Giving A Custom T-Shirt Quote

When a potential customer finds out you have a t-shirt business, one of the most often asked questions is how much will it cost?     Giving your customer a  quick t-shirt quote can be a challenge, but not answering at all will turn a potential customer away.     Offering a simple off the cuff answer with just a little information can help win you a potential job.

A t-shirt quote is based on quantity ordered, apparel style, print size, and number of colors.   At the quote stage there is no need to get into the down and dirty of what heat printing process you will use.

Let’s review the few simple details you will need to gather.

Type of Apparel

You can’t even start to quote without knowing this basic piece of information.   Do they want t-shirts or hoodies or performance wear?   Have rough costs in your head for the basics and let them know that is the cost you are tossing out.

Printing Cost

You can fine tune the cost based on later details, but you can solidly quote by knowing for a single color no matter how many they order, you won’t pay more than .06 per square inch.   So even if they say they are going to order just 1 with the base cost of the apparel and this simple way to figure out cost you can easily toss an amount to them.  If they order larger quantities, you can fine tune your number based on the heat printing technique.

For Example, you know a standard t-shirt like a PC54 will cost you about 2.50 and a standard full adult size print (UltraColor Max 10×10=100 square inches @ .06 per square inch=$6.00.   You can quickly throw out a quote of 6 +$2.50=$8.50 x 2=$17 for any custom t-shirt you will print.

Now when they ask how much would it cost to get some shirts, you can confidently answer $17 for a basic t-shirt in small quantities but there are substantial quantity discounts when you get that number.

Fine Tuning Your Quote

Once your customer gets back to you with the final details you can give a more accurate quote.

If you need 12 or more of the same print in 1 color, you might want to switch to a Goof Proof screen printed transfer and pass on the savings to your customer.

Let’s say your customer now knows they need 25 basic t-shirts with a 1 color print for a class field trip.      Since they need 25 you would use Goof Proof transfers, at 25 they are just over .02 per square inch or $2.35 each for that same 10×10 print we casually tossed out an amount in the example.      Now that you have the details you can still make the same profit margin by doubling your costs ($2.35 transfer + $2.50 shirt=$4.35 x 2 or $9.70 each.    Add a little for shipping and your offer is 25 shirts for $10 each.

With no set up fees and easy to use .06 square inch pricing, you can quickly calculate your worst case price, and fine tune it as the details come in.