4.8 13,067 reviews No minimumsFree shipping over $150
(302) 775-9484Get a Quote
4.8 (13,067 reviews) · No minimums

Custom Apparel Guide · 22 min read

Where to Get Custom Shirts Made: 2026 Guide

Where to get custom shirts made: online national printers, local shops, print-on-demand platforms, or DIY home decoration. 2026 guide comparing all 4 channels by price, speed, quality, and order size.

By Conor Smart, Founder of Arklavo · Updated May 17, 2026

Quick answer

You can get custom shirts made through four channels in 2026: online national printers, local print shops, print-on-demand platforms, or DIY home decoration. Online printers win for orders of 6 or more shirts on price, garment selection, and reorder workflow; local shops fit 1 to 5 shirts with walk-in service; print-on-demand fits selling shirts rather than buying uniforms; and DIY only makes sense for under 5 shirts you decorate yourself. A single basic printed tee runs $7 to $15 online, $20 to $35 at a local shop, and $12 to $18 through print-on-demand. For small B2B teams ordering 5 to 50 units, online national printers like Arklavo publish per-unit pricing with no minimum order and 2-business-day production.

The short version

  • Four channels Custom shirts come from online national printers, local print shops, print-on-demand platforms, or DIY home decoration, each fitting a different order size and goal.
  • Online wins at 6+ Online national printers beat the other channels on per-shirt cost, garment selection, and reorder workflow once an order reaches 6 or more shirts.
  • 3x cost spread A single basic printed tee costs $7 to $15 online, $20 to $35 at a local shop, $12 to $18 via print-on-demand, or $5 to $10 in DIY materials.
  • Lead times vary 3x Online printers ship in 2 to 14 business days, local shops can hand over tiny rush orders the same day, and print-on-demand takes 10 to 21 days.
  • B2B default is online For 5 to 50 unit branded-apparel orders with ongoing reorders, online printers like Arklavo publish per-unit pricing from $6.99 with no minimum and 2-business-day production.

Interactive · free · get your best method

Custom shirt channel match quiz

Screen print, DTG, DTF or embroidery. Answer four quick questions for the right call and why.

Recommended method
No minimum No setup fee Free ship over $150 Ships in 2 days

Get your results by email

Enter your email and we will send you your recommended method plus a firm quote. No spam, no sales pitch.

Get a firm quote for this exact run → · Estimate only; final price confirmed on your quote.

On this page+

By Conor Smart, Founder of Arklavo. Last updated 2026-05-17. Reading time: 19 minutes.

Key Takeaways

  • You can get custom shirts made through four channels: online national printers (Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees), local print shops, print-on-demand platforms (Printful, Bonfire), or DIY home decoration (heat transfer vinyl, Cricut, home embroidery).
  • Online national printers win for orders of 6+ shirts on price, garment selection, and reorder workflow. Local shops win for 1-5 shirts where you want walk-in service. Print-on-demand wins when you are SELLING shirts, not buying them as uniforms. DIY only makes sense for under 5 shirts you decorate yourself.
  • Cost per shirt varies 3x across channels. A single basic printed t-shirt costs $7 to $15 online, $20 to $35 at a local shop, $12 to $18 via print-on-demand, or $5 to $10 in materials if you DIY. The right channel depends on order size, decoration method, and how much of your time you can spend.
  • Lead times also vary 3x. Online printers ship in 2 to 14 business days, local shops can hand you shirts the same day for tiny rush orders, print-on-demand takes 10 to 21 days, and DIY is whatever you can fit into your weekend.
  • For small B2B teams (5 to 50 units, branded apparel, ongoing reorders), online national printers are almost always the right call. Arklavo specifically targets this segment with published per-unit pricing, no minimum order, and 2-business-day production.
4
channels for getting custom shirts made in 2026
$6.99
Arklavo starting price online for a custom printed t-shirt
3x
price spread between cheapest and most expensive channel
6+
unit threshold where online beats local on per-shirt cost
22
sources cited inline in this guide

You can get custom shirts made through four distinct channels in 2026: online national printers (Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, Vistaprint), local screen-print or embroidery shops, print-on-demand platforms (Printful, Bonfire, Printify), or DIY home decoration using a heat press and heat transfer vinyl. Each channel fits a different combination of order size, lead time, budget, and what kind of involvement you want in the process. This guide walks through all four channels honestly, explains the trade-offs, and tells you which one fits your specific order.

The right channel depends entirely on what you are actually trying to do. Outfitting a 25-person team in matching embroidered staff polos for a quarterly company photo? Online national printer. Need one t-shirt with your son's name for his school spirit day next Tuesday? Local print shop or DIY. Selling custom band merch through a Shopify store? Print-on-demand. Crafting personalized birthday gifts on a Cricut at home? DIY. The most common mistake is using the wrong channel for the order size, like paying $25 per shirt at a local shop for a 50-shirt corporate uniform order, or trying to DIY a 100-shirt event order on a single home heat press. This guide tells you which channel matches which scenario, then points to the specific vendors and tools in each channel. If you already know you want an online national printer, our best custom t-shirt companies guide ranks the top 12.

How we compared the four channels

The four channels in this guide were defined based on how US buyers actually source custom apparel in 2026. We pulled real search-intent data from Google's "People Also Ask" patterns around "where to get custom shirts made," then mapped each common variant to one of the four channels. Every cost, lead time, and capability claim is sourced inline from vendor pricing pages, industry reports, or first-hand experience from running a custom apparel business since 2023.

For each channel, we cover: what it actually is, what it costs per shirt, how fast it delivers, what order sizes it fits, and where it breaks down. Specific vendor recommendations within each channel are kept brief and link out to our deeper comparison guides (the 12-vendor t-shirt comparison for the online channel, the polo-specific guide for B2B uniform programs) so this guide stays focused on the "where" question.

The decision framework we use throughout matches Google's E-E-A-T standard for buyer's guides: clear intent matching, transparent methodology, and honest disclosure of competitive positioning.

Disclosure: Arklavo is my company and operates in the "online national printer" channel covered below. I have flagged Arklavo specifically only where the channel genuinely fits the reader's order. For every other channel and use case, I have recommended the right alternative without pushing my company.

The 4 channels for getting custom shirts made

Here is the high-level view of all four channels before we dive into each one in depth. Use this as a quick reference to decide which section to skip to.

Channel Best for order size Cost per shirt (basic) Lead time
Online national printers 6 to 500 units $7 to $15 2 to 14 business days
Local print shops 1 to 24 units (small rush) $20 to $35 Same day to 5 business days
Print-on-demand 1 unit at a time (sellers) $12 to $18 base + your margin 10 to 21 days after sale
DIY home decoration 1 to 5 units (hobby) $5 to $10 materials Your weekend

If you have any order size larger than 5 shirts AND you want consistent quality, the online national printer channel almost always wins. The other three channels exist for specific scenarios outside that default.

Custom t-shirts ready to ship - folded apparel in branded packaging from a USA fulfillment center
Online national printers ship folded custom shirts in 2 to 14 business days - the most common channel for orders of 6+ units

Channel 1: Online national printers

Online national printers (Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, Vistaprint, UberPrints, Real Thread, Bonfire, Printful, and similar) operate as full-service custom apparel companies: you upload your design online, pick a garment and decoration method, place the order, and shirts arrive at your door in 2 to 14 business days. The model has become the default for most US custom shirt buyers above the single-shirt tier because the per-unit price drops with quantity, the garment selection is broad, and reorders are easy.

What works about online national printers

Per-unit price drops at higher quantities. A 1-shirt order from an online printer costs roughly the same as a local shop (around $15 to $20 each delivered) but a 50-shirt order from the same online printer drops to $5 to $10 each while the local shop tends to stay at $18 to $25 each. The break-even point is around 6 to 12 units; above that, online wins on cost almost every time.

Garment selection is broader than any local shop carries. Online printers stock or drop-ship from major brands (Gildan, Bella + Canvas, Comfort Colors, Champion, adidas, Under Armour, Carhartt). Local shops usually carry one or two budget brands and order specialty garments only on request.

Reorders are a 2-minute checkout. Most online printers keep your logo file and original order on record. Six months later when you need 5 more shirts for new hires, you log in, click reorder, done. Local shops often require a fresh quote each reorder cycle.

Where online printers break down

Single-shirt rush orders are slower and more expensive than local. If you need one t-shirt with your kid's name on it by tomorrow, you cannot beat a local shop with same-day service. Even Arklavo's 2-business-day production beats most competitors, but a local shop can hand you a finished shirt in 90 minutes.

You cannot inspect samples before bulk orders without ordering them separately. Local shops let you walk in, feel the garment, see the print quality on a sample. Online requires a sample order at standard per-unit pricing (typically $7 to $50) which adds 3 to 5 days to your total timeline. Worth the cost for orders above 24 units; not worth it below that.

Lead times depend on the vendor. Arklavo ships in 2 business days. Custom Ink takes around 2 weeks standard. RushOrderTees publishes 8 days. Our 12-vendor comparison breaks down the lead time table for every major online printer.

Which online printer fits your specific order

Rather than re-listing all 12 online printers here, we have dedicated comparison guides organized by garment type:

For small B2B teams (5 to 50 units, branded apparel, no minimum needed), the Arklavo custom t-shirts and custom polos collections are our specific commercial offering in this channel.

Local screen printing shop interior - traditional plastisol press setup at a small US print shop
A local screen printing shop - the right channel for 1-5 shirts with same-day rush or in-person consultation

Channel 2: Local print shops

A local print shop is a screen-printing or embroidery business that operates from a single physical location, serves walk-in customers, and typically employs 1 to 5 people. Almost every US town with more than 10,000 people has at least one local print shop. They specialize in small-batch local work: school spirit shirts, family reunion tees, restaurant uniforms, single-piece custom orders, and rush jobs that need turning around in hours, not days.

What works about local print shops

Same-day or next-day rush is possible. A 5-shirt rush order at a local shop can often be done in 90 minutes to a few hours. Online printers, even with Super Rush options, cannot match this for tiny orders because of shipping time alone.

Walk-in service and physical sample inspection. You can hold the blank garment, see ink colors in real life, watch the test print before authorizing the run. This is genuinely valuable for first-time orders or when fabric feel matters.

Local relationship for ongoing orders. A good local shop owner becomes a known contact: you text them a logo file, they reply with a quote in an hour. This personal touch is what some buyers value more than the per-unit savings of online vendors.

Where local print shops break down

Per-unit price stays high at all quantities. Local shops generally do not have the volume to negotiate wholesale garment pricing the way national online vendors do. A 50-shirt order at a local shop typically runs $18 to $25 per shirt; the same order at a national online printer runs $7 to $15.

Garment selection is narrow. Most local shops stock 2 to 4 garment brands. If you want a specific Comfort Colors style or a women's Champion polo, the local shop usually has to order it in, adding 5 to 10 days to your lead time and offsetting the speed advantage.

Quality is highly inconsistent shop-to-shop. Some local print shops are excellent (skilled owner, modern equipment, consistent results). Others are inconsistent (faded prints after a few washes, off-center placement, color mismatches). National online vendors enforce quality consistency across thousands of orders; local shops are only as good as the specific owner.

How to find a good local print shop near you

Open Google Maps and search "screen printing near me" or "custom embroidery near me." Filter to 4+ star ratings with 30+ reviews. Read the most recent 10 reviews looking specifically for: print quality after multiple washes (fade and crack mentions), turnaround time accuracy (delivered when promised), and how they handled mistakes. Avoid shops with primarily 5-star and 1-star reviews and few in between (a sign of polarized customer experiences). Avoid shops whose newest review is more than 6 months old (a sign of low activity or closure).

Before placing the order, ask three questions: (1) Do they stock the specific garment brand you want, or do they need to order it in? (2) What is the actual turnaround for your order size, not the website default? (3) Do they offer a sample print before the full run for orders above 12 units?

Print-on-demand platforms (Printful, Printify, Bonfire, Teespring, Spreadshirt, Redbubble) operate a fundamentally different model than the first two channels. You do not buy shirts. You upload designs to the platform, the platform mounts them as products in your storefront (Shopify, Etsy, WooCommerce, or the platform's own marketplace), and when a customer orders, the platform prints + ships that single shirt and pays you the margin above their base cost. This is a selling channel, not a buying channel.

Designing custom t-shirts online - a laptop screen showing a generic t-shirt design configurator interface
Print-on-demand platforms let you upload designs once and sell shirts without holding inventory

When print-on-demand is the right channel

You are selling shirts, not buying them as uniforms. A creator with a 50K-follower TikTok audience selling branded merch is a perfect POD use case. So is an Etsy artist selling illustrated t-shirts to a niche audience, a nonprofit running a fundraising campaign where supporters buy a $30 shirt to donate $15, or a YouTube channel selling merch through Bonfire.

You want zero inventory risk. POD shifts the financial risk from you to the platform: no upfront garment purchase, no warehouse storage, no stuck inventory if your design does not sell. The trade-off is lower per-shirt margin and no control over fulfillment quality.

You want a passive income product line attached to your existing content business. Many bloggers, podcasters, and creators add POD merch as a secondary revenue stream that requires only design uploads plus occasional product page updates.

When print-on-demand is the wrong channel

You are buying uniforms for your own team. POD takes 10 to 21 days from order to delivery and the per-shirt cost is mid-tier ($12 to $18 base), making it a worse fit than buying directly from an online national printer (which delivers in 2 to 14 days and offers 30-50% bulk discounts above 25 units).

You need consistent quality across a large team. POD platforms route orders to whichever fulfillment partner has the lowest current load, which means quality can vary between two shirts ordered the same day. For uniforms where everyone should look identical, direct bulk ordering from a single vendor is the better path.

You need a specific premium brand garment. POD platforms typically offer 50 to 100 garment options, mostly mid-tier (Gildan, Bella + Canvas, occasional Champion or Sport-Tek). If you want a specific adidas Performance polo or Carhartt jacket, direct online printers like Arklavo will have broader premium-brand options.

Channel 4: DIY home decoration

DIY custom shirt decoration covers any method where you decorate blank shirts yourself: heat transfer vinyl (HTV) with a Cricut or Silhouette cutter and a home heat press, iron-on transfer paper with a regular household iron, sublimation printing with a dedicated sublimation printer, or hand-painting with fabric markers. The startup cost ranges from $30 (just iron-on paper and an existing iron) to $1,000+ (Cricut Maker + heat press + sublimation printer + ventilation).

DIY home heat press setup for custom t-shirts - heat transfer vinyl decoration workflow on a kitchen counter
DIY home decoration with a Cricut and heat press - the right channel for 1 to 5 personal shirts

When DIY is the right channel

You enjoy the craft and want creative control. Many crafters genuinely enjoy the design-cut-press process. If that describes you, DIY is the right channel for personal projects, birthday gifts, kids' clothing customization, and small hobby batches.

You need 1 to 5 personalized shirts with names or numbers. A single shirt with a kid's name on it is faster to do at home with HTV than to order online. The per-shirt cost is the lowest of any channel (just blank shirt + vinyl + your time).

You already own a Cricut or heat press. If the equipment is already paid for, the marginal cost per shirt is just blank + vinyl ($3 to $5 each). For very small recurring needs (school spirit days, family events), DIY pays back over time.

When DIY is the wrong channel

You need any quantity above 5 shirts. DIY scales terribly. A 20-shirt order takes most of a weekend, and home heat presses can mark or melt fabric if a shirt is on the platen too long. Above 5 shirts, your time-cost almost always exceeds the savings vs. online printers.

You need professional-looking embroidery or screen-print quality. Home heat-transfer-vinyl looks like heat-transfer-vinyl: a slight rubbery edge, a slight raised feel. It's perfectly fine for casual personal shirts; it's not the look you want for branded staff uniforms or polished event apparel.

You do not want to maintain equipment. A Cricut blade needs replacement every 6 to 12 months. A heat press needs Teflon cover replacement. Sublimation printers need ink and paper. The ongoing equipment cost adds up if you DIY only occasionally.

How to choose the right channel for your specific order

Use the order size and use case as your two main filters. Almost every custom shirt order maps to one clear channel using this decision tree:

Your situation Right channel
1 shirt, today, walk-in, names on the back Local print shop
5 shirts for a family reunion, no rush DIY (if you craft) or online printer
12 to 50 staff uniform polos with embroidery, ongoing reorders Online national printer (Arklavo or similar)
100+ event shirts with screen-printed design Online national printer (volume tier kicks in)
Selling branded shirts through your Shopify store Print-on-demand (Printful, Printify)
Fundraising campaign with supporter merch Print-on-demand (Bonfire)
Personalized birthday gift for one person DIY home decoration

Cross-reference your situation against this table first. If you do not see your exact situation, default to the online national printer channel because it covers the broadest range of order sizes and use cases above 5 units.

Cost across channels, compared head-to-head

Same shirt design, same blank cotton t-shirt, four different channels. Here is what each one actually costs at common order sizes:

Four custom t-shirt sourcing channels visualized - online printer, local shop, print-on-demand, and DIY pricing comparison
Four channels priced at the same order: online wins on per-shirt cost above 6 units, DIY wins at single-piece if you own the equipment
Order size Online printer Local shop Print-on-demand DIY (if equipped)
1 shirt $7 to $15 $20 to $35 $12 to $18 + margin $3 to $8 + time
12 shirts $7 to $14 each $18 to $30 each $12 to $18 each $3 to $8 each + a full day
50 shirts $5.50 to $12 each $15 to $25 each $12 to $18 each Not practical at this scale
100 shirts $5 to $10 each $13 to $22 each $12 to $18 each (no bulk discount) Not practical

Print-on-demand pricing does not drop with volume the way bulk channels do because POD prints one at a time, every time. That is why POD fits the seller scenario and not the buyer scenario at scale. For detailed per-spec pricing math against your specific order, use Arklavo's custom t-shirt pricing guide.

Lead time across channels, compared

Lead time is where the channel choice often gets decided. If your event is in 3 days, your options narrow fast. Here is what each channel actually delivers:

Channel Standard lead time Rush option
Online national printer (fastest: Arklavo) 2 business days production + 1-5 transit Custom Ink Super Rush 3 days; RushOrderTees 8 days
Local print shop Same day to 5 business days 90 minutes for 1-3 shirts at many shops
Print-on-demand 10 to 21 days from order to customer Not advertised; depends on partner
DIY home decoration Hours per shirt Up to you

For B2B uniform orders where the timeline is flexible (you are not racing a specific event), Arklavo's 2-business-day production is competitive with most rush options before any upcharge. Contact us directly for rush requests inside a 5-business-day window.

Common mistakes when picking the channel

After fulfilling hundreds of custom shirt orders and watching buyers route through every channel, these are the five most common channel-selection mistakes.

1. Using a local shop for a 50-shirt corporate order

The single most expensive channel mistake. You will pay $20 to $25 per shirt at a local shop for an order that costs $7 to $12 per shirt at an online national printer. On a 50-shirt order, that's $650 to $900 in unnecessary spend. Only use local for orders under 12 units or when same-day rush is the actual reason.

2. Using print-on-demand to buy uniforms for your own team

POD economics are built for selling shirts to customers, not buying them as uniforms. You pay $12 to $18 base per shirt and wait 10 to 21 days, when an online national printer would deliver the same shirt in 2 to 14 days at $7 to $15 each. Reserve POD for seller use cases.

3. Trying to DIY a 30-shirt event order

A 30-shirt DIY job takes most of a weekend and almost always produces inconsistent results (slight placement differences, slight color variations between vinyl batches). Time-cost alone exceeds the per-shirt savings vs. ordering online. DIY only makes sense at 1 to 5 shirts.

4. Ordering online when you actually needed rush from a local shop

If your event is in 3 days and you only need 5 shirts, do not start an online order workflow. Even rush options at online printers usually need 3 to 5 business days minimum. Drive to a local shop with your design file and walk out with shirts the same day.

5. Mixing channels for the same order

"Some shirts from the local shop, some from online for the rest" almost always produces visible inconsistency: slightly different garment colors (different dye lots, different brands), slightly different decoration placement, slightly different print quality. Pick one channel per order and stick with it for visual consistency. Request a single online quote for the full order so everyone matches.

Founder perspective: why most B2B buyers should pick online

I have ordered custom shirts from all four channels (local print shops, online printers, POD, and yes, even DIY) before I started Arklavo. After watching the way each channel actually delivers, here is what I think most B2B buyers miss.

The "support local" instinct is real but works against you above 12 units. Buying a 50-shirt order from a local shop costs your business an extra $500 to $1,000 vs. online. The local shop is grateful for the business but probably wishes they had the volume to drop the price. Your business is healthier supporting the local shop on small orders (samples, single-piece rushes, repair work) and using online for bulk uniform orders where the price difference is meaningful.

Print-on-demand is misunderstood. Most buyers I've talked to think POD is a cheap way to get one shirt. It is not. POD is a selling business model: you set up a storefront, you sell shirts to customers, the platform fulfills. Using POD to buy 30 staff uniforms is paying retail to a wholesaler. Wrong channel for the use case.

DIY is fun and almost never worth the time-cost at scale. I have a Cricut at home. I have made personalized shirts for my kids. I would never DIY a 25-shirt order. The math does not work if your time has any opportunity cost. DIY makes sense as a craft hobby, not as a business sourcing strategy.

The online national printer channel is the default for a reason. Per-unit pricing drops with quantity, garment selection is broad, reorder workflows are smooth, and modern vendors like Arklavo offer single-unit ordering with published per-product pricing so you don't even pay the small-order penalty most online vendors charge. For 95% of B2B buyers, this is the right channel. Read more about how Arklavo handles small B2B uniform orders.

Custom t-shirt order ready to ship - shipping box packed with folded apparel and kraft tissue paper
A typical Arklavo shipping box - 4 folded custom shirts wrapped in plain kraft tissue, no flashy branding

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is the cheapest place to get custom shirts made?

For orders of 6+ shirts, online national printers (Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees) are almost always the cheapest channel at $5.50 to $14 per shirt. For 1 to 5 shirts where you own the equipment, DIY with heat transfer vinyl is the cheapest ($3 to $8 in materials per shirt). Local print shops are usually the most expensive channel ($18 to $35 per shirt) regardless of order size. Print-on-demand is mid-tier base cost but built for sellers, not buyers.

Where can I get custom shirts made near me?

Search "screen printing near me" or "custom embroidery near me" on Google Maps, filter to 4+ stars with 30+ reviews, and read the most recent 10 reviews for quality consistency. For orders of 6+ shirts, the better question is whether you actually need a local shop or whether a national online printer (delivering in 2 to 14 business days) is the better fit. Arklavo ships from the US in 2 business days, comparable to most local shops for non-rush orders.

Where can I get custom shirts made online?

The major US online custom shirt printers are Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, UberPrints, Vistaprint, Real Thread, Bonfire, and Printful, among others. Each one specializes in a slightly different use case (first-time designers, rush orders, premium soft-feel, fundraising, print-on-demand). Our 12-vendor comparison ranks them by use case.

Can I make custom shirts at home?

Yes, for small batches of 1 to 5 shirts. The standard DIY workflow uses heat transfer vinyl (HTV) cut on a Cricut or Silhouette machine and pressed onto blank shirts with a home heat press. Startup cost ranges from $30 (just iron-on paper + an iron) to $1,000+ (full Cricut + heat press + sublimation setup). Above 5 shirts, DIY becomes impractical because of consistency issues and time cost.

Where can I get custom shirts made fast?

For 1 to 5 shirts in same-day or next-day timeline: local print shop. Many local screen-printing shops can do a 5-shirt rush in 90 minutes to a few hours. For 6+ shirts in 3 business days: online printers with rush options (Custom Ink Super Rush at 3 days, Arklavo 2-day production + ground shipping). For 6+ shirts in 5+ business days: any online national printer in standard turnaround.

Where do I get custom shirts made for my business?

For small B2B teams (5 to 50 employees) ordering branded staff apparel: online national printers in the no-minimum tier (Arklavo, Custom Ink for many products, Vistaprint for DTG). For larger enterprise programs (500+ employees) wanting a managed corporate uniform service: Lands' End Business, Queensboro, or a similar enterprise vendor. For fundraising or merchandise selling: print-on-demand (Bonfire for nonprofits, Printful for ecommerce stores).

Is it cheaper to make custom shirts yourself?

At 1 to 5 shirts, yes, if you already own the Cricut and heat press. Material cost runs $3 to $8 per shirt (blank shirt $3 to $5, HTV $0.50 to $2). Above 5 shirts, your time cost almost always exceeds the per-shirt savings vs. ordering online. A 25-shirt DIY job takes a weekend; the same order from an online printer takes 2 to 5 business days of waiting and costs roughly the same after factoring blank cost.

What is the best way to print custom shirts?

Depends on order size and design. For 1 to 24 shirts with complex designs: direct-to-garment (DTG) at an online printer or local shop. For 25+ shirts with 1 to 3 color designs: screen printing at an online printer (per-unit cost drops dramatically). For corporate uniforms and polos with a left-chest logo: embroidery. For one-off rush or DIY: heat transfer vinyl. See our deep dive on the 4 print methods.

Can I sell custom shirts without buying inventory?

Yes, that is exactly what print-on-demand platforms enable. Upload your designs to Printful, Printify, Bonfire, or Teespring, mount them as products in your Shopify or Etsy store, and the platform prints and ships each shirt only when a customer buys it. You pay the platform's base cost and keep the difference between base and your selling price. No upfront inventory, no warehousing, no risk if a design doesn't sell.

Where do I get custom shirts for a one-time event?

For events under 30 days out with 12+ shirts: online national printer in standard turnaround. For events 14 days out: online printer with rush option or local shop. For events in 7 days or less with under 24 shirts: local print shop. For events in under 3 days with under 5 shirts: local shop with same-day or DIY.

Where can I get custom embroidered shirts made?

For embroidered single-unit orders: online printers that support no-minimum embroidery (Arklavo, Printful). For embroidered orders of 6 to 12 units: most major online printers (Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, UberPrints) accept the order with their typical embroidery minimum. For local same-day embroidery on a few units: a local embroidery shop. See our custom embroidered hats guide for the technical embroidery breakdown that applies equally to shirts.

What is the minimum order for getting custom shirts made?

Depends on the channel and decoration method. Online national printers: many accept single-unit orders for DTG printing (Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, Printful, Vistaprint); embroidered orders often have 6 to 12 piece minimums at most vendors (Arklavo is one of the few with single-unit embroidery). Print-on-demand: 1 unit at a time, always. Local print shops: usually 1 unit minimum but pricing is much better above 12. DIY: 1 unit.

If online national printer is your channel

Get a shirt quote in under 24 hours

No minimum order, free shipping on orders over $150, ships in 2 business days. No minimum, free shipping over $150.

Request a quote Browse shirts

Sources

Channel pricing and lead time ranges sourced from vendor pricing pages on 2026-05-17. Vendor capabilities cross-referenced with our deeper comparison guides linked above.

  1. Custom Ink: minimum-order help, lead-time blog
  2. RushOrderTees: minimum-orders help, no-minimum page
  3. UberPrints: minimum-order help, shipping help
  4. Vistaprint: t-shirts page, cost hub
  5. Real Thread: per-size minimum help
  6. Printful: no-minimum glossary, payments + lead time
  7. Bonfire: Bonfire vs Fourthwall
  8. Printify: printify.com pricing
  9. Teespring: spri.ng shipping timelines
  10. Spreadshirt: volume/bulk discounts
  11. Cricut (DIY): cricut.com support
  12. Industry: Credence Research market report (PRNewswire)
  13. SEO/E-E-A-T: Google Search Central SEO Starter Guide

For logo work that needs to last, our embroidered shirts collection covers polos, tees, and button-downs with no minimum order, and a quote takes a day to come back.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the cheapest place to get custom shirts made?+
For orders of 6+ shirts, online national printers (Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees) are almost always the cheapest channel at $5.50 to $14 per shirt. For 1 to 5 shirts where you own the equipment, DIY with heat transfer vinyl is the cheapest ($3 to $8 in materials per shirt). Local print shops are usually the most expensive channel ($18 to $35 per shirt) regardless of order size. Print-on-demand is mid-tier base cost but built for sellers, not buyers.
Where can I get custom shirts made near me?+
Search "screen printing near me" or "custom embroidery near me" on Google Maps, filter to 4+ stars with 30+ reviews, and read the most recent 10 reviews for quality consistency. For orders of 6+ shirts, the better question is whether you actually need a local shop or whether a national online printer (delivering in 2 to 14 business days) is the better fit. Arklavo ships from the US in 2 business days, comparable to most local shops for non-rush orders.
Where can I get custom shirts made online?+
The major US online custom shirt printers are Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, UberPrints, Vistaprint, Real Thread, Bonfire, and Printful, among others. Each one specializes in a slightly different use case (first-time designers, rush orders, premium soft-feel, fundraising, print-on-demand). Our 12-vendor comparison ranks them by use case.
Can I make custom shirts at home?+
Yes, for small batches of 1 to 5 shirts. The standard DIY workflow uses heat transfer vinyl (HTV) cut on a Cricut or Silhouette machine and pressed onto blank shirts with a home heat press. Startup cost ranges from $30 (just iron-on paper + an iron) to $1,000+ (full Cricut + heat press + sublimation setup). Above 5 shirts, DIY becomes impractical because of consistency issues and time cost.
Where can I get custom shirts made fast?+
For 1 to 5 shirts in same-day or next-day timeline: local print shop. Many local screen-printing shops can do a 5-shirt rush in 90 minutes to a few hours. For 6+ shirts in 3 business days: online printers with rush options (Custom Ink Super Rush at 3 days, Arklavo 2-day production + ground shipping). For 6+ shirts in 5+ business days: any online national printer in standard turnaround.
Where do I get custom shirts made for my business?+
For small B2B teams (5 to 50 employees) ordering branded staff apparel: online national printers in the no-minimum tier (Arklavo, Custom Ink for many products, Vistaprint for DTG). For larger enterprise programs (500+ employees) wanting a managed corporate uniform service: Lands' End Business, Queensboro, or a similar enterprise vendor. For fundraising or merchandise selling: print-on-demand (Bonfire for nonprofits, Printful for ecommerce stores).
Is it cheaper to make custom shirts yourself?+
At 1 to 5 shirts, yes, if you already own the Cricut and heat press. Material cost runs $3 to $8 per shirt (blank shirt $3 to $5, HTV $0.50 to $2). Above 5 shirts, your time cost almost always exceeds the per-shirt savings vs. ordering online. A 25-shirt DIY job takes a weekend; the same order from an online printer takes 2 to 5 business days of waiting and costs roughly the same after factoring blank cost.
What is the best way to print custom shirts?+
Depends on order size and design. For 1 to 24 shirts with complex designs: direct-to-garment (DTG) at an online printer or local shop. For 25+ shirts with 1 to 3 color designs: screen printing at an online printer (per-unit cost drops dramatically). For corporate uniforms and polos with a left-chest logo: embroidery. For one-off rush or DIY: heat transfer vinyl. See our deep dive on the 4 print methods .
Can I sell custom shirts without buying inventory?+
Yes, that is exactly what print-on-demand platforms enable. Upload your designs to Printful, Printify, Bonfire, or Teespring, mount them as products in your Shopify or Etsy store, and the platform prints and ships each shirt only when a customer buys it. You pay the platform's base cost and keep the difference between base and your selling price. No upfront inventory, no warehousing, no risk if a design doesn't sell.
Where do I get custom shirts for a one-time event?+
For events under 30 days out with 12+ shirts: online national printer in standard turnaround. For events 14 days out: online printer with rush option or local shop. For events in 7 days or less with under 24 shirts: local print shop. For events in under 3 days with under 5 shirts: local shop with same-day or DIY.
Where can I get custom embroidered shirts made?+
For embroidered single-unit orders: online printers that support no-minimum embroidery (Arklavo, Printful). For embroidered orders of 6 to 12 units: most major online printers (Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, UberPrints) accept the order with their typical embroidery minimum. For local same-day embroidery on a few units: a local embroidery shop. See our custom embroidered hats guide for the technical embroidery breakdown that applies equally to shirts.
What is the minimum order for getting custom shirts made?+
Depends on the channel and decoration method. Online national printers: many accept single-unit orders for DTG printing (Arklavo, Custom Ink, RushOrderTees, Printful, Vistaprint); embroidered orders often have 6 to 12 piece minimums at most vendors (Arklavo is one of the few with single-unit embroidery). Print-on-demand: 1 unit at a time, always. Local print shops: usually 1 unit minimum but pricing is much better above 12. DIY: 1 unit.

Free download · no spam, no sales pitch

Get the Custom Shirt Channel Match Kit

  • A channel match worksheet that maps your order size and deadline to the right shirt source
  • A side by side cost and lead time sheet for 12 to 500 shirts across online, local, print on demand, and DIY
  • A print shop vetting checklist of questions to ask before you place your first order

Prefer a person? Request a quote →

If Arklavo is the right fit

Outfitting a team? Get a quote in one business day.

Send your quantity and logo. We reply with a firm price in one business day. No minimums, ships in 2 days from the USA.

Get a quote in one business day
4.8 from 13,067 reviews|13,000+ businesses outfitted|Free proof before it prints