Best blanks for printing: what we would pick and why

Blank manufacturers all claim softness, fit and print quality, and the spec sheets are not much help in choosing between them. What follows is based on what comes back to us, what customers reorder, and how the ink actually behaves on each one.

Next Level 3600

$15.00. This is what we print most — more than twenty thousand pieces, several times the next blank on the list — and it would be our default recommendation to almost anybody.

4.3 oz combed ring-spun cotton, a modern fitted cut with a narrower shoulder than the old boxy standard, and a smooth surface that takes DTG ink beautifully. The fit is why people reorder it, and it is worth being specific about what that means on the floor: the shoulder seam lands where a shoulder actually is, the body does not balloon at the waist, and the whole thing reads as a shirt somebody chose instead of one they were handed at a conference and later wore to paint a fence. Colours come out saturated. Detail stays sharp, including on dark garments.

Its weakness is the weakness of all lightweight fitted tees. It is not a workwear shirt, and on larger body shapes the fitted cut is less forgiving than a classic one.

Bella+Canvas 3001

$15.50. Very close to the Next Level in weight, cut and print behaviour, with a slightly longer body and a marginally softer hand. If you have worn both you have a preference; if you have not, you will not notice.

We stock it because a lot of designers specify it by name. There is no printing reason to choose between the two.

Gildan Softstyle 64000

$12.50. The value pick that does not feel like one. Ring-spun cotton, softer than the old Gildan reputation suggests, in a straighter cut than the Next Level.

This is where we point people who need fifty or a hundred shirts and care about the total. Prints well, wears well, costs noticeably less. The cut is more generous, which for a mixed group of sizes is an advantage rather than a compromise.

Gildan Ultra Cotton 2000

$11.20. Heavier at 6 oz, thicker, boxier, built like a shirt from 1995 in a way that is sometimes exactly right.

Choose it for durability over appearance — volunteer crews, workshops, anything heading for repeated hot washing. The heavier cotton takes a dense print without showing through, and the shirt survives treatment that would finish a lightweight tee. It is not a flattering garment and does not pretend to be.

Tultex Fine Jersey

$8.20, the cheapest tee we hold. Lightweight, soft, honest. For giveaways, one-day events and anything printed in quantity to be handed out rather than owned, this is the sensible answer and spending more is spending for no reason.

Do not put a staff uniform on it. Lightweight jersey worn weekly loses its shape, and that is physics rather than a quality problem.

Comfort Colors 1717

$17.00 and the most expensive tee on the list. Heavyweight garment-dyed cotton with a slightly faded, lived-in colour and a substantial feel out of the bag.

It is what you pick when the shirt is the product — merchandise people pay for, band tees, anything sold rather than given. Garment dyeing means slight colour variation between pieces, which reads as character on a boutique run and as inconsistency on a corporate uniform order. Know which you are doing.

Takes DTG ink exceptionally well, particularly on the darker colourways.

American Apparel heavyweight

$14.50. Thick, structured, with a distinct cut that people either want specifically or do not consider. Prints cleanly. Ordered less often than the others, almost always by name.

The short version

Giveaway in bulk: Tultex. Fifty to a hundred on a budget: Gildan Softstyle. Something people will choose to wear: Next Level 3600. Hard use: Gildan Ultra. Merchandise you are selling: Comfort Colors.

All of them print well, which is worth stating. There is no blank on our shelf that fights the ink, so this is a decision about the garment rather than about the printing. Weights and measurements are side by side on the tee comparison page, and everything is on the catalogue. How much each one shrinks is in the shrinkage article, and the sizing piece covers how the fitted and classic cuts differ on the same label.