

How custom the colorway is

A stock-color blank with your logo costs less than a custom colorway, which costs less than a full-coverage print. None of those steps is a trick, but you should know which of the three a quote is pricing.

What's bundled into the price.

Our piece price covers design, sizes above XL, name-sleeved packaging and QC. Traditional swag vendors put them in the fine print, where they surface after you've committed.

Our price list at each volume tier

One print means one DTF or DTG print fee, $3.78 ($2.02 on the cap), wherever the print goes on the piece. Vinyl costs $3.03 in place of that fee, and we price embroidery, screen printing and patches in one business day. Design, XS to 4XL at one price and name-sleeved packaging come with every piece. These prices apply from 15 pieces, which is the smallest run we publish. If you need fewer, tell us what you have in mind.

Volume math for three orders

A 60-person onboarding program. A hoodie, a tee and a cap, each with one print, add up to $51.83 at list. Sixty kits is 180 pieces, which is past the 150 threshold, so 22% comes off every piece and the kit drops to $40.43 for each hire, or $2,425.80 in total. At list, the same $2,425.80 buys 46 kits, and the tier covers the other 14 hires.

A booth team that should combine shows. A ten-person team ordering 40 printed polos for one show pays list, which is $807.20 before shipping. Ordering the fall's two shows at once makes it 80 polos, past 50, at $17.76 each. That's $1,420.80, which is $193.60 less than two list orders, and the combined order ships free. At three shows, 120 polos are still at −12%, or $2,131.20. Add 30 caps for the floor team and the order reaches 150 pieces, where every line reprices at −22%: 120 polos at $15.74 and 30 caps at $8.46 come to $2,142.60. The thirty caps add only $11.40 to the polo-only order, because the thresholds count every piece in the order whatever the product.

When not to chase the tier. A 15-person startup that buys 50 tees to reach the tier saves $2.04 on each one, spends $749.00 instead of $255.30 before shipping, and owns 35 tees nobody asked for. Order 15 now and let headcount trigger the tier later.

Where other quotes hide fees.

The lines that turn a low piece price into a high invoice:

• Artwork or digitizing fees. $25 to $100 a design, sometimes charged again on reorders.
• Screen setup. It's charged per color and per placement, which makes a four-color front and a one-color back five screens.
• Size surcharges. Commonly $2 to $3 above XL, which taxes your largest colleagues. XS to 4XL is one price here (see the sizing guide).
• Sample charges. Ask for the sample price before you agree to one. We charge for a sample set too, and it takes about two weeks to arrive.
• Freight and shipping. Ask for the delivered number, because a good piece price plus a surprise freight line is not a good price. We ship free on orders over $2,000 or 50 pieces and put the shipping cost on the quote for smaller ones. Delivery is within the US only, two weeks after production finishes on the design you approved.
• Change fees. A colorway or artwork change after approval can reprice a run, and the calendar in the buying guide leaves room to lock the design first.

To cover all six at once, ask what the all-in, delivered price per piece is at your real quantity and size mix. A supplier who has that answer gives you one number.

Budgeting cheat sheet

• One piece a person is $10.85 to $28.37 at list with one print, and less at the tiers.
• An onboarding kit (hoodie, tee, cap) with one print on each piece is $51.83 at list, $45.61 at 50 pieces and $40.43 at 150.
• A booth capsule (two polos, a zip hoodie, a cap), printed the same way, is $76.43 at list, $67.26 at 50 and $59.61 at 150.
• A client gift with one print is $10.85 to $28.37 a recipient, with the value documented for compliance as the gifting guide describes.

For a number at your quantity instead of a range, ask for a quote. The Design Studio designs the collection across all eight products first and saves it under your name.

Spend less without buying worse.

Squeeze the piece price far enough and the supplier downgrades the fabric without telling you, and you pay the saving back in replacements and unworn shirts. These four moves cut the budget and leave the fabric alone:

• Change the mix, not the fabric. A printed tee at $17.02 in place of a printed zip hoodie at $25.22 saves $8.20 on every person, with no drop in quality. One heavy piece and one modest piece beats two middling ones.
• Combine orders across teams. Marketing's booth order and HR's onboarding order placed together can cross a tier neither reaches alone, and past 150 pieces the same garments are 22% off across the whole order.
• Reorder as designed. Buy for the people on the team today and you never carry guessed inventory. Your design and size history stay on file with us, which makes a top-up one email with the quantity in it.
• Plan the calendar. Count 8 to 10 weeks back from the day the order has to arrive, using the plan in the buying guide.

Questions we get.

How much does custom corporate apparel cost per piece?

With one DTF or DTG print, a tee is $17.02, a drop-shoulder tee or a piqué polo $20.18, a hoodie $23.96 ($27.74 oversized), a zip hoodie $25.22, a button-up shirt $28.37 and a cap $10.85. Vinyl costs $3.03 in place of the print fee. The sweatshirt, the beanie, embroidery, screen printing and patches are priced in one business day. 50 pieces takes 12% off and 150 takes 22% off.

Why is custom apparel more expensive than retail blanks?

The price of a custom piece comes from five drivers: the blank, the decoration and its coverage, the volume, how custom the colorway is, and what's bundled in. A cheap quote cuts the drivers you can't see in a photo, and the fabric is usually first.

How do apparel volume discounts work?

Design and setup are fixed per order, and more pieces spread them thinner. Our discounts are two flat tiers counted across the whole order: 12% off at 50 pieces and 22% off at 150. An order of 30 hoodies and 20 caps counts as 50 pieces.

Are there hidden fees in custom apparel quotes?

Yes, often. Digitizing fees, screen setup per color, surcharges above XL and freight billed on delivery are the usual ones. Ask for one all-in delivered price per piece at your real quantity. Ours is the number in the table, with XS to 4XL at one price.