The Best Blank T-Shirts for Screen Printing

best t-shirt for screen printing

You’ve recently started a screen-printing business where you print your own custom t-shirts. In just a few months, your business has grown exponentially. To keep up with demand, you need a more generous t-shirt supply than what you currently have. You don’t want to spend an arm and a leg on shirts, but they also can’t be cheap quality. What are the best blank t-shirt wholesale retailers for screen printing?

We recommend the following blank t-shirt wholesale retailers for high-quality shirts you can use for screen-printing:

  • Jiffy Shirts
  • Shirtspace
  • BlankShirts
  • BELLA + CANVAS
  • Jones T-Shirts
  • The Adair Group
  • Shirt Max
  • Gildan
  • Blankstyle
  • TSC Apparel

If some of these inexpensive blank t-shirt wholesale retailers are unfamiliar to you, then you’re not going to want to miss this article. Ahead, we’ll discuss each of these 10 options in more detail, including real examples of what you might pay for wholesale t-shirts. You can then calculate costs for your screen-printing business.

Let’s get started!

10 Wholesale Blank T-Shirt Retailers for Screen Printing

Jiffy Shirts

We’ll begin with a major blank shirt wholesale retailer, Jiffy Shirts. Despite their name, you can also order blank bags, backpacks, hats, drinkware, spiritwear, jackets, and sweatshirts here. Of course, we’ll just stick to the prices for the t-shirts for your screen-printing business.

If you want to print on funky tie-dye, the prices for a unisex or women’s cotton tee varies between $6.50 and $7.83 per t-shirt. You can also order long-sleeved tie-dye shirts for $7.62 to $13.62 a pop. According to Jiffy Shirts, all their tie-dye products come from a brand called Port & Company. 

For the men, the t-shirt brands available on Jiffy Shirts include Next Level, BELLA + CANVAS (which we’ll discuss later), ComfortWash, and Alternative. Tees are available for as low as $3.96 each to $7.34 a pop. These tees come in an assortment of colors.

If you do a bit of digging, you can get surprisingly inexpensive shirts on Jiffy Shirts from big-brand names like Hanes or Gildan. For instance, an Eco-Friendly Unisex 5.2-ounce 50/50 EcoSmart tee from Hanes costs $2.13 each. An Adult Unisex Ultra Cotton 6-ounce t-shirt from Gildan is $2.27 each, which is very reasonable!

Here’s a video review of Jiffy Shirts if you’re thinking their service is right for you.

ShirtSpace

ShirtSpace was founded in 2004 and is based in the Pacific Northwest. Like Jiffy Shirts, you can also pick up blank sweatshirts and other types of clothing here if you switch to printing on these goods as well.

You can find some of the highest-quality t-shirt brands on ShirtSpace, including Comfort Colors, BELLA + CANVAS, Fruit of the Loom, Gildan, and Next Level Apparel. Their Comfort Colors wholesale t-shirts start at about $7 for a mid-weight RS t-shirt. A C3199 Ladies’ Midweight RS V-Neck tee is $7.29 each.

ShirtSpace’s BELLA + CANVAS offerings are more affordable. You can get your hands on a 3001C Unisex Jersey tee for $3.73. Their Fruit of the Loom shirts also won’t break the bank, with a 3931 Adult 5-ounce HD Cotton shirt starting at $1.82 apiece. That’s very inexpensive.

If you prefer Gildan, ShirtSpace sells Gildan tees for $1.87 to $4.19 on average depending on the style. You can even buy a women’s V-neck shirt such as the Gildan G500VL Ladies’ Heavy Cotton 5.3-ounce V-Neck shirt for $2.94 each.

The Next Level Apparel shirts are priced under $3 to start, although stylized shirts like racer-backs or raglan shirts are a bit costlier at $5 to $7 each.

ShirtSpace has a YouTube channel where they talk about their available shirt stash. Check out one such video!

BlankShirts

The appropriately-named BlankShirts sells bags, workwear, button-up shirts, shorts, pants, jackets, hats, tank tops, and hoodies in addition to t-shirts, and all are blank for you to add your printed designs on.

Poking around on their website makes it easy for you to find what you need on BlankShirts. You can choose a shirt subcategory such as short-sleeved, ringer tees, raglan shirts, pocket tees, henleys, or camo t-shirts. You can also shop by cut, material, weight, size, color, and brand.

The prices are very reasonable on BlankShirts. As an example, you can get a Gildan 5000 Heavy Cotton tee for $1.99 each, a BELLA + CANVAS 3001 Unisex 100% Cotton shirt for $3.70 each, a Jerzees 29M Dri-Power 50/50 tee for $1.98 each, or a Next Level Apparel 1540 Women’s Ideal V-Neck tee for $2.70 each.

BlankShirts even tells you how many colors are available per each style and brand of t-shirt, with some shirts having as many as 60 different color options. Whether you want to print on an off-white, sky blue, or light gray shirt, surely you’ll have all the color variety your print-on-demand store needs and then some!

BELLA + CANVAS

If you want to go straight to the source, BELLA + CANVAS sells their own blank wholesale t-shirts on their website. Founded by two best friends named Marco and Danny, BELLA + CANVAS began as a post-high school endeavor. The two pals were screen printers at the time who wanted higher-quality t-shirts than what was available, so they decided to start making those shirts. Then BELLA + CANVAS was born.

Learn more about how BELLA + CANVAS makes their shirts here in this engaging video!

Admittedly, BELLA + CANVAS doesn’t disclose the pricing of their wholesale blank t-shirts on their website, and you can’t order their shirts until you register an account through that site. There are benefits of working directly with the source of the t-shirts though. For one, you may be able to shave costs, which any new print-on-demand business can appreciate.

Also, for any style of t-shirt that sparks your interest, you can find nearly countless colors, about 60 each on average. Each color has a specific name on BELLA + CANVAS’ website too, such as White 00, Maize Yellow 71, Poppy 00347, or Mint 00081. That makes it very easy to find the exact color you want.

Jones T-Shirts

Next, we’ve got Jones T-Shirts, which has a long-standing history in the business of retailing blank t-shirts. They got their start in 1992 in Provo, Utah and have expanded in the years since. Today, Jones has warehouses in Washington, Colorado, Texas, Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, Pennsylvania, and California. When you order your blank t-shirts through their wholesale service, it likely won’t take long for them to arrive.

Jones T-Shirts specializes in tees of all kinds, including athletic shirts, youth clothing, tank tops, and polo shirts. You can shop some of your favorite shirt brands as well, including UltraClub, Team 365, Next Level Apparel, L-A-T Apparel, Jerzees, Hanes, Gildan, Econscious, BELLA + CANVAS, Bayside, and Anvil.

Some of Jones’ least expensive and thus best-selling t-shirts include a Gildan G5000 Adult Heavy Cotton tee for $3.02 each, a Hanes 5280 Adult ComfortSoft tee for $3.23 each, a Gildan 2000 Ultra Cotton Adult shirt for $3.15 each, and a Gildan G8000 DryBlend Adult tee for $3.05 each.

Don’t worry, as you can also find women’s apparel at Jones T-Shirts. Perhaps you’d like a Next Level N1540 Ladies Ideal V-Neck tee for $3.52 each, a Gildan 5000L Heavy Cotton Ladies tee for $2.91 each, or an All-Sport Ladies Performance Short-Sleeved tee for $6.02 each.

The Adair Group

If you’re still weighing your options, The Adair Group is another blank t-shirt wholesale retailer to look into. Founded more than 50 years ago, this family-owned business based in Atlanta, Georgia sells hats, underwear, tie-dyed goods, sweatshirts, polos, and t-shirts.

The available t-shirt brands from The Adair Group include Rabbit Skins (a children’s clothing brand), Point, Kajpac, Jerzees, Gildan, Hanes, Fruit of the Loom, Delta, Comfort Colors, Alstyle, and Anvil.

You can buy an Anvil women’s basic tee for $1.75 each, a Gildan adult polo for $2.95 each, a Fruit of the Loom Royal FOL Adult tee for $3.25 each, or a Comfort Colors long-sleeved shirt for $2.79 each.

We do just want to make a note that, unlike the other blank t-shirt retailers on this list thus far, The Adair Group does not let you shop by shirt color. When you click on a product, the color it’s shown in is the only color you can buy it in. This can be limiting in some instances, so make sure you shop carefully to get what you want!

Shirt Max

Shirt Max has 12 warehouses across the United States where it packages and sends out its 50,000 products and counting. Besides t-shirts, these products include jackets, hats, dress shirts, pants, polos, sweatshirts, and accessories.

Promising “wholesale direct prices,” if you want big-name brands on the cheap, Shirt Max has got you covered. Their Gildan G500 Adult Heavy Cotton 5.3-ounce tee starts at $1.69, which is ideal for screen-printing businesses on a budget.

You can also find a Next level N1540 Ladies’ Ideal V-Neck shirt for $3.55 apiece, a Gildan G880 Adult 6-ounce 50/50 Jersey Polo shirt for $4.89 each, a Hanes #5280 5.2-ounce ComfortSoft tee for $1.67 apiece, a Fruit of the Loom #3931 Adult Unisex 5-ounce HD tee for $1.89 each, and so much more.

Unlike The Adair Group, at Shirt Max, you get the freedom to select the shirt colors that will best complement your screen-printed design. Some t-shirt styles even offer upwards of 66 colors, which is a rainbow you can freely choose from! Even the most subtle colors are available.

Gildan

We’ve talked about Gildan shirts throughout this whole guide from the above wholesale blank t-shirt retailers. Like with BELLA + CANVAS, if you’d rather go straight to the source, Gildan does sell its shirts wholesale on its website.

You cannot see the pricing for any of their shirts on the site, but you can check out plenty of pertinent details that will make you more confident in your purchase. For instance, let’s look at the H000 Gildan Hammer 6-ounce Adult shirt. This preshrunk jersey knit shirt is quarter-turned for no center creasing. It also has 7/8-inch double-needled bottom hems and sleeves, a tear-away label, tapering at the shoulders and neck, and a 7/8-inch non-topstitched seamless collar.

You wouldn’t know any of that information outside of Gildan’s site.

Further, although the prices aren’t clear on their site, Gildan does offer discounts if you bulk-order your blank t-shirts. Using the same H000 Gildan Hammer 6-ounce shirt as an example, if you order shirts in size small, you can get six dozen at a time. That’s also true of the medium, large, XL, and 2XL sizes. You can get three dozen 3XL shirts at the same price, a dozen 4XL shirts, and a dozen 5XL shirts as well.

This video shows you how Gildan manufacturers their shirts. It’s definitely worth a watch!

https://youtu.be/JJ2NRATW9kU

Blankstyle

Blankstyle is an Irvine, California business that has attracted the business of Sam Edelman, Tiffany & Co., Pepsi, Amazon, and more. That’s likely due to the large stock carried at this wholesale retailer, including hats, bags, shirts, hoodies, pants, blankets, towels, and socks.

You’ll find lots of great t-shirt brands represented at Blankstyle, including Tultex, Nike, Next Level Apparel, Los Angeles Apparel, Independent Trading Co., Hanes, Gildan, District Clothing, Cotton Heritage, BELLA + CANVAS, Augusta Sportswear, Anvil, American Apparel, Alternative Apparel, and Alstyle. All these brands don’t necessarily sell wholesale t-shirts, but plenty of them do.

Some of the cheapest offerings on Blankstyle’s website include a Gildan 64000 G640 Soft-Style Singles Ring-Spun tee starting at $2.97, a Stilo Apparel C204 Cotton Crew Neck shirt starting at $3.48, a Gildan 5000 G500 Heavyweight Cotton tee starting at $2.32, and a Tultex 0202TC Unisex tee starting at $2.77.

Even the BELLA + CANVAS tees aren’t tremendously expensive. You can buy a 3001 Soft Cotton tee from the brand starting at $4.75 each or a 3413 Unisex Howard Tri-Blend tee for $6.83 each.

TSC Apparel

The last blank t-shirt wholesale retailer we recommend is TSC Apparel. Founded in 1976, TSC came out of the merger of two brands, T-Shirt City and California Shirt Sales. They expanded that same year to North Carolina, Ohio, and California. In the decades since, TSC Apparel has established a presence in China and grown its warehouses across the US as well.

If you’re looking for Tultex t-shirts especially, you’ll find a lot of them at TSC Apparel. Other brands available here are Gildan, LAT Apparel, Next Level Apparel, BELLA + CANVAS, Dickies, Bayside, American Apparel, Dri-Duck, Anvil, Jerzees, A4, and lots more.

The one downside is that you can’t see the prices for the blank t-shirts on TSC’s website until you register an account there. That said, you’re free to browse a variety of color options for any t-shirt style, including dozens upon dozens of interesting shades.

Conclusion

Buying t-shirts to use for your print-on-demand business on a one-on-one basis is way too expensive. By the time you factor in shipping costs, you’re dropping way more money than anyone should on a single blank shirt.

The 10 wholesale blank t-shirt retailers on this list sell their shirts in bulk so you can get the shirt quantity you need without spending too much money. Whether you prefer big brand names like Anvil, BELLA + CANVAS, Gildan, or Fruit of the Loom or you don’t mind sticking with the smaller brands for now, the versatility you get in brands, t-shirt styles, colors, and sizing make any of these 10 services worth using.

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