T-shirt sizing for custom orders

Printing errors are rare. Sizing errors are common, and they are almost always decided weeks earlier by somebody writing "mostly large" in an email.

What we stock

Unisex S to 2XL across the tees, hoodies and sweatshirts. Above 2XL we do not hold stock in the usual cuts, so ask first and we will tell you what can be brought in and how long it takes.

Youth and toddler sizes exist as separate blanks with their own sizing, not as small adult shirts.

Fitted versus classic, in practice

Our blanks split roughly into two shapes, and the label on the shirt means different things in each.

Fitted cuts — Next Level 3600, Bella+Canvas 3001 — have a narrower shoulder and a closer body. A large here is a genuine large rather than a generous one, and somebody used to older boxy tees may want a size up.

Classic cuts — Gildan Softstyle, Gildan Ultra Cotton — run straighter and wider. A large is roomy. For a mixed group this is often the kinder choice, because a generous cut fits more body shapes acceptably than a close one does.

This is why "what size am I" has no answer independent of the blank. Pick the blank first.

Measure, do not guess

The reliable method takes five minutes. Find a shirt the person already owns and likes, lay it flat, and measure two things: chest width armpit to armpit, and length from the highest point of the shoulder to the hem.

Compare those two numbers to the measurements on the product page. That beats every size chart including ours, because it accounts for how the person actually likes to wear a shirt rather than what their body measurements suggest they should.

Collecting sizes for a group

Ask for a size and a name, in writing, with a deadline. Not in a meeting, not in a group chat where it scrolls away.

Send the link to the specific product page with it, so people are choosing against the right measurements rather than remembering what fits them in a different brand.

Then order a few spares. Two or three extra in the middle sizes costs very little next to the cost of a second order with its own shipping, and somebody will have given you the wrong size. If spares push you over 20, 50 or 100 pieces you also pick up a discount of 10%, 17% or 25% — which occasionally makes the spares free.

A size spread that usually works

For a general adult group with no information, a reasonable starting distribution out of 50 shirts: 5 small, 12 medium, 16 large, 12 XL, 5 2XL.

That is a guess and should be treated as one. Adjust it for who you are actually ordering for — a distribution for a running club and one for a construction crew are not the same shape, and neither matches a conference giveaway where people take whatever is left.

If the shirts are being handed out rather than assigned, weight toward large and XL. People accept a shirt slightly too big and refuse one slightly too small.

Shrinkage

Do not size up to allow for it on pre-shrunk ring-spun cotton. You will end up a size too big in the shoulders, which washing does not fix. The shrinkage article covers which blanks move and by how much.

Measurements are on every product page, and the comparison page puts the blanks side by side if you are choosing between them.