CUSTOM PRINTED T-SHIRTS & MERCH

Screen printing

Still the best finish and the best cost per unit once the numbers climb. Ink is pushed through a mesh screen, one screen per colour, so a two colour design needs two screens and two passes. That setup is charged once, which is why screen printing is usually quoted from around twenty to twenty five units per design. Above that it gets cheaper per shirt the further you go, and the finish is soft, durable and correct for large solid areas of colour.

DTF transfers

Direct to film has changed small runs completely. Your artwork is printed onto a film, powdered, cured and then heat pressed onto the garment. There are no screens, so there is effectively no setup, which means full colour artwork on ten shirts is now sensible where it never used to be. It handles photographs, gradients and unlimited colours. It is the right answer for one offs, size top ups, reorders and anything with complicated artwork. We press DTF in-house, so we check every garment ourselves before it goes out.

Which one you actually want

The honest rule is that the crossover sits somewhere around twenty to thirty shirts. Below that, DTF almost always wins because you are not paying for screens. Above that, screen printing usually wins on both cost and hand feel, especially if your design is one or two flat colours. If your design is full colour and your run is two hundred shirts, that is the one case where it is worth a proper conversation, because the answer depends on the artwork.

Garment weight changes everything

AS Colour publishes its tees by weight, and the number tells you what you are buying. Around 160gsm is a light giveaway tee. 180gsm is the standard retail weight and where most merch lands. 220gsm and up is heavyweight, holds its shape, and is what streetwear brands use. A heavier tee costs more and feels like it is worth more, which matters if you are selling the merch rather than giving it away. Watch the suffixed codes too, because AS Colour uses them for extended sizes and organic versions.

How we supply uniforms

We buy the garments ourselves from the major Australian workwear and apparel brands, so we can put you in the right garment rather than the one brand we happen to stock. DTF transfers are pressed in-house. The full colour film is printed for us by a trade printer, and we press, check and pack every garment ourselves. Embroidery and screen printing are done by an established Sunshine Coast decoration house we work with. Either way you deal with us from quote to delivery.

That is deliberate. It means a small order is not penalised for being small, and a size top up or a new starter’s shirt does not have to wait for a big production run. It also means we quote rather than show a live price on these pages, because the honest number depends on the garment, the quantity, the number of decoration positions and how many stitches your logo needs.

Minimums and lead times, honestly

Every number on this page is a guide, and we confirm the real one on your quote. As a rough guide: embroidery from around 10 to 12 units on a new logo and often a single garment on a reorder, screen printing from around 20 to 25 per design per colour, and DTF from about 10 with no real technical minimum. Caps usually hold a minimum of around 12 even on repeats.

Lead time is typically 10 to 15 business days from the moment you approve the artwork, plus freight to you. Two things get missed. The clock starts at artwork approval and not at order placement, and garment stock availability is the single most common reason a job runs late. If you have a fixed date, say so at the start and we will only quote garments that can actually make it.

One more thing worth knowing before you order. A decorated garment cannot be returned for a size swap, because it was made for you. For any rollout beyond about fifteen people, ask us about a size set so your team can try on rather than guess.

Artwork for uniforms and merch

Send a vector file, so EPS, AI or PDF with the fonts outlined. A logo pulled off your website will reproduce exactly as blurry as it looks on screen. For DTF and full colour work a high resolution PNG at the actual print size with a transparent background also works well.

Embroidery needs one extra step. Your logo has to be digitised, which is a separate file telling the machine the stitch path and the order it sews in. That is a one off cost per logo and the file is kept on record, so your reorders and your new starters do not pay it again. Fine text under about 5mm high, thin outlines and gradients are the three things that cause trouble in thread, and we will tell you before you commit rather than after.

One thing worth saying plainly. Decoration positions are described from the wearer’s point of view, so left chest means their left, which is your right when you are looking at them. Getting that straight at the start saves a whole reprint.