What all goes in to the pricing of imprinted apparel? That is important to know so you can also know how to save money when purchasing imprinted apparel.
Here’s a good checklist:
· Quantities – Most people are aware that the more you buy the less they cost. What you should also be aware of though is where the quantity breaks are. For instance, if you need 72 pieces, but there is a price break at 73, then you might save money overall by purchasing that 1 extra shirt.
· Materials – No matter if you are ordering t-shirts, polo shirts, dress shirts, pants, blankets or what; the type material does typically matter. Nicer material just cost more. Do you really need that type of material though? There may be a less expensive option that would please the recipients just as much.
· Brands – Some companies just have to have name brands. In reality there are many promo industry brands that are just as good, if not better, than some of the retail brands with which you are familiar.
· Imprint Colors and Locations – The pricing for blank pieces of apparel or textiles really does not decrease significantly with higher quantities. With screen printing the number of colors you are imprinting and in how many locations does. For embroidery the number of colors typically doesn’t matter but the number of locations does. For screen printing try to limit the number of locations and colors to reduce cost. Also be aware that what you think is a 4-color process imprint sometimes takes 8-12 colors to make it look right. That can get pricey.
· Garment color – This is actually just applicable to screen printing. If you use a dark garment or textile they have to lay down a coat of white under your imprint so the dark shirt behind it does not alter the imprint colors. This counts as an extra color typically.
· Direct to Garment Printing – If you have a really low number of pieces you need then look into direct to garment or digital printing. Any quantity under 24 might be best for this. The biggest advantage is there are no set-up charges because screens are not used. The pieces are decorated using a special inkjet printer, to simplify it a lot. The imprints I’ve seen are usually not as high quality as actual screen printing, but very close.
· Embroidery v. Screen Printing – Most people think embroidery costs more. Sometimes it does not, particularly with higher quantity runs or runs with multiple colors in logo. In addition, with embroidery once your file is set-up to do the embroidery you do not have to pay set-up fees on future orders. That can really add up over time.
· Sales – Ask your promotional products vendor about current sales when you are ordering, apparel in particular. There is almost ALWAYS sales on t-shirts in particular.
Hopefully knowing these factors can help you on future imprinted apparel and textiles purchases. Let us know at Promo Hounds if we can help!