How Many T-Shirts Should You Order? A Pricing Guide

Unit pricing on printed T-shirts drops steeply as quantity goes up. The gap between 10 units and 100 units can be £4 or more per shirt. But ordering 500 tees for a small event means cash tied up in unsold stock. Getting the quantity right is one of the most common questions we get at our Putney shop.

Here is how to think about quantity, with real price tiers.

The four quantity zones

We think about T-shirt orders in four zones:

1 to 10 units: personal zone

One-offs, small gifts, a personal project. Cost per unit is highest here because setup time is fixed. DTG printing is the best choice; no setup fee, just a per-unit cost.

Typical budget: £15 to £30 per shirt including a premium blank.

10 to 50 units: small business zone

Stag dos, small team kit, launch day merchandise, pop-up events. DTG or vinyl both work. Screen printing usually not cost-effective here due to setup fees.

Typical budget: £8 to £18 per shirt.

50 to 200 units: brand launch zone

A small brand’s first drop, a corporate event, team kit for a 100-person business. Screen printing becomes competitive from 50 units upwards. DTF works well for mixed garment types.

Typical budget: £6 to £12 per shirt.

200 plus units: bulk zone

Charity events, festivals, large corporate orders, brand production runs. Screen printing is typically cheapest. Cost per unit can drop below £3.50 depending on design.

Typical budget: £3.50 to £8 per shirt.

Pricing example: 1-colour chest logo

These are representative prices for a single-colour chest logo on a Gildan Heavy Cotton blank:

Quantity	Method	Price per shirt	Total
5	DTG	£15	£75
20	DTG	£9	£180
50	Screen	£6	£300
100	Screen	£4	£400
250	Screen	£3	£750

Premium blanks (Stanley/Stella, Anthem) typically add £3 to £6 per unit.

Should I round up?

A frequent mistake is ordering 18 when the price tier at 25 is similar. Ask for a quote at both quantities. Often the difference between 18 and 25 is £20 total but gives you 7 extra shirts: useful as spares, replacements, or samples.

Rules of thumb:

If 25, 50, or 100 is a common price break, consider rounding up
Order 10% more than you strictly need, for size misfits and damages
Keep 2 or 3 back as studio samples for future photos and reference

Common size distribution

If your order is for an unknown group (event attendees, public), use this distribution as a starting point:

Size	%
XS	5%
S	15%
M	25%
L	30%
XL	15%
XXL	8%
XXXL	2%

For a team of named individuals, collect exact sizes in advance. For staff uniforms, size each person individually.

Mixing designs in one order

If you want two designs in the same run (front and back, or two variants), we usually treat them as one order for quantity purposes if the print method and garment are the same. Ask us when quoting; we will structure it to keep unit costs down.

What drives the price beyond quantity

Per-shirt cost also depends on:

Blank quality: Gildan vs Stanley/Stella can add £4 to £8
Print size: a full back print uses more ink and is slower than a pocket print
Number of colours: each extra screen in screen printing adds setup cost
Print position: front, back, sleeve, or multiple positions
Rush: same-day printing does not carry a rush fee but limits methods

Do not overfit the budget to quantity

We see brands stretch to hit a price break even when they do not realistically need the extra units. Unsold stock is a hidden cost: you pay for it, box it, store it, and often discount or discard it later.

A better approach for new brands: start small (50 to 100), see what sells, then reorder.