# Ordering Bulk Designed T-shirts.. where/how?



## slg7 (Sep 24, 2006)

hi! totally new here and many apologies if this isnt in the right place.. i run a community website and want to order about 75 t-shirts in various sizes. i have NO idea the best way to do this- or reputable sites to go about it. ive done a ton of searches and prices and processes are all over the place. 
id really appreciate some guidance!!

the shirts arent for sale but rather prizes and gifts for various contests etc to the members.

heres what im looking for-
white shirts.. multicolor logo design on front. logo is a ton of colors- i could prob get it down to 16 but not much lower and even that doesnt look as good as it could. would love it if it could have a sparkly kinda look to it.. ive seen some shirts like that but duno how its done or if its a good quality to go for as opposed to more of a matte look.

t-shirts dont have to be the all out best quality- but i dont want garbage.. soft and fairly thin (not paperthin/clingy/tight) .. you know that t-shirt that you pull out on laundry day bc its just comfy and big but not too big and thin but not too thin and you could wear it out to the store or lounge around at home in it and it just feels good? THAT!

any suggestions on what to do or where to go?

thanks in advance for any help!


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## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

> white shirts.. multicolor logo design on front. logo is a ton of colors- i could prob get it down to 16 but not much lower and even that doesnt look as good as it could. would love it if it could have a sparkly kinda look to it.. ive seen some shirts like that but duno how its done or if its a good quality to go for as opposed to more of a matte look.


Sometimes a design may *seem* like a lot of colors, but actually can print with just 4 colors (like if you print it on your home printer that has just 4 ink tanks, it will still be able to reproduce all the colors in the design by mixing the colors).

So if you wanted to "prepurchase" the shirts, you could find any printer online or offline to print your t-shirts. A local screen printer from the phone book should be able to give you a quote if you show them the artwork. We have lots of printers who are members here at t-shirtforums, so you could post a classified ad (once you have 15 posts in the forum) and members could give you bids on your project.

You could also try posting a request for quotes at http://boards.screenprinters.net to see if any screen printers there can give you some good pricing.

The printing could also be done with heat transfers or plastisol transfers.

As for the brand t-shirt you're looking for, your description is a bit vague to really recommend a low cost t-shirt. If the brand t-shirt (and how it fits) that it's printed on is an important factor for you, it might be worth for you to get some blank samples from different manufacturers (american apparel, alternative apparel, alstyle apparel, hanes, fruit of the loom, etc) to see which one you like.

Hope this helps 

:welcome:


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## Twinge (Apr 26, 2005)

I believe you'll need some flavor of screen print to achieve a sparkly look. However, if you have too many colors, a screen print could be quite expensive. You might conisder posting a sample image of the design for the folks on the forums here to see, and someone could likley tell you how many colors it could be done with (with blending, halftones, etc.) - and thus, if you could reasonably screen print it or if heat transfer might be a better option.

As far as shirts go, it seems like you might want to look into something "mid-range". Since these are give-aways, you probably don't want to go with the especially soft but more expensive stuff like American Apparel or Alternative Apparel. Likewise, since softness seems important, you might not like the cheaper Gildans as much. I've never tried them myself, but you might try the Fruit of the Loom 50/50 blend; that's what Threadless is using for most of their tees.


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## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

Twinge said:


> I believe you'll need some flavor of screen print to achieve a sparkly look. However, if you have too many colors, a screen print could be quite expensive. You might conisder posting a sample image of the design for the folks on the forums here to see, and someone could likley tell you how many colors it could be done with (with blending, halftones, etc.) - and thus, if you could reasonably screen print it or if heat transfer might be a better option.
> 
> As far as shirts go, it seems like you might want to look into something "mid-range". Since these are give-aways, you probably don't want to go with the especially soft but more expensive stuff like American Apparel or Alternative Apparel. Likewise, since softness seems important, you might not like the cheaper Gildans as much. I've never tried them myself, but you might try the Fruit of the Loom 50/50 blend; that's what Threadless is using for most of their tees.


very good points Twinge.  

yes a sample photo would help.... because there are so many colors.


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

Twinge said:


> I've never tried them myself, but you might try the Fruit of the Loom 50/50 blend; that's what Threadless is using for most of their tees.


FotL 50/50 Best is indeed a good balance between quality and cost. It should meet the criteria of being "soft and fairly thin", and "big but not too big".

Obviously this stuff is somewhat subjective, but it's definitely a good suggestion to try.


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