Top 10 Custom T-Shirt Printing Companies of 2023 – Broken Arrow Wear Blog
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UPDATED 1/23/2023 Best Reviews: Top 10 Custom T Shirt Printing Companies
Do you want to find the best custom t-shirt printing company for your custom apparel printing needs? If so, you’ve come to the right place!
To help you choose the best custom T-shirt printing company for your custom apparel, I compiled this top ten list of our favorite custom T-shirt printing companies.
I update this blog several times a year to ensure that this list of top custom T-shirt printing companies remains accurate. As someone who has worked in the custom apparel business for many years, I’ve done a lot of research on custom T-shirt printing. And who better to compile a list of the best T-shirt printing companies than someone who knows the ins and outs of the industry having at worked at every position from screen-printer, to shipper, to sale manager to general manager.
Custom T-shirt printing is a complex industry with thousands of businesses of all sizes, large and small. A quick Google search of custom T-shirt printing nets over 50 million results alone. How can you ever find the right T-shirt decorating company for your custom apparel project?
Use this quick reference guide for my personal top 10 rating of T-shirt printing companies for 2022 in the United States. No two custom apparel companies are alike, and each company has its own set of pros and cons. Find the screen-printing company that best matches each of your needs, and you’ll find the best T-shirt printing company for you. In addition to listing each screen-printing company in terms of my favorites, I’m also pointing out what each company does very well, if not the best.
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TOP 1
Best Overall Custom T-Shirt Printer
Broken Arrow Custom T-Shirt Printing and Embroidery
Standard Turnaround Time: Delivered 8 business days after order placement
Price: 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $8.41 each
PROSCONSFast turnaround—to your door 8 business days after order placementWeekend and late night orders are through website only
Free deliveryExcellent qualityCheap pricesHuge online catalogEasy online designerExperienced fashion experts answer the phone and texts and are happy to help you if and when you need itExperienced on-staff artists can create custom designs for you free of charge if you prefer24/7 website access and order placement
The Scoop:
In business for over 30 years, Broken Arrow Wear offers a lot more than just basic custom T-shirt printing services. Broken Arrow uses state-of-the-art printing and embroidery equipment, and the company’s online design tool has over 13,000 pieces of clipart and hundreds of design ideas. It is quick and easy to use, but their true specialty is custom artwork, which is free with your order. If you need a custom T-shirt design or want your logo revised or if you prefer not to use a clip art design, Broken Arrow is the place to get your custom tees.
Broken Arrow Wear has a staff of artists that will be happy to tweak your logo, design a totally new logo for you, or even have your logo turned into an allover T-shirt print. In addition to screen-printing, Broken Arrow Wear offers direct-to-garment digital printing, all over printing, rhinestones, sublimation (a form of heat transfer explained below). All production is done in house from a central United States location, which allows for some of the quickest free standard delivery times and more affordable rush order deliveries.
Broken Arrow Wear is a one-stop-shop for your custom T-shirt printing and apparel needs. All-inclusive pricing is provided on each and every quote, so no other fees apply. You can order directly from Broken Arrow 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Live chat and live customer support agents are on staff to answer your phones calls from 8am to 6pm central time Monday through Friday.
TOP 2
Best for Creating Your Own Custom Shirt Design Online
UberPrints
Standard Turnaround Time: Ships in 5 to 10 business days
Price: 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $8.17 each
PROSCONSGood turnaround—items arrive at your door approximately 8 business days after order placemenStandard delivery is $5.99 plus .50 per item for orders that cost less than $100Excellent qualityPrices are higher than Broken Arrow, but still less than Custom InkNice size online catalog, including pet apparelYou must use the online designerEasy online designerEasy online quotes
The Scoop:
Uberprints is another good T-shirt printer if you are looking to design a shirt yourself. T-shirts are typically shipped out seven days after the day your order is placed, although some orders can take twice that long. (As a fun aside, if you want to print a matching T-shirt for you and your dog, you can do it at Uberprints). Their website is designed around creating a shirt yourself, so if you want design help, I suggest going to Broken Arrow. Shipping at Uberprints is only free on orders costing more than $100.
TOP 3
Best for Small Promotional Items
Discount Mugs
Standard Turnaround Time: Delivered in about 2 weeks
Price: 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $8.59 each
PROSCONSExcellent qualitySlower turnaround—from order placement to your door expect at least 2 weeksCheap PricesShipping is only free on orders over $75Nice size online catalog, especially if you want things like mugs and pensEasy online pricing grid
The Scoop:
The thing I like the most about Discount Mugs is that they offer so much more than printed T-shirts. They offer mugs (shocking right?!), pens, toys, and other typical promotional products.
Their online pricing grid makes it easy to see their scaled-quantity pricing and the difference in cost between each printing method. Their quote system is easy, and the ordering process is simple.
Their D-lab design software lets you put your uploaded design on almost any of their product choices. Discount Mugs does not appear to offer any sort of custom artwork services, so if your design or file is not ready to go, you’ll have to choose another printer or hire a graphic designer to create your artwork.
TOP 4
Best if you prefer working with the biggest U.S. screen-printing company that advertises the most
Custom Ink
Standard Turnaround Time: Delivered in about 2 weeks
Price: 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $11.34 each
PROSCONSFree deliveryPrices are higher than Broken ArrowExcellent qualitySlower turnaround—from order placement to your door expect at least 2 weeksHuge online catalogYou must use the online designerEasy online designer24/7 website access and order placementOpen late nights and weekends
The Scoop:
Custom ink is the largest online custom T-shirt retail printer in the nation. Their prices tend to be on the higher end of T-shirt printers. This may be due to their high-dollar marketing and advertising campaigns.
They pioneered what they refer to as “the T-shirt design lab” and they offer lots of clip art designs for you to choose from. Custom Ink also offers live chat, long business hours, and a friendly staff.
You must do all the work to design your own tee, which is great for if you are the DIY type, but not-so-great if you need a little one-on-one support. Like Broken Arrow T-Shirt Printing and Embroidery, they offer all-inclusive pricing.
TOP 5
Great for small orders and on-demand printing
Café Press
Standard Turnaround Time: About 12 days
Price: 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $22 each
PROSCONSExcellent qualityPrices are higher Nice size online catalogShipping is never free (the more you buy, the more you pay)Good for orders of one or two T-shirtsYou must have everything in the shopping cart before you can get much helpNice selection of pre-designed T-shirtsDecent turnaround—to your door approximately 11 or 12 days after order placement
The Scoop:
Café express prefers that you use their website and never call them, which for some people may be a plus, not a con. Café express, however, is excellent at small orders and they dominate the print on demand market. If you want to have your catalog of garments online and then have customers buy them with a profit going back to you, this service is worth checking out. As a customer, you can choose from a catalog of pre-designed tees from freelance creative artists, or you can design your own.
If you don’t have a creative bone in your body but want to find a cool holiday tee, Café Press is a great site to visit. Each artist that sells their design on the site receives a small royalty, so you will also be supporting a starving artist. You are definitely going to pay a lot for bulk orders, so look elsewhere for large quantity T-shirt orders. If pre-designed tees are your thing, you really cannot beat the Café Press selection.
TOP 6
Best if you want a pre-made artsy design you can customize
Spreadshirt
Standard Turnaround Time: varies greatly, usually 2 weeks
Price: 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $20 each
PROSCONSGood qualityTurnaround varies greatly depending on what you order, usually two weeksNice size online catalog; they also carry phone casesShipping costs $5.99 for 1 or 2 items and goes up as you buy more
The Scoop:
Spreadshirt reminds me of Café Press but with more customizable options. The Spreadshirt online design tool connects you to an online artist community to give you some very unique, yet customizable artwork. You’ll find fun, funky graphics that you won’t find anywhere else. The prices vary depending on the design and artist you choose but unlike Café Press, you can then customize your chosen design.
Custom artwork (such as company and team logos) and bulk orders don’t appear to be their niche, but it is a fun spot to design or modify an artist’s design on a single custom tee.
TOP 7
Great for a straightforward simple t-shirt order
Rush Order Tees
Standard Turnaround Time: 8 days from order placement
Price: 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $11.05 each
PROSCONSGood qualityYou must use the online designerNice size online catalogFree Shipping
The Scoop:
Like Custom Ink, at RushOrderTees you will be uploading your own art or using clipart to create your T-shirt design. Located in Pennsylvania, they ship orders throughout the U.S. so west coast delivery can take a few days longer than when ordered from Broken Arrow. Their price quotes are all inclusive.
They offer standard screen-printing, embroidery, and a sublimation heat transfer option, but not rhinestones.
TOP 8
Great if you don’t care what brand shirt you get
Design A Shirt
Standard Turnaround Time: 10 days from order placement
Price: 100 Basic Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $9 each
PROSCONSGood qualityYou must use the online designerGood online catalogFairly easy to get an online quoteFree Shipping
The Scoop:
A unique element to Design A Shirt is that they offer their own “DAS Value” Tee. It appears this value tee can be any brand(s) they can find a good deal on. They don’t offer as many styles and brands as some sites, but the site does clearly lay out delivery dates prior to placing your order, which makes it easy to know whether you are going to get the product soon enough and whether you might have to pay extra for faster delivery.
Their higher quality shirts can be pricier than other printers though, so if you’re ordering something other than the “das value,” don’t expect to get the best deal here.
TOP 9
Good for Selling Your Own T-Shirt Designs Online
Tee Spring
Standard Turnaround Time: varies depending on vendor
Price: Tee Spring is now calling themselves Spring, but their web address is the same. I could not find a price of 100 Gildan Black T-Shirts with a three-color print. Spring’s niche is to sell and print other people’s designs.
PROSCONSGood qualityShipping is $3.99 for first item and $2 more for each additional item.Good online catalog that includes phone cases, socks, and mugsOffer pre-made designs
The Scoop:
Similar to Café Press, if you want to have your own catalog of garments online and then have customers buy them with a profit going back to you, this service is worth checking out. As a customer, you can choose from a catalog of pre-designed tees from freelance creative artists, or you can design your own.
If you are looking to order a custom T-shirts for a company, team, or event, they are probably not the best choice for that.
TOP 10
Good for Order Stationary and Other Paper Products
Vistaprint
Standard Turnaround Time: varies depending on vendor
Price: 100 Basic Black T-Shirts with a three-color print will cost you approximately $14.69 each plus shipping
PROSCONSGood qualitySo big you may have to wait a long time for helpGood online catalog especially for paper productsYou must use the online designerDifficult to get a quoteYou don’t know the actual brand or style until it arrives.
The Scoop:
Vistaprint is a well-known online retailer that specializes in paper product printing. They make attractive, high quality business cards and stationary. I have ordered some of their paper products myself. When it comes to decorating T-shirts, they also provide a decent print quality and a decent selection of clipart, but if you are looking for truly custom T-shirt design, they are not your best bet. Uploading artwork files is easy and their online T-shirt design tool works OK, but it offers fewer bells and whistles compared to most of the other sites listed.
When you check out, be prepared for pages and pages of special offers (and long hold times), which makes placing an order a long process.
Kortni Remer,
2nd Generation Owner
Broken Arrow Custom T-Shirt Printing and Embroidery
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Kortni Remer
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