Most screen printers can put a logo on a shirt. What sets them apart is everything around the print: the minimum, the clock, the proof, the reorder, and what happens when the art has eleven colors.
The right questions depend on who is buying. A charity run, a university team store and a distributor's client order each go wrong in a different place. Here is what to ask for each one.
Start with the art and the garment
Before you compare shops, look at your design. Screen printing puts down one ink color per screen, so it is the most efficient method for bold designs with a few colors on a large run. The ink is bright and opaque, and it holds up to heavy washing.
A design with gradients, photos or many colors is a different job. Digital printing handles unlimited colors and photographic detail, and it suits small batches where every piece is different. A good shop tells you which method fits the art instead of selling you the one it owns.
Then look at the garment. We embroider and print on almost anything, but some materials take decoration badly. When a blank is a poor fit for the method, the shop should say so before the run, not after.
Nonprofit charity run T-shirts
A charity run has a fixed date. Ask the shop when the turnaround clock starts, because "two weeks" means little if it starts after a proof round you did not plan for. At The Swan Brothers, standard turnaround is under two weeks from payment, and rush is available in as few as 5 business days for a quoted rush fee.
Ask about the minimum too. Our bulk orders usually start at 12 pieces, with production-ready art setup at no charge. That makes a small volunteer order as practical as a 500-shirt race.
Then decide how supporters will get their shirts. A bulk order gets the best price per piece, because every shirt runs at once. An online store lets each runner or donor pick a size and pay, with no upfront inventory, but each piece costs more. Many nonprofits use both: a bulk order for runners and volunteers, and a store for supporters who want one after the event.
Multi-color fundraiser merchandise
Fundraiser designs often come from a volunteer artist, and they are often full color. Ask the shop to quote the design both ways. On a large run of a simple design, screen printing usually wins on price per piece. On a short run of a detailed design, digital printing avoids a stack of screens for a few dozen shirts.
If the merch sells through a store over several weeks, ask whether the shop decorates in one batch at the end of the window or piece by piece. Batch production keeps the cost per unit down. Our nonprofit merchandise page explains how a fundraiser store window works.
University online team stores
A university store has many buyers and many sizes, and it runs all season. Ask who builds the store, what it costs to set up, and who packs and ships each order. Our stores run on Chipply, are free to set up, and have no platform fee or monthly subscription. Students and parents order directly, and we decorate, pack and ship each order.
Ask how the store controls the brand. The athletic department or licensing office should approve the products, colors and logo placements once, and the store should show only those items. Ask what decoration each item gets: screen printing for tees and hoodies in school colors, embroidery for polos and hats, digital printing for names and numbers. See how this works on our education page.
Contract decoration for U.S. distributors
A distributor puts its own name on the work, so the questions are about consistency. Ask for weekly capacity as a number. Ours is 40,000+ units across screen printing, embroidery, digital printing and laser engraving.
Ask what happens on a reorder. We keep every customer's art and embroidery files, so a reorder uses the same approved logo, and the reorder turnaround is the same as a first order. Reorders have no minimum. When a client adds a logo for a seasonal or part-time group, we add it to the files we already have.
For the full distributor checklist, including tags and labels, read our contract decoration page.
The questions that matter for every buyer
Whoever you are, ask five things before you pay. When does the turnaround clock start? What is the minimum? Does every order get a proof before it goes on press? Which method fits this art and this garment? What happens on the reorder?
A shop that answers all five in writing is easy to compare. Price per piece is the last number to check, because it is the one that changes most with the answers above.
What to do next
Send us your design, the garment you want and your date. We will tell you which method fits, proof it, and quote it. Book a call with The Swan Brothers, or read how bulk orders work.