Contract printing

Contract printing means a shop quotes the decoration only — screen printing, embroidery, or DTF — with the garment itself out of the price entirely, because the customer is supplying it. Pricing runs per piece per color, often in the same $2-6 per-location range whether the blank came from the shop's own account or arrived in a box the customer shipped in, plus a flat setup or screen charge per design.

This is the rate a growing brand needs once it's buying blanks direct from a mill or distributor at a better price than any print shop marks up — a company ordering 500 Bella+Canvas 3001s a season through its own vendor account, then sending cases to a printer for one-color chest logos, is running exactly this model. It only works at real volume; a shop's rate here assumes enough piece count to make the setup cost worth carrying.

Ask for it as its own line item, separate from any customer-supplied-garment surcharge, since some shops charge extra just for handling outside goods regardless of pricing structure. Confirm minimums — this rate often only kicks in above 144 or 288 pieces.

The mistake: assuming contract printing is always cheaper than buying blank-and-decorate as a package. Below a shop's minimum it's frequently more expensive, since the customer is paying full price for the blank separately and still covering the same setup and per-color charges.