You have four employees. You need four shirts.
So you start pricing it out, and every quote that comes back assumes you're a company with a marketing department and a purchase order. Minimum 24 pieces. Setup fees per color. A size curve you're supposed to guess at. Somewhere in there the whole idea starts feeling like more trouble than it's worth, and the shirts never happen.
They should happen. Here's how to actually plan a small business apparel order — what to order, how many, and what it costs.
Why a branded shirt is the cheapest advertising you'll buy
A shirt isn't a t-shirt expense. It's a billboard that walks around your city and gets washed.
The 2026 ASI Global Advertising Impressions Study found a typical promotional product generates about 3,300 brand views over its life, at an average of six-tenths of a cent per impression. It also found 85% of consumers remember the advertiser who gave them a logoed product, and 78% keep promotional items because they're actually useful. Consumers rank promotional products above television and digital as an ad channel they welcome — and T-shirts are the single most-wanted promotional product in the U.S., named by 55% of consumers.
Run our own numbers against that. At our 10-piece price, a shirt costs $20. Divide that across 3,300 views and you're at about $0.006 per impression — and unlike an ad, the shirt doesn't stop working when the budget runs out.
That's the case for doing it at all. Now the practical part.
What to order
Staff shirts. The default, and the one that pays off fastest. A team in matching shirts reads as a real business to every customer who walks in. Our Double Sided Customizable T-Shirt is the workhorse — 4.2oz ringspun cotton, front and back printing included in the base price.
Aprons, if you're food, coffee, salon, or barber. Honestly underrated. An apron is worn the entire shift, faces the customer the whole time, and starts at $20. For a shop with four people behind a counter, this is often a better buy than shirts.
Event and booth apparel. Farmers markets, pop-ups, trade shows, street fairs. Your team in branded gear is how people find your table in a row of forty. A tank top works better than a tee for an outdoor August booth in LA.
Client gifts and giveaways. A zippered tote gets reused for groceries and gym runs for years, which is exactly the "useful, so people keep it" behavior that drives those impression numbers. Backpacks work for bigger-ticket thank-yous.
Browse everything in Customizable Apparel.
How many you actually need
The most common mistake isn't ordering too few. It's ordering a round number that has nothing to do with your actual situation.
- Staff shirts: headcount × 2. One being worn, one in the wash. Four employees is eight shirts, not four. Add two spares in your most common sizes for new hires and you're at ten — which, conveniently, is where the first discount tier starts.
- Booth or event: staff × 2, plus giveaways only if you have a plan for them. Don't order 50 giveaway shirts for a booth you've never worked. Do one event, see what moves, then scale.
- Client gifts: your actual list, not a guess. Count the names. That's the number.
- Sizes: ask people. This is the part a minimum takes away from you. When there's no minimum per size, you order two mediums, one XL, and one 3XL because that's what your team wears — not because a size curve told you to.
What it costs
Bulk discounts apply automatically in the cart. No quote request, no negotiation, no waiting on an email. Based on our $25 tee:
| Quantity | Price each | Order total | You save |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–9 | $25.00 | — | — |
| 10 (20% off) | $20.00 | $200 | $50 |
| 20 (30% off) | $17.50 | $350 | $150 |
| 30 (40% off) | $15.00 | $450 | $300 |
Check your cart before you check out. Because the discount applies to the whole order, crossing a tier can cost you less in absolute dollars than stopping just short of it:
- 9 shirts = $225. 10 shirts = $200. One more shirt, twenty-five dollars less.
- 19 shirts = $380. 20 shirts = $350.
- 29 shirts = $507.50. 30 shirts = $450.
If you land on 9, 19, or 29, add one. You'll pay less and get more. Every order in that table also clears our $40 free shipping threshold, and if you're within 10 miles of us, local delivery is free.
Front, back, or both
Both, and it doesn't cost extra on the customizable tee. The layout that works for most businesses:
- Front: small logo, left chest. Subtle enough that staff will actually wear it off the clock.
- Back: the big one — full logo, your city, a tagline, or your handle. This is the side strangers read from across a room, and it's where the impressions come from.
If you're not sure how to lay out the back, we walked through it step by step in how to design your own custom back-print tee.
What to send us
A PNG with a transparent background prints cleanest. If your designer gave you a vector file, even better — it scales to any size without softening. No logo file at all? You can build something in the design studio right on the product page: upload art, set type, and see a live preview of exactly what lands in the print area before you pay.
Already have blanks you like? We also offer print-only — you supply the shirts, we press your design onto them. Useful if you've standardized on a specific garment, or you have a box of blanks sitting in the back.
Small business apparel FAQ
Do you have a minimum order?
No. One shirt is a real order. We wrote up the full reasoning in No Minimums, No Problem.
Do I have to ask for the bulk discount?
No. It applies automatically at 10, 20, and 30 pieces. The price drops in the cart.
Can I mix sizes and colors in one order?
Yes, and it doesn't affect your discount tier — that's based on total pieces, not pieces per size.
How long does it take?
Most orders ship in 2–5 business days. Everything is printed here in Los Angeles, so local delivery within 10 miles is free and fast. Working against a hard event date? Tell us the date before you order.
Can you print on things other than shirts?
Yes — aprons, totes, backpacks, tanks, hats, and more. If you need something you don't see listed, ask.
Can you print on shirts I supply?
Yes. Print-only pricing is available for customer-supplied garments.
What if I need to reorder later?
Just order again. Each order is priced on its own quantity, so a 10-piece reorder gets the 10-piece discount. For ongoing or wholesale volume, get in touch and we'll set something up.
Start with what your team actually needs
Count your people. Double it. Add two. That's your order — and at ten pieces you're already into the discount.
Design yours on the Customizable T-Shirt, look at aprons if your team works a counter, or read more about custom T-shirt printing in Los Angeles. For anything bigger or more specific, send us a note — we answer in 1–2 business days.