Catalyst Promotions Blog

Ordering t-shirts can be a frustrating experience because there are so many things to consider.  This post will help you navigate your next order so that you know you are getting what you want at the best price possible.

What Sizes Do I Need?

Getting a breakdown of sizes is a critical step in ordering shirts.  It may sound obvious, but not everyone thinks about this before calling to place an order.  Even if you don’t have a complete breakdown of the sizes you need, (you may be taking orders) knowing the range of sizes you need can determine what color/style of shirt you get.  All t-shirts come in standard sizes, (S-XL) and most have double and triple XL options.  But not every shirt has youth or big and tall sizes.  If you know you need especially small or large shirts, be sure to check with us to make sure they are available in the style of shirt you are ordering.

The size of shirt also has an effect on how the art will look.  When t-shirts get printed the screen that is used to print them is the same size for each order, regardless of what size shirt you get.  This means the decoration will look a little bigger on youth shirts and a little smaller on a 4XL shirt.  If you want to avoid this, you would need to place a separate order for the standard and specialized size shirts.  This solution can be much more expensive and you should only do this if you are ordering a large number of each set.

What Color Shirt(s) Do I Need?

Every event is different, sometimes you only need a single color for your t-shirts, other times you have to distinguish groups of people(teams, etc) or you may just want a little variety.  In general, White shirts are less expensive than Heathered shirts which are less expensive the Colored shirts.  Another issue to keep in mind is that your art may look great on a blue shirt but look very strange on a red shirt.  You may need to choose your shirt colors carefully or change the color of the art (this may incur a fee).  Another thing to consider is that printing light colors on a dark-colored shirt is more expensive than dark colors.  Think of it like painting a dark wall.  If you try to painting a dark wall white, it takes a lot more paint and effort than painting it black.

What Should I Print On The Shirts?

Ultimately you should print what you want, but there are certainly some best practices.  You cost is going to depend largely on the number of colors that you will print on each side.  So if you want to keep you cost down, print as few colors as possible.

There are some choices for where you can print.  The most common are Full Front, Front Left Chest, and Full Back.  The most configurations are Full Front Only, Front Left Chest Only, Full Front and Full Back, and Front Left Chest and Full Back.  It is usually a good idea to keep any Front Left Chest designs simple because that size is usually too small for a lot of detail or information.

Buying t-shirts can be a confusing process sometimes.  I hope that this post will help give you the information you need to make the choices that fit your event/budget up front.  T-shirts are a very effective advertising medium and we want to make sure you get shirts that you can be proud to have your customers wear.