Nobody publishes a straight answer to this, because there isn't one - the price of a printed shirt moves with five different things. This page explains all five, so you can work out roughly where your job lands before you call anyone.
At Printing Uncle, printing starts at $10 per piece with the garment included, and the rate drops as the quantity rises.
1. The garment
This is usually the biggest single line in your quote, and it is the one you control most.
A basic heavy cotton tee and a premium ring-spun tee can differ by several dollars per piece before anything is printed on them. On 100 shirts, choosing the right blank rather than the best blank can be the difference between the job fitting your budget and not.
Hoodies cost several times what a tee costs. Polos sit in between. Workwear and outerwear are their own category.
The honest advice: tell us what the garment has to survive, not what you think you should buy. A kitchen apron and a giveaway tee are different problems. See how two common tees compare.
2. The quantity
Per-piece cost falls as quantity rises, and it falls in steps rather than smoothly. Every tier has its own rate.
This matters when you are close to a boundary. If 24 shirts and 30 shirts sit in different tiers, the 30 can cost barely more in total - sometimes less per piece than the smaller order. It is worth asking where the next tier starts before you finalise your count.
3. The print method, and its setup
DTF has no setup cost per colour, so a full-colour design on 10 shirts is viable. This is why our minimum is one piece, and why most small orders end up here.
Screen printing needs a screen made for each colour in your design. That is a one-time cost per job, and depending on the quantity it may be charged separately or absorbed into the per-piece price. On a large run it works out cheaper than anything else; on a small one it rarely makes sense.
Embroidery needs your logo digitised into a stitch file before anything can be sewn. That is also a one-time cost per design, and again it may be charged separately or absorbed depending on the size of the order. After that, each garment is priced on stitch count - a small left-chest logo is affordable, a large detailed back piece is not.
For both of these we decide on the setup once we have seen your artwork and know your quantity. Call or email and we will tell you before you commit to anything. Full comparison of the three methods.
4. How many places you print
Front only is the baseline. Front and back costs more. Front, back and both sleeves costs more again.
This is where budgets quietly get away from people. A four-location design on a hoodie is a very different quote from the same hoodie with one chest print.
5. Artwork preparation
If your file is print-ready, this costs nothing. If it needs cleaning up or rebuilding, we do that as part of the job for most orders - send us whatever you have, including a photo of an old shirt or a sketch on paper.
Note that this is separate from embroidery digitising, which is a technical conversion into a stitch file and is quoted with the job.
What the quote does not include
Delivery is free on orders over $250. Below that, delivery or shipping is added. Pickup in Toronto is free at any order size.
Payment is taken upfront, before production begins.
How to get an accurate number fast
When you call or email, having these five ready turns a long back-and-forth into a two-minute conversation:
- Garment type and roughly what quality level you want
- Quantity, and your size breakdown if you have it
- Where the design goes - front, back, sleeves
- Your artwork, in any form
- The date you need it
Call 647-739-9487 or email meet@printinguncle.com. Or build it yourself in the design studio and watch the price update as you go - no quote request, no waiting for a reply.
One thing worth knowing about cheap quotes
If a quote comes in far below everyone else, the saving is almost always in the blank. A print is a print; a 4 oz tee that thins out after ten washes is where the money went.
Ask any printer which specific garment they are quoting on - brand and style number, not just 't-shirt'. If they cannot tell you, that is the answer.