Custom Apparel Pricing: Screen Printing, Embroidery & DTF

Short answer: screen printing runs from $9.78 per shirt for a single one-color piece down to $1.20 at 1,000+, plus $20 per screen per color for setup. Embroidery starts at $6 a piece at 12–47 pieces (up to 6,000 stitches), whether it is a hat, polo or jacket, with no minimum order. Those are decoration prices; the garment is quoted separately based on the blank you choose.

Everything below is our real pricing, published so you can budget before you call. Final quotes depend on stitch count, ink colors, garment choice and quantity.

Screen Printing: Price Per Piece by Quantity and Ink Colors

Front print, standard placement, on light garments. Dark garments that need a white underbase and flash use the dark-garment table below; a second location or specialty ink also raises the per-piece price. Screens are $20 per color per design.

Full breakdown, including what drives each number: our screen printing cost guide.

Screen Printing on Dark Garments: Price Per Piece

Dark shirts need a white underbase that is flash-cured before the colors go down, so they print at this rate. Screens are still $20 per color per design.

Embroidery: Price Per Piece by Quantity

One rate card for hats, polos, jackets and everything else. Each price includes up to 6,000 stitches, which covers most left-chest and cap-front logos; bigger or denser designs add a small charge per extra 1,000 stitches.

• Digitizing: from $18.99 one time for a standard hat or left-chest logo, kept on file for reorders. Complex, 3D puff and large back designs cost more. Hooping is included on the first location; each extra location adds $1–$3 per piece.
• 3D puff: priced by stitch count on the same rate card; puff logos usually run more stitches.
• Laser-engraved leather patch: $8 per patch at 1–23, dropping $0.50 every 24 pieces to $4 at 192+, with no setup fee; sewn on instead of glued adds $4–$6 per patch. See the full leather patch price matrix.
• Minimum order: none. One piece or five hundred.

Pricing moves with stitch count, thread colors and quantity. See how custom embroidery is priced.

DTF Transfers, Laser Engraving and Vinyl

DTF transfers run $12 a piece for 1–11, $9 for 12–23 and $8 for 24 and up for a standard print, with no minimum. Gang sheets are available if you want transfers to press yourself. Laser engraving and cut vinyl are quoted by size, material and run length. Send the artwork and quantity and you get a number the same or next business day.

• DTF transfers, no minimums
• Laser engraving
• Stickers and printed vinyl

What Changes the Price

• Quantity. The single biggest lever. The jump from 24 to 48 pieces cuts the per-piece screen print cost by roughly a fifth.
• Ink colors or stitch count. Each additional screen color adds setup; each thousand stitches adds machine time.
• The blank. A value tee and a Carhartt jacket are not the same starting point. We quote the garment separately so you can trade up or down.
• Placement count. Front plus back plus sleeve is three decorations, not one.
• Deadline. Standard production is quoted on the order; rush is available depending on the schedule.

Wholesale and Program Pricing

Running a uniform program, a school store or a recurring order? We keep your artwork and garment specs on file and quote tiered pricing. See all solutions or the nationwide wholesale program.

Pricing questions

Is there a minimum on screen printing?

There is no hard minimum, but setup makes small runs expensive. Every design needs a screen for each ink colour at $20 per screen, plus ink mixing and press registration. That work costs the same whether we run 12 shirts or 500, so under about 48 pieces the setup makes up most of the price. If you need fewer than that, DTF transfers and embroidery have no setup per colour and usually come in cheaper on a short run.

Is there really no minimum on embroidery and DTF?

None. We will embroider one hat or press one DTF transfer. Embroidery is priced by stitch count plus a one-time digitizing fee, and DTF is priced per piece ($12 for 1–11, $9 for 12–23, $8 for 24 and up), so neither carries a screen setup that has to be spread across a quantity.

What drives the price on an embroidered order?

Stitch count, not garment count. A simple left-chest text logo might be 4,000 stitches; a detailed crest with fills and small lettering can be 15,000. We digitize your artwork once, quote the run from the finished stitch count, and keep the file on record so reorders skip the setup.

Do you charge for artwork or setup?

Digitizing for embroidery is a one-time charge per design, starting at $18.99 for a standard hat or left-chest logo, and it stays on file for reorders. Hooping is included on the first embroidery location; each additional location adds a $1–$3 per piece hoop fee, depending on how technical the hooping is. Screen setup is $20 per screen, per colour, per design. Basic artwork cleanup is included; if your file needs to be redrawn from scratch, we quote that as graphic design work before we start, never after.

Can I mix garment styles and colours in one order to reach a price break?

Yes for screen printing, as long as the design and ink colours stay the same and the garments take the same ink. Mixing light and dark garments in one run usually means a different underbase, so those count as separate runs. Mixed sizes never count against you.

How firm is the quote you send me?

Firm, once we have the final artwork, garment, quantity and decoration locations. The two things that move a number after that are a change in the size run, since 2XL and up carry the supplier size upcharge, and a change in garment availability if a colour goes out of stock and we have to substitute.