Anyone who has priced out custom shirts has probably noticed the same pattern: order five shirts and the per-unit cost feels high, but order fifty and that price drops significantly. This isn't a pricing trick it comes down to how printing costs are structured behind the scenes. Understanding why bulk orders cost less per shirt can help you decide how many to order and which printing method makes the most financial sense for your run size.

Setup Costs Are Fixed, Regardless of Quantity

Most printing methods involve a setup stage before a single shirt is printed, and that setup cost stays the same whether you're printing 10 shirts or 500.

• Screen printing requires a separate screen to be burned for each colour in the design. Burning those screens takes time and materials, and that cost is spread across the entire order. Print 10 shirts and each one carries a heavier share of the setup cost; print 200 and that same setup cost barely registers per unit.

• Embroidery requires the design to be digitised into a stitch file before the machine can sew a single logo. Digitising is a one-time cost per design, so the more garments that use the same stitch file, the less that cost affects each individual item.

• DTF transfers involve printing and preparing film sheets, which is more efficient when produced in batches rather than one at a time.

In every case, the setup cost is a flat fee sitting underneath the order. Spreading it over more units simply lowers the amount each shirt has to carry.

Printing Efficiency Improves at Volume

Beyond setup, the actual printing process runs more efficiently at higher volumes:

• Screen printing presses are designed for continuous runs, so once a press is set up and running, printing shirt 50 takes barely more time or effort than printing shirt 5.

• Curing and drying equipment processes garments in batches, meaning a conveyor dryer running at capacity is more cost-effective per shirt than running it for a handful of items.

• Embroidery machines with multiple heads can stitch several garments simultaneously, meaning labour and machine time is shared across more units at once.

This efficiency directly affects labour costs per shirt, since staff time spent loading, monitoring, and unloading a print run doesn't scale up proportionally with quantity.

Garment Costs Drop at Wholesale Volumes

The blank shirts themselves sourced from suppliers like AS Colour, Gildan, JB's Wear, Biz Collection, and Aussie Pacific are typically priced on a sliding scale. Buying garments in bulk from these suppliers usually unlocks lower wholesale pricing, and that saving gets passed on through the final per-unit price of a custom order.

Less Waste and Reprocessing Per Unit

Small orders are more exposed to waste. A test print, a colour calibration check, or a single misprint has a much bigger impact on the total cost of a 10-shirt order than it does on a 300-shirt order, where the same amount of waste is a tiny fraction of the total run. Bulk orders effectively absorb these small inefficiencies more easily.

Which Printing Methods Benefit Most from Bulk Orders

Not every method scales the same way:

• Screen printing sees the biggest per-unit savings at volume, since screen setup is the most significant fixed cost involved.

• Embroidery benefits noticeably from bulk orders using the same design, thanks to the one-time digitising cost.

• DTG printing scales more evenly since each print is produced individually regardless of order size, meaning the per-unit savings from bulk orders are smaller than with screen printing or embroidery.

• Sublimation benefits from bulk runs mainly through efficient use of press time and transfer paper, though the savings are generally more moderate than with screen printing.

How to Get the Best Per-Unit Price

• Stick to fewer ink colours where possible, since each additional colour in a screen-printed design adds another setup cost.

• Use the same design across the full order rather than mixing multiple designs, which avoids paying setup costs multiple times within one order.

• Choose a printing method suited to your order size screen printing and embroidery reward larger quantities, while DTG or DTF may suit smaller, more varied runs.

• Order a realistic quantity rather than the bare minimum, since even a modest increase in order size can meaningfully reduce the price per shirt.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a minimum order size for custom shirts? 

No, custom shirts can be ordered in any quantity, though smaller orders typically carry a higher per-unit cost due to setup fees being spread across fewer garments.

Does bulk pricing apply to all printing methods equally? 

No, screen printing and embroidery tend to see the largest per-unit savings at higher volumes, while DTG scales more evenly since each shirt is printed individually.

How many shirts do I need to order to get a noticeably lower price? 

This varies by printing method and design complexity, but even moving from a very small order to a moderate one can produce a meaningful drop in per-unit cost due to setup costs being spread further.

Does using multiple designs in one order affect the bulk discount? 

Yes, using several different designs within the same order can reduce the savings, since each unique design may require its own setup, such as additional screens or a new stitch file.

Are bulk custom shirts lower quality than smaller runs? 

No, the printing method and garment quality remain the same regardless of order size the cost savings come from spreading fixed costs and improving production efficiency, not from cutting corners on materials.