Before you pick a colour or a logo placement, you pick a fabric — and that one decision quietly sets the feel, the price, the durability, and which decoration methods are even on the table. Here’s how we walk teams and businesses through it.
Most people ordering custom apparel for the first time obsess over the print and skip past the blank. That’s backwards. The fabric you choose decides more about how the finished piece looks, feels, and lasts than almost anything else — and it quietly rules out (or in) the decoration methods you can use. Choose a moisture-wicking polyester jersey and you’ve already eliminated direct-to-garment printing. Choose a soft tri-blend and you’ve traded a little colour vibrancy for a premium hand feel. This guide is the same conversation we have at the counter, written down.
There are really only four fabric families you need to understand for a bulk order: 100% cotton, 100% polyester, 50/50 poly-cotton, and tri-blend. Get these straight and you can spec almost any job confidently.
The default for casual tees, soft and breathable with a natural matte finish. Cotton takes ink beautifully — it’s the friendliest fabric for both screen printing and DTG, which prints directly into the cotton fibres for a soft, no-overlay feel. The trade-offs: cotton shrinks (budget for it), wrinkles, holds moisture rather than wicking it, and fades a little faster than synthetics over many washes. Within cotton, “ring-spun” is softer and more durable than cheaper “open-end” cotton because the fibres are twisted into a finer, smoother yarn.
The performance fabric. Polyester wicks moisture, dries fast, resists shrinking and wrinkles, and holds colour through heavy wash cycles. It’s the right call for sports jerseys, moisture-wicking athletic wear, and anything labelled hi-vis. The catch is decoration: you can’t reliably DTG or screen print onto polyester (heat and ink chemistry fight you), so polyester garments are decorated with DTF, sublimation, or embroidery instead.
The pragmatic middle. An equal cotton-polyester blend gives you most of cotton’s softness with less shrinkage and faster drying than pure cotton, at a budget-friendly price. It’s a forgiving, all-purpose choice for staff tees, giveaways, and large mixed orders where you want one fabric to do everything reasonably well.
Cotton, polyester, and rayon — most commonly in a 50% polyester / 25% cotton / 25% rayon ratio. The rayon is what makes a tri-blend noticeably softer, lighter, and drapier than any other option, with a worn-in, premium feel right out of the box and minimal shrinkage. The trade-off: tri-blends cost more and don’t hold solid colours quite as vibrantly — the heathered, slightly faded look is the whole point, but it’s not what you want for a bright, crisp corporate logo.
A quick reference for the trade-offs that matter when you’re committing to a few hundred units. Pricing notes are illustrative ranges for a typical bulk decorated order, not a quote — the real number depends on garment brand, quantity, and decoration.
| Fabric | Feel | Durability / wash | Best decoration | Relative cost | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100% cotton | Soft, natural, matte | Good; shrinks & fades a little over time | Screen print, DTG | $ | Casual tees, events, retail |
| 100% polyester | Slick, athletic | Excellent; holds shape & colour | DTF, sublimation, embroidery | $$ | Jerseys, hi-vis, athletic wear |
| 50/50 blend | Soft with structure | Very good; low shrinkage | Screen print, DTF, DTG | $ | Staff tees, giveaways, mixed orders |
| Tri-blend | Softest, drapey, heathered | Very good; minimal shrinkage | DTF, screen print, DTG | $$$ | Premium swag, retail, fashion fit |
Two shirts can both be “100% cotton” and feel completely different because of weight, measured in GSM (grams per square metre) or ounces per square yard. It’s the single spec people forget to ask about, and it changes how premium the finished piece feels in hand.
For most team and staff orders we steer people to a midweight blank — it photographs well, survives the wash, and feels substantial without being heavy. Save heavyweight for premium drops and outerwear-adjacent pieces.
Go polyester. Sport means sweat, and polyester’s moisture-wicking and colour retention are exactly what a jersey needs. Numbers and names get applied with sublimation or DTF, both of which love polyester. Cotton on the pitch is a mistake you feel by halftime.
50/50 blend, or polyester for hi-vis. Uniforms get washed constantly, so you want low shrinkage and colour that holds. A 50/50 tee is comfortable, durable, and affordable at volume. For anything hi-vis or safety-rated, the fabric is poly by definition, so decorate it with DTF or embroidery.
100% cotton or 50/50. These are worn casually and don’t need performance properties, so lean on the most cost-effective, print-friendly option. Cotton gives the softest classic-tee feel; 50/50 stretches your budget further across a big quantity.
Tri-blend. When the goal is something people actually want to wear — founder merch, conference swag, a small retail line — the drapey, lived-in softness of a tri-blend does the heavy lifting. Just design with the heathered look in mind rather than fighting it with bright solid blocks.
Cotton, blend, or poly — the fabric matters less here. Embroidery stitches into almost anything, so choose the garment on comfort and the look you want. Pique-cotton polos and structured caps are the classics.
Ordering polyester and expecting to screen print it. The two don’t play nicely. If your blank is poly, plan on DTF, sublimation, or embroidery from the start — tell us the fabric and we’ll match the method.
Buying the cheapest cotton blank to save a few cents. Low-grade open-end cotton feels rough and pills quickly. The jump to ring-spun cotton or a 50/50 blend is small per unit and obvious the moment someone puts the shirt on.
Ignoring weight entirely. A lightweight blank and a heavyweight blank can be the same price tier but feel a class apart. Always ask the GSM/oz before you commit a few hundred units.
Forgetting to account for shrinkage on cotton. 100% cotton shrinks in the first wash. If sizing is tight, size up or go with a blend. (For help splitting your order across sizes, see our size-run guide.)
Tell us the garment, the quantity, and how it’ll be worn. We’ll suggest the right fabric, weight, and decoration method and send a quote — usually within the hour during business hours.
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