100 t-shirts for $3.99/shirt review

Coming from over 30 years of t-shirt printing experience, and the consensus of our competitors who we are friends with, is that the old adage “if it seems to good to be true, is generally is.”

Here are the facts about companies trying to create a niche market selling cheap shirts for $3.99. Online searches and information gathered from sources like Chatgpt show how truly unprofitable it is for companies selling 100 t-shirts for $3.99 per shirt.

First things first
1. Apparel Suppliers All screen printers in the United States all use the same US based apparel suppliers. Companies like Kirkwood Trading Company who have been around for 30 years pay the same price per shirt as our competitors down the street, as our competitors Florida, California, Texas, etc. We do benefit from newer companies with what’s called case pricing. Our volume and history allow us to get case pricing even if we order one t-shirt. Some newer companies may have a sliding scale and pay more for one t-shirt from a supplier. Generally we all pay the same price per shirt.
2. Supplies and Inks We all also utilize the same US suppliers for things like ink and chemicals, screens, tape, etc. We all pay the same price for those.

Why is this information import? For many reasons but it all boils down to quality. When a company goes rogue and tries to upend an industry, no matter the industry, something has to give and it’s almost always quality.

So quarterbacking how this is done we know a few things based on the information above.

1. More than likely the shirts are sourced from China. So delays aside, we’ve received samples from these companies and they are poorly crafted, have a high shrinkage ratio, and take forever to get to the states.
2. More than likely the equipment and supplies are all sourced in the states. So these companies aren’t saving anything on the supply side.
3. Cheap and inexperience labor. It’s not possible to pay employees standard wages and undercut the industry by more than 50% and keep the quality factor in place.

Bottom line is information points to the shirts are low quality most like sourced from China. Which explains the 3 month turn around on a shirt order than takes less than an hour to print.

In Conclusion All standard screen printing presses have the similar capabilities regarding how many shirts they can output per hour. The standard for how t-shirts are printed is the same from company to company. While employee wages may fluctuate any reputable company is paying their employees standard wages or above standard wages for the industry. Selling custom t-shirts as a loss leader to gain intel on customers for future promotions is not a desirable business plan.

The consensus among custom reviews, online responses is that A. These orders can take months to receive and B. The quality of the shirt and or printing has to suffer to make any kind of profit with this pricing. In the end it’s buyer beware. Do your research and inquire online yourself how a company is able to offer 100 custom t-shirts for $3.99.