In todays world it's very common to chase the lowest price. And that goes for custom decorated merchandise as well.
But in the merch world, it depends on your goals. Everybody orders merch and custom printed T-Shirts for different reasons. And pricing is truly all over the place.
For this article, when I talk CHEAP and PREMIUM, I'm referring to the T-Shirt it's self. Not the printing or the embroidery.
A cheap T-Shirt would be a heavy cotton tee. Made of 100% heavy cotton. Very boxy feeling even when new. Not desirable to wear really after a couple washes. Colors fade pretty quick, etc. Brands like Gildan, Jerzees, and Fruit Of The Loom are all economy T-Shirts. (I'm talking their standard T-Shirt products, as they do make some premium cuts)
Why buy a cheap shirt? Here's a few reasons:
You own a construction company. You have 10 employees that need shirts each day of the week. Your employees use them as napkins, sweat towels, and maybe even band aids from time to time. The shirts get dirty quick and you have to replenish your stock often.
The school year is about to begin and your open house is in 2 weeks. You're expecting hundreds, maybe thousands of people to come. New students and parents. Most of them WILL want a T-Shirt. But won't want to sacrifice their Starbucks coffee for the day to afford one.
You're in charge of the marketing for the local downtown festival. It's likely that not a single person is coming FOR a T-Shirt, but there are many people who will probably WANT a T-Shirt. Their budget for alcohol is $400. Their T-Shirt budget is $8.00. The next day they forgot they even bought a shirt and end up finding it in the backseat of their car 6 months later. It gets used to clean up a mess one of the kids made.
These are all reasons you might want a LOW COST T-Shirt.
Now let's talk a PREMIUM T-Shirt. Premium shirts are far superior. The west better. They're softer. They last longer (practically getting better over time). The colors don't fade. Etc.
You're a new business in town. You want to make sure that people don't just HAVE your shirt, but that they actually wear it and enjoy wearing it. You're looking for the advertising benefits.
You're a reseller. You're getting your design printed on shirts solely for resale/profitable reasons. Again, you want your shirt to be someone's FAVORITE shirt.
You're company is vending at a trade show. You sell an expensive product/service and you want the product you're giving to potential customers, to reflect the value of doing business with you.
Economy shirts vs Premium shirts. Which one is better? It simply depends on your needs. And remember, it's never a bad idea to discuss your needs with your screen printer. Sometimes paying $3.00 more per shirt is a very beneficial investment. But for some, it's simply unnecessary.
We're always here to help at WeMakeTShirts.net