Custom Long Sleeve Shirts With No Minimum Order

Most custom apparel suppliers will not talk to you about a long sleeve order under two or three dozen pieces. That is not because small orders are impossible to produce. It is because their pricing and production setup assume bulk from the start, and a five-shirt order breaks the math their business was built around. Arklavo runs long sleeve shirts differently: no minimum order quantity on any of the 15 long sleeve tees in the catalog, whether you need one sample or a hundred.

This guide explains why minimums exist in the first place, what actually happens when you place a small long sleeve order, how much a low-quantity order costs compared to a large one, and how to decide between embroidery and print when the headcount is small. If you already know you want a bigger batch later, the same pricing structure applies to that order too.

Why do most custom apparel companies require a minimum order?

Most custom apparel companies require a minimum order because their production process has a fixed cost that only makes sense once it is spread across enough shirts. Screen printing needs a physical screen burned for each color in a design, which costs the shop money and machine time before a single shirt gets printed. Embroidery needs a design digitized into a stitch file, a step that also carries an upfront cost regardless of how many shirts get stitched.

A traditional screen printer who pays to burn a screen loses money on an order of five shirts unless the per-shirt price absorbs that setup cost somehow. Their easiest fix is a minimum: refuse orders under 24 or 48 pieces so the fixed cost disappears into the math. It is a rational response to their own cost structure, but it leaves small buyers with nowhere to go for a properly branded shirt.

Arklavo avoids this problem with a decoration setup built for on-demand production rather than batch runs, which is what allows a genuine no-minimum policy rather than a "minimum of one, if you ask nicely" workaround some suppliers offer as an exception.

What does ordering 1 to 12 long sleeve shirts actually look like?

Ordering 1 to 12 long sleeve shirts follows the same four steps as any larger order: pick a shirt, upload or design a logo, approve a free digital proof, and confirm production. There is no separate small-order process, no phone call required for an exception, and no upcharge tier that only kicks in below a certain headcount.

Getting a quote and a proof

Pick a product from the custom long sleeve shirts collection, choose a quantity as low as one, and either use the customizer tool or send over your logo for a quote. Arklavo sends a free digital proof showing the logo placed on the actual garment and color you picked before any payment is taken, so a five-shirt order gets the same visual check as a fifty-shirt one.

Choosing decoration

Every long sleeve shirt in the catalog is available either embroidered or printed, depending on the specific product. Embroidered options run from $33.99 to $48.99 across Gildan, Comfort Colors, Champion and AS Colour. Printed options run from $17.99 to $30.99 across the same four brands. Neither method carries a hidden per-order setup fee that only shows up once you ask for a small quantity.

Production and shipping

Once the proof is approved, production takes about 2 days regardless of whether the order is for 3 shirts or 30. Shipping then takes 2 to 5 business days. Arklavo ships worldwide, with free shipping over $150 USD or the local-currency equivalent, so a small domestic order and a small international order move through the same timeline.

How much does a small no-minimum long sleeve order cost?

A small long sleeve order costs the same per shirt as a large one, because Arklavo prices per garment rather than per order. There is no small-batch surcharge added on top of the listed price, so a single shirt and a case of fifty both pay the same $17.99 to $48.99 band, depending on the brand and decoration chosen.

The table below shows where each brand and decoration combination lands, using the men's version of each product as the reference point.

Printed shirts generally sit at the lower end of the band because printing has a lower per-unit material cost than embroidery thread and stitching time. That gap holds at any quantity, so a buyer choosing between a printed Gildan tee and an embroidered Champion tee for a 6-person order is weighing the same tradeoff a 60-person order would face. For a full breakdown of what drives the difference, see our guide to custom long sleeve shirt cost.

Embroidery or printing, which fits a small order better?

Both embroidery and printing work fine for small long sleeve orders, so the choice comes down to logo detail and fabric feel rather than quantity. Embroidery holds up better over repeated washing and gives a raised, textured logo that reads as premium. Printing handles multi-color or detailed designs that would be difficult to stitch, and it keeps the price lower.

Neither method changes based on how many shirts are in the order. A 3-shirt embroidered order and a 30-shirt embroidered order both go through the same digitizing and proofing step, because Arklavo's process does not add a batch-based setup charge the way many traditional embroidery shops do for orders under a certain size. Our comparison at embroidery vs printing for long sleeve shirts goes deeper into fabric and durability differences.

What if the team grows and a bigger order is needed later?

Reordering later is simple because the same product, brand, size run, and logo file used for the small first order stay on record for the next one. There is no reason to order more shirts than currently needed just to avoid a second setup step down the line, since there is no setup step being avoided in the first place.

This matters most for growing operations: a clinic that opens with 4 staff and plans to hire 6 more within the year, or a youth sports program that starts with one team and expects three more next season. Ordering exactly what is needed now, then reordering the identical shirt later, tends to cost less overall than guessing high on the first order and sitting on excess stock that may not fit new hires anyway.

The custom embroidery apparel collection and the long sleeve collection both keep the same product listings live, so a logo proofed once in 2026 can be reused on every future order without redoing the digitizing work.

Who typically places a no-minimum long sleeve order?

Small no-minimum long sleeve orders tend to come from teams too small for a typical bulk minimum to make sense: a corporate department, a single clinic location, a hospitality outlet, a school club, or a youth sports team. These groups need a consistent branded shirt, but their headcount sits well under the 24 to 48 unit floor most competitors require.

A corporate office might need long sleeve shirts for a five-person facilities team. A medical practice might need them for a small front-desk and administrative team, where branded staff apparel does the same job a uniform would. A hospitality outlet might need a handful for a small kitchen crew working somewhere cool enough for long sleeves. In every case, order size is set by the actual team, not by a supplier's production math.

What should you check before placing a small order?

Before placing a small long sleeve order, confirm the fit against the size chart, confirm the fabric weight matches the season, and confirm the logo proof before approving payment. These three checks matter more on a small order than a large one, since there is less room to absorb a sizing mistake across only a handful of shirts.

Size charts differ by brand: an AS Colour heavyweight long sleeve fits differently than a Gildan long sleeve, and our sizing guide for team long sleeve shirts covers how each brand runs. Ordering one sample shirt in the size you expect to need most, before committing the rest of the team, is a reasonable way to use the no-minimum policy even if the eventual order will be larger.

Frequently asked questions

Small orders raise a different set of worries than bulk ones do. Here is the direct answer to each, without the caveats a bulk supplier would attach.