For most jobs, screen printing runs $5 to $15 per shirt all-in — including the blank garment. The real number depends on five specific factors, and any shop quoting you a price without asking about all five is either guessing or cutting corners somewhere you'll regret later.
Here's exactly what determines your price, why shops can't post fixed numbers online, and what to expect when you request a real quote.
Most jobs land here.
A typical order of 50 cotton T-shirts with a 2-color front print runs about $8 to $11 per shirt at most reputable shops. Drop the quantity, the per-shirt price climbs. Add colors, premium garments, or back prints, the price climbs. Order 200+ shirts of the same design, the price drops fast.
The five factors that decide your price
Quantity
This is the biggest factor by far. Screen printing has fixed setup costs — every color in your design needs its own screen burned, registered on the press, and cleaned up afterward. Those setup costs get spread across every shirt in the order. Print 10 shirts and the setup cost dominates. Print 200 and it nearly disappears.
That's why a shop can't quote a single per-piece price for a design — the same design on the same garment will cost dramatically different per-piece amounts depending on how many you order. Doubling your quantity often cuts your per-piece price by 30 to 40 percent.
Number of colors
Each color in your design is its own screen, its own ink, its own pass through the press. A 1-color logo prints fast and cheap. A 6-color full-chest design takes six times the setup work, six screens worth of materials, and considerably more press time per shirt.
This is why most quotes ask about color count up front. A 4-color print on 100 shirts isn't twice the price of a 2-color print on 100 shirts — it's typically 25 to 40 percent more, depending on the shop. But the difference between 1 color and 6 colors at the same quantity can easily double the per-shirt price.
Garment type and quality
The blank shirt itself is often the largest single cost in your quote. A basic cotton T-shirt might wholesale for $3, while a premium tri-blend or performance shirt can be $8 to $15 wholesale. That difference shows up directly in your per-piece price.
Garment also affects ink choice. Cotton takes standard inks. Polyester and performance fabrics need specialized low-bleed inks that cost more and require slower curing. If you're getting screen-printed performance shirts and the price seems too low, ask whether the shop is using the right inks — wrong ink on polyester causes dye migration and premature failure.
Number of print locations
Front print only is the standard quote. Adding a back print roughly doubles the print labor for that shirt, since each location requires its own setup, screens, and press passes. A small left-chest plus a full back is two separate prints — the per-shirt price reflects both.
Sleeves, sides, hoods, and tags are all additional locations with their own setup costs. None of them are wildly expensive on their own, but they add up quickly. Most shops will quote each location separately so you can decide what's worth it for your project.
Turnaround time
Standard turnaround is typically 5 to 7 business days from proof approval at most quality shops. That's the price most quotes assume. Need it faster? Most shops offer rush options, but rush isn't free — it's typically 25 to 50 percent on top of the standard quote.
Why does rush cost more? Because the shop has to bump other jobs to prioritize yours, often paying staff overtime to meet your deadline. If your timeline allows for standard turnaround, you save real money. If you absolutely need it in 48 hours, the premium is the cost of jumping the queue.
"A shop posting fixed prices online is making assumptions about your job. Sometimes those assumptions match what you need. More often they don't, and you end up either overpaying or getting upcharged the moment your real job hits the counter."
Real-world price examples
To give you a sense of how these factors interact, here are typical price ranges for common orders. These are ballpark figures — your actual quote will vary based on garment choice and shop. The point is to show how dramatically quantity affects per-shirt cost.
1-color print on basic cotton T-shirt
Includes the blank shirt and standard 5–7 business day turnaround.
3-color front + 1-color back on cotton T-shirt
More colors and a back print add cost, but quantity scaling still drives the biggest savings.
Why shops don't post prices online
You've probably noticed that most reputable screen printing shops don't have a fixed price list on their website. There's a real reason for that, and it's not laziness — it's that publishing fixed prices forces shops into one of two bad positions.
Option one: post prices that assume the cheapest scenario. Lowest-cost cotton blank, single-color print, 100+ quantity, standard turnaround. Most customers don't fit that scenario, so they get hit with upcharges throughout the quoting process. Bait-and-switch isn't honest, and it damages trust before the order even starts.
Option two: post prices that cover all scenarios. This means inflating the published price to cover worst-case material and labor costs. Customers comparing prices walk away thinking the shop is expensive, even though the actual quote for their specific job would be competitive.
Honest shops skip the trap entirely and quote each job on its own merits. It takes 30 seconds longer than browsing a price list, but you get a number that actually reflects your job — not a starting point that grows during the conversation.
What to send when requesting a quote
To get the most accurate price as quickly as possible, give the shop these five pieces of information up front:
Quantity — even a rough range helps. "Around 50 to 75" is fine if you don't know exactly.
Garment — what shirt style or brand you have in mind. If you don't know, ask the shop to recommend something based on your budget and use case.
Artwork — send a file of the design or a clear sketch. The shop can count colors and assess complexity from the artwork.
Print locations — front only, front and back, left chest, sleeves, etc.
Deadline — when you need them in hand. Standard turnaround saves money; rush turnaround speeds things up.
With those five things, any decent shop can get you a quote within a business day. At Badger, we respond to every inbound quote within 1 business day, often faster.
The Badger take
Pricing isn't where the real differences between shops show up. The differences show up after the order — in whether the prints last, whether the colors match the proof, whether the turnaround promise is kept, and whether the shop stands behind its work if something goes wrong.
Every Badger order is backed by our Lifetime Decoration Guarantee. If a print ever fails — cracks, peels, fades, delaminates — we fix it free, for the life of the garment. That's the same promise on a 25-shirt order as on a 5,000-shirt order. Because the price you pay should include knowing the shirts will still look right two years from now.
Common questions
How much does it cost to screen print 100 shirts?
For 100 standard cotton T-shirts with a single-color front print, expect to pay roughly $7 to $12 per shirt at most reputable shops, including the blank shirt. Cost increases with more colors, premium garments, multiple print locations, or rush turnaround. The best way to get an accurate price is a quote that accounts for your specific design and garment.
Why don't most screen printing shops post prices online?
Screen printing pricing has too many variables to publish accurately. Quantity, color count, garment type, print locations, and turnaround all affect the final price. Shops that post fixed prices either limit your options heavily or build in pricing assumptions that often don't match your actual job.
Is it cheaper to bring my own shirts to be printed?
Usually not. Print shops buy garments wholesale at prices below retail, so even with markup, their blank cost is typically equal to or less than what you'd pay at retail. Bringing your own garments also voids most shop guarantees, since they cannot vouch for blank quality or fabric content. Most shops will print on customer-supplied garments but charge a print-only rate that often costs the same as their full quote with garments included.
Do screen printing prices include setup fees?
It depends on the shop. Some shops charge separate setup fees ($15-30 per screen) on top of per-piece pricing. Others build setup into the per-piece price so quantity-based pricing is all-inclusive. Always ask whether quoted prices include setup. The total dollar amount matters more than the line items.
Do prices go down significantly at higher quantities?
Yes, dramatically. The same shirt that costs $12 at quantity 50 might cost $6 at quantity 250 and $4 at quantity 1000. This is because setup costs (screens, ink mixing, press setup) are fixed regardless of quantity. The more shirts you spread those costs across, the lower your per-piece price.
