Decoration methods
Screen print vs embroidery for spirit wear
Two decorations, two different cost curves. Which one is right depends on your quantity, your garment and how much detail your design carries. Here is the whole decision in one table.
Screen printing and embroidery compared
| What you are comparing | Screen printing | Embroidery |
|---|---|---|
| How cost is priced | Per colour, per print location. One screen per colour is set up once and reused for the whole run. | Per thousand stitches. A dense or detailed logo costs more than a simple one at the same physical size. |
| Where setup lands | Highest at low quantity, because the screens are paid for once however many shirts follow. | A one-time digitising charge to convert artwork into a stitch file, then reused on every reorder. |
| Best quantity range | Strong from the 50 piece minimum upward, and it keeps improving. The bigger the run, the further setup spreads. | Flatter across quantities. It does not reward volume the way screen printing does, so it is competitive at small runs and less so at large ones. |
| Design limits | Every extra colour adds cost. Gradients and photographic artwork need a digital method instead. | Colour count barely matters, but fine detail and small text do not survive being stitched. Simplify before it is digitised. |
| Suits which garments | Tees, long sleeves, hoodies and crewnecks. Large front or back designs. | Caps, beanies, polos, quarter-zips and jackets. Left chest, sleeve and cap front. |
| How it wears | Sits on the fabric. A quality cure lasts the life of the shirt; a cheap one cracks after repeated washing. | Stitched into the fabric, so it outlasts the garment. The usual failure is the blank wearing out first. |
| How it reads | Casual and loud. Right for a student body, a spirit week or a fundraiser. | Quiet and finished. Right for staff, coaches, officers and anyone representing the school off campus. |
What this does to your per-piece price
The delivered bands below come from the same published pricing the cost guide uses, so nothing here is a separate estimate.
A screen-printed tee runs $8–$12 each at 50 pieces and $5–$8 at 250, delivered. That drop is setup spreading across a bigger run, and it is the single strongest argument for ordering the whole grade's shirts in one go rather than in waves.
Embroidered items start higher and move less. An embroidered polo is $15–$24 at 50 pieces and an embroidered cap $8–$14. You are paying for a finish that outlives the garment, which is why it tends to go on the pieces staff keep for years rather than the ones a student wears for a season.
Whichever way you go, we will make or source the blanks to suit the method, and the quote states the method per item so there is no ambiguity about what you approved.
Screen print vs embroidery FAQ
For a large one-colour design on tees at the 50 piece minimum and above, screen printing is almost always cheaper per piece, and the gap widens as the run grows. For a small left-chest mark on polos or caps, embroidery is usually the better value because the design would need very little screen work anyway and the finish is worth more. The honest answer is that it depends on the design and the garment more than on the method.
Yes, and plenty of schools do. A common split is screen-printed tees and hoodies for the student body, with embroidered polos or caps for staff and coaches. It is one quote and one delivery; the methods just differ per item.
It changes the screen printing side of it. Each colour is a separate screen and a separate pass, so a four-colour design costs meaningfully more per piece than a one-colour version of the same artwork. If the design is photographic or has gradients, a digital method is the right call instead, and the quote will say so.
No. Once artwork is approved we keep it, so a reorder of the same design runs from the same screens or the same stitch file. You are quoted for the new run only.
Keep planning
- How Texas schools buy custom merch covers the purchasing side once the design is settled.
- District PO vs booster club purchase compares who should actually place the order.
- School spirit wear is where most of these runs start.
Not sure which method your design needs?
Send the artwork and the quantity. The quotes team will say which decoration suits it, price both if it is genuinely close, and mock it up before anything is made.
Instant mockup · Quote in 12h · Nothing's made until you approve