Gildan vs Champion vs Comfort Colors vs AS Colour: Long Sleeve Blanks

Gildan, Champion, Comfort Colors, and AS Colour are the four long sleeve blank brands Arklavo decorates for custom orders. There are no others in the current catalog: no button-ups, no dri-fit or performance fabric, no long sleeve polos, henleys, or thermals. All 15 SKUs are long sleeve tees, split between men's and women's fits and printed or embroidered decoration. This guide compares the four brands head to head so you can pick the right blank before sending us a logo.

Which long sleeve blank brand fits a small-business order?

Gildan fits the widest range of small-business orders, because it is the only brand in Arklavo's long sleeve catalog paired with the lowest price point across full men's-and-women's, printed-and-embroidered coverage. The table below is ranked by fit for small-business orders, not by price: coverage across genders and decoration methods, weighed against each brand's price point, decided the order.

All four brands live inside Arklavo's custom long sleeve shirts collection, and every SKU above ships with the same no-minimum order policy, so the brand choice comes down to budget, feel, and which genders and decoration methods a team needs covered.

What is the real difference between Gildan and Champion long sleeve shirts?

The real difference between Gildan and Champion long sleeve shirts is price and catalog depth, not decoration quality. Gildan runs $17.99 to $33.99 across four SKUs with full gender and decoration coverage, while Champion runs $28.99 to $48.99 across three SKUs and has no women's printed option at all.

Gildan long sleeve shirts

Gildan is the only brand in this comparison priced under $20 for a printed long sleeve tee. The men's printed Gildan is $17.99, the women's printed Gildan is also $17.99, and both the men's and women's embroidered Gildan run $33.99. That is four full SKUs, one for every combination of gender and decoration, at the lowest price band in the catalog.

Champion long sleeve shirts

Champion sits at the top of the price band: $28.99 for men's printed, and $48.99 for embroidered in either men's or women's. There is no women's printed Champion SKU in Arklavo's catalog, so a team wanting a printed Champion long sleeve for women needs to pick a different brand or switch that order to embroidered.

How does Comfort Colors compare to AS Colour on long sleeve tees?

Comfort Colors and AS Colour sit in the middle of the price band, with Comfort Colors the cheaper of the two and AS Colour the pricier heavyweight option. Both brands carry all four SKUs (men's and women's, printed and embroidered), so the choice between them is about price and the fabric label on the product, not coverage.

Comfort Colors long sleeve shirts

Comfort Colors is listed as "garment-dyed" in every product title on the site, and it prices at $22.99 printed or $38.99 embroidered, in either gender. It sits directly between Gildan and AS Colour on price, with the same full four-SKU coverage as Gildan.

AS Colour long sleeve shirts

AS Colour is labeled "heavyweight" in every product title, and it prices at $30.99 printed or $45.00 embroidered, in either gender. It is the second-most expensive brand in the catalog after Champion, and like Gildan and Comfort Colors it covers all four gender-and-decoration combinations.

Is embroidery or printing the better call for each brand?

Embroidery costs more than printing on every brand in this catalog, and the size of that gap varies by brand. Gildan and Comfort Colors both add $16.00 for embroidered over printed. AS Colour adds $14.01. Champion adds $20.00, the largest gap of the four, on top of already being the most expensive brand printed.

Neither method changes which brand is right for a given budget; it changes how much that brand costs once decoration is added. A business choosing between a $17.99 printed Gildan and a $45.00 embroidered AS Colour is really comparing two separate decisions: brand and method. Browse the full range in custom embroidery apparel before locking in a method.

How much do the four long sleeve brands cost?

Prices across the four brands range from $17.99 to $48.99, and the gap between a brand's printed and embroidered price is never the same twice. The table below lines up all four so the spread is easy to see in one place.

Arklavo has no minimum order on any of these 15 SKUs, so the price in the table is the price for one shirt, not a bulk rate that only kicks in at a case quantity.

Which brand fits a men's or women's team order best?

Gildan, Comfort Colors, and AS Colour fit any men's or women's order equally, because all three carry full four-SKU coverage. Champion is the one exception: men's Champion comes in both printed and embroidered, but women's Champion is embroidered only.

A mixed-gender team that wants a single brand across everyone should lean toward Gildan, Comfort Colors, or AS Colour, since a Champion order would force the women's shirts into embroidery even if the men's shirts are printed. Teams that only need one gender do not run into this at all. Browse the full men's and women's range in custom t-shirts, and see the fabric-and-fit breakdown in our Gildan vs Comfort Colors long sleeve comparison for a deeper look at those two brands specifically.

For teams still deciding between printing and embroidery generally, rather than brand by brand, our embroidery vs printing for long sleeve shirts guide covers the decision in more depth than fits here.

Frequently asked questions

Disclosure

Arklavo publishes this comparison and sells the long sleeve blanks discussed in this guide. Arklavo is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Gildan, Champion, Comfort Colors, or AS Colour; all four are independent apparel manufacturers whose garments we buy, decorate, and resell.