Cheap Custom T-Shirts Canada - Quality Printing from $4.95

Understanding how cheap custom t-shirts are priced helps you make smarter decisions and avoid surprises on your invoice. At T-Shirt Elephant, our pricing is fully transparent — what you see is what you pay. Every quote breaks down exactly where your money goes, so you can compare us against any competitor on a true apples-to-apples basis. No hidden charges, no surprise fees at checkout, and no "gotcha" surcharges that inflate the final total beyond your budget.

How Custom T-Shirt Pricing Works

Custom t-shirt pricing consists of two core components: the blank garment cost and the printing cost. The blank garment is a fixed cost per shirt that varies by brand and style — from $4.65 for a Gildan 8000 to $10.95 for a Comfort Colors 1717. The printing cost depends on the decoration method, the number of ink colours in your design, the number of print locations (front, back, sleeve), and your order quantity. These two costs added together give you the total per-unit price. There are no additional line items at T-Shirt Elephant — no setup fees, no screen charges, no art fees, no colour-matching surcharges. Your per-unit price is your per-unit price.

Blank + Printing Cost Formula

Here is the simple formula: Total per shirt = blank cost + printing cost per location. For screen printing, the printing cost per location decreases as your quantity increases because setup costs are spread across more units. A 1-colour front print on 48 shirts costs significantly less per unit than the same print on 12 shirts. Adding a second print location (such as a back print) adds another printing cost layer, but it is still far cheaper than ordering separate front-only and back-only shirts. Our quoting tool calculates all of this automatically when you request a quote.

Example Price Calculation

That is 48 professionally screen-printed affordable custom t-shirts at roughly $8.45 each — with free design help, free proofs, and free shipping if your order total exceeds $250. Compare that to local print shops quoting $18 to $25 per shirt plus setup fees and shipping charges.

No Hidden Fees — Ever

Some competitors advertise low per-shirt pricing but pile on fees: screen setup charges of $25 to $50 per colour, art preparation fees, Pantone colour-matching surcharges, rush processing fees, and shipping costs. By the time you get the final invoice, the "cheap" price has doubled. T-Shirt Elephant eliminates all of that. Our quoted price includes everything — garment, printing, setup, art preparation, digital proofing, and unlimited revisions. The only additional cost is shipping for orders under $250 (and that is a flat, predictable rate). When we say cheap custom t-shirts, we mean the total all-in price, not just the starting number before the fees pile up.

Volume pricing is the fastest way to make cheap custom t-shirts even cheaper. T-Shirt Elephant offers tiered bulk discounts that reward larger orders with progressively lower per-unit costs. Whether you are a school ordering spirit wear, a charity printing fundraiser shirts, or a business outfitting an entire workforce, ordering in bulk is the single most effective strategy for reducing your cost per shirt without changing anything about the garment or the design.

Volume Price Break Points

Why Bulk Orders Cost Less

Screen printing has significant fixed costs — creating screens, mixing ink colours, setting up the press, and calibrating registration. Whether you print 12 shirts or 500 shirts, these setup costs are identical. The more units you spread those costs across, the lower the per-unit share becomes. At 12 pieces, setup costs represent a large chunk of each shirt's price. At 144 pieces, the same setup cost is divided by twelve times as many shirts, making it almost negligible. This is why affordable custom t-shirts get dramatically more affordable as quantities climb. The blank garment cost stays the same, but the printing cost per unit drops significantly at every tier.

Best Quantities for Maximum Savings

The sweet spots for maximum value on cheap custom t-shirts are 48, 72, and 144 pieces. At 48 pieces, you cross into meaningful volume pricing territory and most orders exceed $250, which qualifies for free shipping. At 72 pieces, the per-unit printing cost drops to levels that make even multi-colour designs very affordable. At 144 pieces, you unlock our best standard pricing tier with savings of 35 to 45 percent compared to a 12-piece order. If your order falls just below a tier break — say 22 pieces instead of 24, or 46 instead of 48 — it often makes sense to order a few extra shirts because the per-unit savings on the entire order more than covers the cost of the additional pieces.

Getting a Bulk Quote

For orders of 144 pieces or more, we provide custom bulk quotes that factor in your specific garment, design, and timeline. Enterprise orders of 500+ pieces receive our most competitive pricing and dedicated account management. Simply contact our team with your quantity, preferred garment, and artwork (or a description of your design), and we will deliver a detailed quote within 24 hours. We also offer split-size orders at no additional charge — order the exact size mix you need without paying extra for sorting and packing by size.

When it comes to producing cheap custom t-shirts in bulk, screen printing is the undisputed champion. No other decoration method matches screen printing's combination of low per-unit cost, vibrant colour output, and exceptional durability at quantities of 24 or more pieces. This is why over 80 percent of the custom t-shirt industry relies on screen printing for volume orders — the economics simply cannot be beaten by digital alternatives once you pass the two-dozen threshold.

Why Screen Printing Beats DTG for Bulk

Direct-to-garment (DTG) printing costs the same per shirt whether you print 1 or 1,000 — there is no volume discount because each shirt runs through the printer individually. Screen printing, by contrast, gets cheaper with every additional shirt because the fixed setup cost is divided across more units. At 24 pieces, screen printing is already cheaper than DTG for designs with 1 to 4 colours. At 48 pieces, the gap widens further. At 100+ pieces, screen printing costs a fraction of what DTG would charge for the same order. For affordable custom t-shirts in any significant quantity, screen printing is the clear winner on price and durability.

Per-Colour Pricing Explained

Screen printing is priced by the number of ink colours in your design. A 1-colour design is the cheapest, a 2-colour design costs slightly more, and so on up to 8 colours. Each colour requires its own screen to be produced, which adds a fixed cost to the order. However, each additional colour adds a relatively small increment to the per-unit price — typically $1 to $2 per colour per shirt at moderate quantities. A 2-colour design on 48 shirts might cost $1.50 more per shirt than a 1-colour design, while a 3-colour design might add another $1.25. The per-colour cost decreases as quantity increases, making multi-colour designs surprisingly affordable on larger orders of cheap custom t-shirts.

One-Time Setup — Free on Reorders

Screen setup is a one-time investment. Once your screens are created, T-Shirt Elephant stores them at no charge for future reorders. This means your second, third, and tenth order of the same design skips the setup entirely — you only pay the blank garment cost plus the ink application cost. Reorder pricing is the absolute lowest cost per shirt you can achieve. Organizations that order affordable custom t-shirts on a recurring basis — sports leagues reordering season after season, businesses replenishing branded uniforms, schools rerunning spirit wear designs — benefit enormously from stored screens and reorder pricing.

When Screen Printing Is NOT the Cheapest

Screen printing is not always the most affordable option. For orders under 12 pieces, the fixed screen setup cost makes each shirt disproportionately expensive compared to digital methods. For designs with photographic imagery or unlimited colours, DTF (Direct to Film) printing is more cost-effective because it prints full-colour designs at a flat rate regardless of colour count. For single-piece orders with complex artwork, DTG offers the best value. Our team always recommends the cheapest method for your specific order — we do not push screen printing when another method delivers better value for your situation.

Setup fees are one of the biggest hidden costs in the custom t-shirt industry — and one of the primary reasons T-Shirt Elephant consistently delivers the cheapest all-in pricing in Canada. While many competitors advertise low per-shirt prices, they pile on setup charges that can add $100 to $300 to your order total before a single shirt is printed. T-Shirt Elephant includes all setup costs in the per-unit price, so the price you are quoted is the price you pay. For customers seeking genuinely cheap custom t-shirts, this distinction is critical.

What Are Setup Fees?

In traditional screen printing, each colour in your design requires a separate screen to be created. The screen creation process involves coating a mesh screen with photosensitive emulsion, exposing it with your artwork, and washing out the design to create a stencil. Many print shops charge a separate fee for each screen — typically $25 to $50 per colour, per print location. A 3-colour front print and 1-colour back print would incur 4 screen charges at $25 to $50 each, adding $100 to $200 to your order before you even pay for the shirts themselves. Some shops also charge ink-mixing fees, colour-matching fees, and art preparation fees on top of the screen charges.

How T-Shirt Elephant Eliminates Them

T-Shirt Elephant absorbs all screen creation and setup costs into our per-unit pricing. We do not charge separately for screens, ink mixing, colour matching, art preparation, or digital proofing. This simplified pricing model gives our customers a true all-in price per shirt with zero surprise charges. The result is that our quoted price for affordable custom t-shirts is genuinely comparable — unlike competitors whose advertised per-shirt price balloons by $3 to $8 per unit once setup fees are divided across the order.

How Much You Save vs Competitors

On a typical 3-colour order, customers save $110 to $230 by choosing T-Shirt Elephant over competitors who charge setup fees. That savings alone can cover the cost of 10 to 25 additional cheap custom t-shirts — shirts you get for free simply by choosing a printer who does not nickel-and-dime you with hidden charges.

Reorder Savings — Screens on File

T-Shirt Elephant stores your screens indefinitely at no charge. When you reorder the same design — whether it is 3 months or 3 years later — your screens are pulled from storage and loaded onto the press with zero lead time for screen creation. Reorders ship faster and cost even less because there is no setup of any kind. Organizations that order affordable custom t-shirts on a recurring basis — schools running annual spirit wear campaigns, businesses replenishing branded uniforms quarterly, sports leagues reordering each season — save hundreds of dollars per year on reorder pricing compared to competitors who charge screen fees every single time.

Not every project needs a premium blank, and not every project should use the cheapest one available. Understanding when a budget blank delivers the best value — and when spending a few extra dollars per shirt makes sense — is key to getting the most from your cheap custom t-shirts budget. T-Shirt Elephant carries everything from $4.65 budget basics to $12+ retail-quality fashion blanks, and our team helps you choose the right garment for your specific use case and audience.

Budget Blanks — When They Are the Right Choice

Budget blanks like the Gildan 5000 ($4.95) and Gildan 8000 ($4.65) are the right choice when cost is the primary concern and the shirts will be used for short-duration purposes. Event giveaways, charity fundraiser shirts, promotional handouts, volunteer uniforms, single-use event shirts, and large-volume corporate orders that prioritize quantity over individual garment quality all benefit from budget blanks. The print quality on a budget blank is identical to the print quality on a premium blank — the only difference is the fabric feel and fit. For affordable custom t-shirts where maximum volume at minimum cost is the goal, budget blanks are always the smart choice.

Premium Blanks — When to Upgrade

Premium blanks like the Bella+Canvas 3001 ($8.95) and Comfort Colors 1717 ($10.95) deliver a noticeably softer fabric, a more modern fit, and a retail-quality feel that makes recipients want to wear the shirt repeatedly. Upgrade to premium blanks when the shirt is merchandise that will be sold, branded apparel that represents your company to clients, employee appreciation gifts where the shirt itself communicates value, or event merch for fashion-conscious audiences. The extra $4 to $6 per shirt buys significantly higher perceived value and longer wear life.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Our Recommendation by Use Case

For event giveaways, volunteer shirts, and large promotional runs where budget is paramount — choose the Gildan 5000 and invest your savings into ordering more cheap custom t-shirts. For branded company apparel, employee gifts, and merchandise that will be worn regularly — upgrade to the Bella+Canvas 3001 for a noticeable quality boost at a moderate price increase. For retail merchandise, premium brand experiences, and gifts where the shirt itself is the product — go with Comfort Colors 1717 for the ultimate vintage soft feel. When in doubt, request samples of each and feel the difference before committing to a large order.

The cheapest way to print cheap custom t-shirts depends entirely on how many shirts you are ordering. Different printing methods have different cost structures, and the most affordable option at 5 pieces is not the same as the most affordable option at 50 or 500 pieces. Understanding these crossover points helps you choose the right method and avoid overpaying. T-Shirt Elephant offers every major printing method and always recommends the most cost-effective approach for your specific order size and design.

1–11 Shirts — DTG or DTF

For very small orders of 1 to 11 pieces, digital printing methods deliver the lowest per-unit cost. DTG (Direct to Garment) prints full-colour designs directly onto the fabric with no setup fees — you pay a flat rate per shirt regardless of how many colours are in your design. DTF (Direct to Film) prints your design onto a transfer film that is then heat-pressed onto the garment, offering excellent colour vibrancy and durability on both light and dark shirts. At these small quantities, screen printing's fixed setup costs make each shirt disproportionately expensive. If you need a handful of affordable custom t-shirts with a detailed or full-colour design, DTG or DTF is your cheapest path.

12–23 Shirts — Transition Zone

The 12 to 23 piece range is the transition zone where the cheapest method depends on your design's colour count. For simple 1 to 2 colour designs, screen printing starts to become competitive with DTF at 12 pieces and pulls ahead by 18 to 20 pieces. For full-colour or photographic designs, DTF remains cheaper through this range because it charges a flat rate regardless of colour count while screen printing charges per colour. At 12 pieces with a simple 1-colour design, screen printing and DTF are roughly equal in price — but screen printing produces a more vibrant, more durable print that will outlast DTF through more wash cycles.

24+ Shirts — Screen Printing Wins

Once you cross 24 pieces, screen printing is the cheapest method for any design with 1 to 6 colours — and it is not close. The setup costs are fully amortized across enough units to make the per-shirt printing cost lower than any digital alternative. A 1-colour screen print on 48 shirts costs significantly less per unit than the same design printed via DTG or DTF. For organizations ordering cheap custom t-shirts in quantities of 24 or more, screen printing delivers the best combination of price, durability, and colour vibrancy available anywhere in the industry.

100+ Shirts — Maximum Savings

At 100 pieces and above, screen printing's per-unit cost approaches rock bottom. Setup costs become negligible on a per-shirt basis, and you are paying almost exclusively for ink and labour — which amounts to pennies per print. A 2-colour front print on 200 Gildan 5000 t-shirts can drop below $7.50 per shirt all-in, and 500+ piece orders push pricing even lower. This is why large organizations, event companies, and promotional distributors across Canada choose screen printing for high-volume affordable custom t-shirts. The economics of scale make screen printing unbeatable at volume, delivering professional results at a fraction of what any other method would cost.

Cheap custom t-shirts are not the only way to stretch your apparel budget. T-Shirt Elephant offers some of the lowest prices in Canada on custom hoodies and crewneck sweatshirts — essential cold-weather apparel that gets worn constantly through Canada's long fall and winter seasons. Custom hoodies are one of the most popular items we print because they combine high perceived value with practical everyday use, making them ideal for teams, businesses, schools, and events that want affordable custom t-shirts and outerwear in one order.

Cheapest Hoodie Blanks in Canada

The Gildan 18500 Heavy Blend Hoodie starts at just $16.95 per blank — the most affordable pullover hoodie available for custom printing in Canada. This 8 oz 50/50 cotton-polyester fleece delivers warmth, durability, and a smooth print surface that takes screen printing ink beautifully. Available in 30+ colours, the 18500 is the industry standard for budget custom hoodies. For a step up, the Gildan 18600 offers the same quality in a full-zip version at a comparable price point, giving your team or organization options without breaking the budget.

Cheapest Crewneck Sweatshirts

The Gildan 18000 Heavy Blend Crewneck starts at $14.95 per blank, making it the cheapest custom sweatshirt option in Canada. Crewneck sweatshirts have surged in popularity as casual everyday wear, and the 18000 delivers the classic crewneck look at a price point that keeps large orders affordable. Available in 25+ colours, this 8 oz 50/50 blend is warm, comfortable, and takes screen printing exceptionally well. Crewnecks are a smart alternative to hoodies for organizations that want the warmth and perceived value of a sweatshirt at an even lower price than a hoodie.

Printing Methods for Budget Hoodies

Screen printing is the most cost-effective method for custom hoodies at quantities of 12 or more pieces. The thick fleece fabric of hoodies takes plastisol screen printing ink beautifully, producing vibrant, opaque prints that stand out even on dark-coloured garments. For smaller hoodie orders of 1 to 11 pieces, DTF printing offers the best value with no setup costs and full-colour capability. Embroidery is another excellent option for hoodies — particularly for corporate logos and team branding — and offers a premium look that communicates quality. Many of our customers ordering cheap custom t-shirts add matching screen-printed hoodies to their order for a complete apparel package at budget pricing.

Volume Discounts on Hoodies

The same bulk discount tiers that apply to affordable custom t-shirts apply to hoodies and crewneck sweatshirts. At 24+ pieces, hoodie pricing drops meaningfully. At 48+ pieces, you enter mid-volume territory with significant per-unit savings. At 72+ and 144+ pieces, you unlock our best bulk pricing on custom hoodies. A common strategy for maximizing value is combining t-shirts and hoodies in a single order — the combined quantity often pushes you into a higher volume tier, lowering the per-unit cost on both items. For example, an order of 36 t-shirts and 12 hoodies totals 48 pieces, qualifying for Volume Tier 2 pricing across the entire order.

Events are one of the biggest drivers of demand for cheap custom t-shirts in Canada. Charity runs, 5K races, conferences, trade shows, festivals, and community gatherings all need custom apparel — often in large quantities, often on tight budgets, and almost always on a deadline. T-Shirt Elephant has been the go-to event t-shirt printer for Canadian organizers since 2012, delivering high-quality screen-printed event shirts at prices that keep organizers within budget while still producing apparel that participants and attendees are proud to wear.

Charity Run and 5K Race Shirts

Charity runs and 5K races are the single largest category of event t-shirt orders we produce. Race organizers need hundreds — sometimes thousands — of custom shirts on a fixed budget, and every dollar saved on apparel is a dollar that goes to the cause. Single-colour designs on light-coloured Gildan 5000 blanks deliver the lowest per-unit cost for race shirts, and at quantities of 200+ pieces, pricing drops to levels that make custom shirts a negligible portion of the overall event budget. We print participant shirts, volunteer shirts, sponsor-logo shirts, and finisher shirts — all coordinated across different colours and designs while maintaining affordable custom t-shirts pricing across the entire order.

Conference and Trade Show Giveaways

Branded t-shirts are among the most effective trade show giveaways because they turn attendees into walking advertisements for your brand long after the event ends. Conference organizers order cheap custom t-shirts in bulk to distribute at registration, use as speaker gifts, or give away at sponsor booths. The key to maximizing impact on a conference budget is ordering sufficient quantity to unlock volume pricing — 100 to 200 shirts at our bulk tier pricing makes each giveaway shirt remarkably affordable. For trade shows where brand perception matters, upgrading to a Bella+Canvas 3001 blank for a few dollars more per shirt delivers a retail feel that recipients associate with quality brands.

Festival and Community Event Shirts

Music festivals, food festivals, cultural celebrations, Canada Day events, community fairs, and neighbourhood block parties all generate demand for custom event apparel. Festival shirts serve double duty — they are functional (identifying staff, volunteers, and vendors) and they are memorable keepsakes that attendees wear for years after the event. Community event organizers across Canada choose T-Shirt Elephant for affordable custom t-shirts because our pricing makes it feasible to outfit every volunteer, vendor, and committee member without consuming the event budget. Multi-colour designs are surprisingly affordable at event quantities, so you do not have to sacrifice visual impact for the sake of cost savings.

Budget Tips for Event Organizers

Maximize your event t-shirt budget with these proven strategies from thousands of successful event orders. First, choose 1-colour prints on light-coloured shirts — this is the absolute cheapest combination for screen printing and still looks sharp and professional. Second, order in the highest quantity your budget allows — the per-unit savings at 72+ and 144+ pieces are dramatic. Third, consolidate shirt orders across your event — volunteer shirts, staff shirts, and participant shirts can all be different colours with the same design, qualifying the combined total for bulk pricing. Fourth, plan ahead and avoid rush fees by ordering with standard 10-day production time. Fifth, use our free design service to create professional artwork without hiring a separate designer. These five strategies can reduce your per-shirt cost on cheap custom t-shirts by 30 to 50 percent compared to ordering last-minute, small-quantity, multi-colour shirts from a local shop.

Whether you are gearing up a rec league softball team, a Friday-night beer league hockey squad, or a high school intramural club, cheap custom t-shirts make it easy to look like a real team without draining the budget. T-Shirt Elephant prints thousands of team shirts every season for sports organizations across Canada — from Vancouver beer leagues to Toronto school athletics to Halifax recreational soccer.

Rec League and Beer League Shirts

Rec leagues and beer leagues need shirts that can take a beating and still look good at the pub afterward. Our budget custom t-shirts starting from $8.99 are built for exactly that — durable cotton-poly blends that handle sweat, grass stains, and post-game celebrations. Order matching shirts for the whole roster with your team name and logo printed on the front, and you have instant team identity for a fraction of what athletic stores charge.

School Team Budget Options

School athletic budgets are tight, and every dollar matters. That is why schools across Canada order cheap custom t-shirts from T-Shirt Elephant for practice jerseys, tournament warm-ups, and spirit wear. Our bulk pricing means a team of 20 players can outfit everyone in matching custom shirts for under $200 — leaving budget left over for equipment and tournament entry fees.

Adding Names and Numbers Affordably

Names and numbers on the back do not have to be expensive. Our screen printing process handles player numbers efficiently at volume, and individual names can be added via heat transfer for as little as $3–5 per shirt. Want matching front logos with unique back numbers? We handle that every day for budget team t-shirts across Canada — just send your roster and we handle the rest.

Team Uniform Packages

For the best value, ask about our team uniform packages. Bundle front logo printing with back numbers across your full roster and the per-shirt cost drops significantly. Most teams of 15–25 players land in the $12–18 per shirt range for fully decorated cheap custom t-shirts — logo on front, number on back, ready for game day. Contact us at [email protected] for a free team quote.

The single biggest factor in the cost of cheap custom t-shirts — besides quantity — is your artwork. The number of colours, the complexity of your design, and the file format you provide all directly impact what you pay per shirt. A few smart choices at the design stage can shave dollars off every single shirt in your order.

Fewer Colours = Lower Cost

In screen printing, each colour requires a separate screen, separate ink, and a separate pass through the press. A one-colour print is the cheapest option — and often the most striking. Two colours remain very affordable. Once you hit four or more colours, the setup cost increases meaningfully. If you are chasing the lowest price on custom t-shirts, design with one or two colours and you will see it reflected in your quote immediately.

Simple Designs That Look Great

Some of the most iconic t-shirt designs in history are dead simple — a bold logo, clean typography, one colour on a contrasting shirt. You do not need a complex, full-colour illustration to make an impact. Simple designs print crisper, wear better over time, and cost less to produce. Our design team can help you simplify your artwork without sacrificing impact.

Vector Files Save You Money

Providing your artwork as a vector file (AI, EPS, SVG, or PDF) eliminates art setup charges entirely. Vector files scale perfectly to any print size and convert directly to production-ready separations. If you send a blurry JPEG or a low-resolution PNG, our designers may need to recreate your artwork — which takes time and can add a small art fee. Send vectors and skip that cost entirely.

Free Design Help Included

Don't have artwork at all? No problem. T-Shirt Elephant includes free design help with every order. Tell us your idea — your team name, a concept, a rough sketch — and our in-house designers will create a print-ready design for you at no extra charge. This is one of the biggest advantages of ordering cheap custom t-shirts from us: professional design assistance that other printers charge $25–75 for is included free.

Schools are one of the biggest buyers of cheap custom t-shirts in Canada — and for good reason. Between spirit days, graduation events, field day activities, club fundraisers, and athletic teams, a single school can go through hundreds of custom shirts in a year. T-Shirt Elephant makes it affordable to outfit every event without blowing the school budget.

School Spirit Wear on a Budget

Spirit wear builds community and school pride. Our budget custom t-shirts let schools order matching shirts in school colours for spirit days, pep rallies, and welcome-week events. At bulk pricing, a school ordering 100+ shirts can expect to pay as little as $8–10 per shirt with a one-colour logo — making it feasible to provide shirts to every student, not just those who can afford expensive branded gear.

Graduation and Prom Shirts

Class of 2026 shirts, grad trip tees, prom committee gear — these are milestone moments that deserve custom apparel. Our graduating class packages include front and back printing with class year, school name, and all graduate names on the back. These cheap custom t-shirts become keepsakes that graduates hold onto for decades, and our pricing makes it easy for grad committees to include every student.

Field Day and Club Shirts

Field day shirts with team colours, science club tees, drama production crew shirts, student council apparel — we print them all. Smaller club orders of 12–24 shirts still qualify for competitive pricing, and our no-minimum policy means even a 6-person robotics club can order matching custom t-shirts without being forced into a quantity they do not need.

Purchase Orders for Schools

We understand that schools operate on purchase orders and institutional billing cycles. T-Shirt Elephant accepts POs from schools, school boards, and educational institutions across Canada. Invoice payment with net-30 terms is available for qualifying organizations — no credit card required. Email your PO to [email protected] and we will get your order into production immediately.

Knowing our production timeline helps you plan ahead — and planning ahead is one of the easiest ways to keep your cheap custom t-shirts as affordable as possible. Rush fees are avoidable, and free shipping thresholds are easy to hit when you are not scrambling at the last minute.

Standard Production Timeline

Our standard production time for custom t-shirts is 10 business days from proof approval. This includes artwork setup, screen preparation (for screen printing), production, quality inspection, and packaging. The 10-day window applies to most orders regardless of size — whether you are ordering 24 shirts or 500. You receive a digital proof within 24–48 hours of submitting your order, and the clock starts once you approve it.

Rush Orders and Extra Costs

Need your shirts sooner? Rush production is available with 5–7 business day turnaround. Rush fees apply and vary based on order size and decoration method. Typical rush surcharges add 15–25% to the order total. For truly urgent timelines, contact us directly at [email protected] — we will do everything possible to meet your deadline while keeping your budget custom t-shirts as affordable as possible.

Planning Ahead Saves Money

The easiest way to keep costs down is to order early. Standard production avoids rush fees entirely. It also gives you time to consolidate orders — combining your team shirts, event shirts, and promotional giveaway shirts into a single larger order unlocks better volume pricing. Customers who plan 3–4 weeks ahead consistently pay 15–30% less than those who order last-minute with rush fees and expedited shipping.

Free Shipping Threshold

All orders over $250 CAD ship free anywhere in Canada. Most orders of 30+ cheap custom t-shirts clear this threshold automatically. Planning ahead lets you combine orders to hit the free shipping mark, saving another $15–40 in shipping costs. Between avoiding rush fees and qualifying for free shipping, ordering early can save you $50–100+ on a typical team or event order.

T-Shirt Elephant offers genuine wholesale pricing on custom t-shirts — not retail prices dressed up with a discount code. Our volume pricing is built for businesses, resellers, event organizers, and anyone ordering at scale. The more you order, the less you pay per shirt — with no minimum order requirements to get started.

Wholesale Blank Pricing

Need blank t-shirts in bulk without decoration? Our wholesale blank t-shirts start from just $4.65 per shirt for popular styles like the Gildan 5000. Bulk blank orders of 72+ pieces unlock the deepest discounts. We carry all major brands — Gildan, Bella+Canvas, Next Level, Fruit of the Loom, American Apparel — at wholesale pricing available to everyone, not just registered resellers.

Decorated Shirt Bulk Rates

Fully decorated cheap custom t-shirts — printed with your logo or design — start from $6–8 per shirt at volume. A one-colour front print on the Gildan 5000 at quantities of 100+ shirts lands around $6.50–7.50 per unit, fully printed and ready to distribute. Two-colour prints at the same volume typically run $7.50–9.00 per shirt. These are all-in prices: shirt, printing, and setup included.

Reseller and Distributor Programs

If you resell custom apparel — whether you run a promotional products company, a print broker, or an e-commerce brand — we offer reseller pricing with blind shipping directly to your customers. Your clients never see our name. Many Canadian promotional products distributors use T-Shirt Elephant as their production partner for budget custom t-shirts because our quality-to-price ratio is unbeatable.

No Minimum Order Requirements

Unlike traditional wholesalers that require case-pack minimums of 72 or 144 pieces, T-Shirt Elephant has no minimum order requirement. Order 6 shirts or 6,000 — we will quote it. Obviously, per-unit pricing improves with volume, but you are never forced to buy more than you need. This makes us the go-to source for cheap custom t-shirts Canada-wide, from small one-time orders to ongoing large-scale production.

Every business needs branded apparel at some point — staff uniforms, trade show giveaways, company picnic shirts, or employee onboarding kits. The problem is most corporate apparel providers charge premium prices because they assume businesses will pay whatever it takes. T-Shirt Elephant takes a different approach: cheap custom t-shirts with the same quality that corporate buyers expect, at prices that make your finance team happy.

Staff Uniform Programs on a Budget

Outfitting your team in matching branded shirts creates a professional image without the cost of formal uniforms. Restaurants, retail stores, landscaping crews, tech startups, and trades companies across Canada use our budget custom t-shirts as daily work uniforms. At $8–12 per shirt with your logo, you can provide each employee with 3–5 branded shirts for under $50 — a fraction of what uniform rental services charge monthly.

Promotional Giveaway Shirts

Branded t-shirts are the most effective promotional product in existence — people actually wear them, giving your brand repeated exposure for months or years. Our cheap custom t-shirts starting from $8.99 make it affordable to order 100+ giveaway shirts for trade shows, grand openings, community events, and customer appreciation days. A well-designed promotional shirt gets more impressions than a thousand business cards.

Corporate Event Apparel

Company retreats, team-building days, charity runs, golf tournaments, holiday parties — every corporate event is an opportunity for branded apparel. Our bulk pricing means you can order matching shirts for 50–200 attendees without blowing your event budget. Add the event date and a fun design to make each shirt a collectible that employees actually keep and wear.

Employee Appreciation Gifts

Custom shirts make thoughtful, affordable employee appreciation gifts. Anniversary milestones, project completions, quarterly awards — a well-designed branded shirt says "we value you" in a tangible way that employees appreciate. Order cheap custom t-shirts with your company logo and a special message for a per-unit cost that fits any HR budget. Email us at [email protected] for corporate pricing.

Shipping costs can quietly inflate the total price of cheap custom t-shirts if you are not strategic about it. T-Shirt Elephant keeps shipping simple and affordable — with free shipping on most team and group orders, and flat-rate pricing for smaller orders so you always know what to expect.

Free Shipping Over $250

All orders over $250 CAD ship free to any address in Canada — coast to coast, no exceptions. This applies to every province and territory, from downtown Toronto to rural British Columbia to northern communities. There are no hidden surcharges and no fine print. Your order total passes $250 and shipping becomes completely free.

When You Qualify for Free Shipping

Most orders of 30+ cheap custom t-shirts automatically clear the $250 free shipping threshold. Even at our lowest price points, 25–30 printed shirts will typically put you over the line. If you are ordering for a team, event, or business, you are almost certainly getting free shipping. For smaller orders, consider adding a few extra shirts to push past $250 — the shirts cost less than the shipping you will save.

Flat Rate for Smaller Orders

Orders under $250 ship at a flat rate starting from $12.95 depending on destination and package weight. There is no per-item shipping charge — whether you order 6 shirts or 20, the shipping cost is based on the total package, not the number of items. This flat-rate structure keeps shipping predictable and affordable even for small orders of budget custom t-shirts.

Shipping Across All of Canada

We ship to every province and territory in Canada. Typical transit times after production: Toronto 2–3 business days, Montreal 2–3 days, Ottawa 2–3 days, Calgary 3–4 days, Edmonton 3–4 days, Winnipeg 3–4 days, Vancouver 4–5 days, Halifax 3–4 days. All shipments include tracking. Because we ship domestically from Canada, there are zero customs fees, zero duties, and zero brokerage charges — unlike ordering cheap custom t-shirts from US-based printers.

There are dozens of custom t-shirt printers in Canada. There is only one that combines the lowest prices with the highest customer reviews and 100% in-house Canadian production. T-Shirt Elephant has earned the trust of over 100,000 customers — from one-time event organizers to Fortune 500 companies — by delivering cheap custom t-shirts that never cut corners on quality.

In-House Canadian Production

Every order is printed, embroidered, and shipped from our Canadian facility. We do not outsource to overseas factories or third-party print shops. Your cheap custom t-shirts are produced by our own team on our own equipment, which means we control quality at every stage. This in-house model is how we keep prices low while maintaining the quality standards that earned us a 4.9-star rating — no middlemen, no markups, no excuses.

Lowest Prices with Highest Reviews

Our 4.9-star rating across 1,500+ verified reviews is not an accident — it is the result of consistently delivering on the promise of affordable custom t-shirts that look and feel great. Customers in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Halifax repeatedly choose us because they get better shirts at lower prices than anywhere else in Canada. Read our reviews and you will see the same themes: great quality, fast turnaround, unbeatable pricing.

100,000+ Budget-Conscious Customers

We have printed for schools, charities, sports teams, startups, churches, municipalities, universities, trade unions, and businesses of every size in every province. Over 100,000 customers have trusted T-Shirt Elephant for their cheap custom t-shirts — and the majority come back for repeat orders. That kind of loyalty is not built on marketing; it is built on delivering the best value in Canadian custom printing, order after order.

Get Your Free Quote Today

Ready to see how affordable cheap custom t-shirts can be? Get a free, no-obligation quote in minutes. Use our online designer to start building your shirts now, or email us at [email protected] with your project details — quantity, shirt style, number of print colours, and any artwork you have. We respond to every quote request within one business day. Join the 100,000+ Canadians who trust T-Shirt Elephant for budget-friendly custom printing.