How Much Do Custom T-Shirts Cost? (2026 Pricing Guide)

There's no single sticker price for a custom shirt — it's a small equation. Once you know the five inputs, you can estimate any order in your head and know when to switch methods.

The five things that set the price

1. Method — DTG, screen printing, or embroidery (see below).
2. Quantity — the biggest lever. Setup costs spread across more shirts.
3. Colors & print locations — each screen color and each location (front, back, sleeve) adds cost in screen printing; DTG doesn't care about color count.
4. Garment — a basic cotton tee vs. a premium ringspun or a hoodie.
5. Turnaround — standard vs. rush.

DTG vs. screen printing: the crossover

DTG has no setup fee, so a single shirt is cheap to start — but the per-shirt price stays flat no matter how many you order. Screen printing charges a per-color setup up front, then the per-shirt cost falls quickly with volume. Somewhere around a couple dozen shirts, screen printing overtakes DTG and keeps winning as the count climbs. For 1–24, DTG usually wins; for 50, 100, 500, screen printing pulls ahead.

Where embroidery fits

Embroidery is priced by stitch count, not ink, so a small left-chest logo is affordable while a large, dense back design costs more. It reads as premium, which is why it's the default for company polos, hats, and jackets.

The honest shortcut

Rather than memorize tables, build the actual design in the designer, set your garment and quantity, and watch the live price update. That number already factors in the method, colors, and quantity — no surprises at checkout.