Because it is the only advertising people volunteer to carry. A branded shirt averages roughly 3,500 brand impressions at about a third of a cent each. We print them in house in Deerfield Beach, from 24 pieces.
About 3,500 impressions per shirt
Roughly a third of a cent each
85% remember who gave it to them
24 piece minimum, 7 to 10 days
Most advertising interrupts people. A shirt does not. Someone chooses to put it on, then carries your name through a grocery store, a job site, a school pickup line, and a bar. Nobody skips it, blocks it, or scrolls past it.
ASI’s 2026 Ad Impressions Study puts numbers on that. A branded t-shirt generates roughly 3,500 brand impressions over its life at about a third of a cent per impression. Caps land closer to 4,000. Fleece and jackets, the pieces people keep longest, come in around 9,000 impressions at four tenths of a cent. In the same study, 85% of consumers said they remember the advertiser who gave them a logoed product, nearly 80% said they viewed that advertiser more favorably afterward, and three in four said they were more likely to do business with them.
The catch is that none of it happens unless the shirt is good enough to wear. A scratchy blank with a plastic feeling print sits in a drawer and earns you nothing. That is the part most people get wrong, and it is the part we can actually control.
Not every garment earns the same. These are the lifetime impression averages from ASI’s 2026 study, and they are worth knowing before you decide what to hand out.
Roughly a third of a cent per impression, and the promo item consumers say they are most excited to receive. The cheapest way in, and the easiest to hand out in volume. Screen printing is what makes the per shirt cost drop once you get past 100 pieces.
Same third of a cent, more impressions than a tee, and worn outdoors where more people see it. One size fits most, so there is no size breakdown to guess at, which is why caps are the easy call for giveaways and sponsorships.
The highest impression count of any promotional product, at four tenths of a cent each. More money per piece up front and the longest life by far, which makes them the right choice for staff and for client gifts you want remembered.
Which blank you print on decides how often it gets worn, and how often it gets worn is the entire return. Gildan 5000 when the budget rules and the shirt is a giveaway. Bella and Canvas 3001 when you want the softer fitted feel people actually reach for. Comfort Colors 1717 when the shirt needs to look like something someone bought rather than something they were handed. Port Authority polos and Carhartt for staff who wear it every day.
The math changes depending on how the shirt gets into the world. These are the uses that return the most for what they cost.
The highest return on this list, because the shirt gets worn on a schedule you already pay for. Every shift is a day of advertising you were staffing anyway. See small business uniforms.
A matching team on the floor reads as a real company rather than three people with badges. Giveaway shirts leave the show and keep working in another city all year.
Put your mark on the volunteer and staff shirts at a 5K, a tournament, or a festival and you buy the whole crowd’s attention for the cost of the shirts, which is usually less than the banner.
People keep promo items they find useful, and a shirt they actually like gets worn for years. Spend the extra dollar on the blank. A cheap shirt nobody wears costs more per impression than a good one.
A shirt on day one is cheap, sets the tone, and puts your logo in public before the first paycheck clears. Keep the art on file and reorders take a phone call.
If the design is good enough, customers pay you for the privilege of advertising. Restaurants, breweries, gyms, and bands all run this play. It is the only marketing line item that can show a profit on its own.
The shirt funds the cause and spreads it at the same time, and the pricing still works at 100 pieces. See nonprofit and fundraiser shirts.
Cheaper than most gift baskets and still visible a year later. A bottle of wine is gone by Friday. A jacket with your logo on it is out in public for the next three winters.
Whatever the use, the math is the same. You pay for the shirt once and it advertises for years, as long as it is a shirt someone wants to put on. We print for businesses, schools, teams, and nonprofits across Broward and south Palm Beach County, and ship nationwide.
Vector files are ideal but not required. A logo off your website or a phone photo of an old shirt is enough to start. We redraw art in house.
Usually the same business day. You see the price broken out by quantity, ink colors, and print locations before you commit to anything.
Nothing hits a screen until you sign off on the mockup, the garment, and the size breakdown in writing.
7 to 10 business days standard from approval, with rush tiers available. Pick up in Deerfield Beach, we deliver locally, or we ship.
Run the numbers before you compare it to anything else. Order 100 shirts with a one color front print and you are into the middle price breaks, where the per shirt cost is a long way below what 24 pieces would run. Divide that by roughly 3,500 impressions per shirt and you are buying attention at a rate no other channel touches.
Two things move the price. Quantity is the bigger lever by a wide margin, which is why the impression math improves at every break. Ink is the other: every color is another screen, and most colored garments need a white underbase that counts as one. Extra print locations add another run through the press, and fleece carries a small upcharge.
We do not charge screen printing setup fees. Embroidery has a one time digitizing charge to convert your logo into a stitch file, then reorders are just the run. Tell us the quantity, the garment, and the art and you get a real number back instead of a price list that will be wrong for your job.
Price breaks at 24, 48, 72, 100, 150, 250, and 500 pieces. The impression math gets better at every one of them.
They work when the shirt gets worn, and not otherwise. ASI’s 2026 Ad Impressions Study found 85% of consumers remember the advertiser who gave them a logoed product and three in four said they were more likely to do business with that company. Those are study averages across a large sample, not a promise about your specific run, and they assume a garment people are willing to put on.
The 2026 study puts a t-shirt at roughly 3,500 brand impressions over its lifetime. Caps come in near 4,000 and fleece or jackets around 9,000, because heavier pieces get kept and worn for years rather than months. A shirt worn to work every week obviously beats one worn twice a summer.
About a third of a cent per impression for shirts and caps, and four tenths of a cent for outerwear. In the same research, consumers said they prefer promotional products over TV, radio, social, and online advertising. The difference is that a shirt is a one time cost that keeps working, while ad spend stops the day you stop paying.
24 pieces per design is our screen printing and embroidery minimum, and 24 is a sensible starting point for a staff or event run. If you want fewer, we move you to DTF rather than charging you for a minimum you do not need. If you are handing them to customers, order to the price break above what you think you need. The per shirt cost drops enough that the extras are usually close to free.
Keep it simple and make it something a person would wear without the logo being the point. A big chest logo reads as a uniform, and people wear uniforms only when they have to. A smaller left chest mark, a good back design, or a graphic tied to your city or your industry gets worn on days off, which is where the free impressions come from.
Per impression, shirts and caps are among the strongest, and outerwear is the strongest of all. Bags edge out shirts on raw cost per impression because they are cheap and get reused. Pens and drinkware are cheaper up front but live indoors, where fewer people see them. If the goal is public visibility, apparel wins.
Standard turnaround is 7 to 10 business days from art approval, not from the day you email us. Rush tiers are available when press time allows: 4 to 5 day, 72 hour, 24 to 48 hour, and same day in some cases, each with an upcharge on the print cost. Call before you promise a date for an event.
Yes. Vector is best if you have it, meaning AI, EPS, or PDF with the fonts outlined, and a high resolution PNG works for most jobs. If all you have is a logo off your website or a photo of an old shirt, send it anyway. We redraw art in house and you approve a digital mockup before anything prints.
Send the quantity, the garment, and the art. You get a real price and a digital mockup back within one business day. Not sure what to order? Tell us who is getting the shirts and we will tell you what makes sense.
Or walk in. 268 SW 12th Ave, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442, Monday through Friday, 8am to 4pm.
More detail on the services: screen printing, embroidery, corporate apparel programs, work we have printed, and rush orders.