Blank camo hoodies and camo apparel: buyer's guide

Camo orders come from all kinds of jobs: a hunting brand, a school spirit run, or a print shop client who wants camo hoodies with matching tees. Each one means picking a garment type and the fiber under the pattern. The fiber matters more. Cotton and cotton-blend camo takes almost every decoration method, while the 100% polyester performance styles work best with embroidery, vinyl and DTF. Decide how you'll decorate, and the fiber follows from that.

Cotton or polyester camo?

Pick cotton for the most decoration options. Pick polyester when the job is embroidery or vinyl.

Cotton and cotton blend

The Code Five tees and long sleeve are 100% cotton, so screen print, DTG and DTF all work on them. Embroidery and vinyl hold up too.

The Code Five hoodie is a blend, 60% cotton and 40% polyester. With light-ink screen prints on dark colors, that polyester can tint the ink. A low-cure ink or blocker underbase helps. Its 7.5 oz fleece is the heaviest top here, so it carries a dense stitched logo well. If you're comparing fleece weights across more hoodies, the pullover hoodie guide lays them out.

Polyester performance

The RealTree and Paragon styles are built around stitching, vinyl and transfers. Vinyl sticks well to polyester, and the 6.5 oz RealTree hoodies hold stitching without trouble. DTG ink needs cotton to bond, so leave DTG off these styles.

You can screen print them. On dark colors the dye can bleed into light inks, so use a low-bleed ink made for polyester, over a blocker base.

The Paragon is 3.5 oz, which is light enough that dense embroidery can pucker it. Use a firm stabilizer, or switch to vinyl or DTF. For thread and backing choices, see best blanks for embroidery.

What decorates well on a camo print?

Bold, one-color art. A busy pattern hides fine lines and small text. Embroidery, vinyl, DTF, and a screen print over an underbase all hold up, and DTF works on every style in this guide. DTG on a patterned or dark garment needs a white base layer, or the design sinks into the camo.

Two methods don't suit a camo print:

• Sublimation dye is transparent. It only shows on white or light polyester, so a camo print swallows the design.
• Discharge isn't a fit either. It pulls the dye out of a solid cotton base, and a camo pattern is several colors, so the result is hard to predict.

Will camo blanks shrink?

Measure before you commit. On a team or school run, wash and dry one sample of each style and measure it. Then size the order from what you measured.

Which camo blanks are in this guide?

There are hoodies, tees and long sleeves in both fibers, plus a polyester quarter-zip. That means you can pair a top and a tee that decorate the same way.

Cotton and cotton blend

• Code Five Unisex Camo Fleece Hoodie Sweatshirt: 7.5 oz fleece, 60% cotton / 40% polyester, unisex. Built for embroidery. Screen print, DTG, DTF and vinyl work on it too.
• Code Five Unisex Camo Tee: 4.5 oz, 100% ringspun combed cotton jersey, unisex. A good fit for printed art of any kind.
• Code Five Youth Camouflage T-Shirt: 4.5 oz, 100% ringspun combed cotton jersey, youth cut. Made for kids' team and school prints.
• Code Five Unisex Realtree® Camo Tee: 5.5 oz, 100% ringspun cotton jersey, unisex. Our choice for printed retail art.
• Code Five Unisex Realtree® Camo Long Sleeve Tee: 5.5 oz, 100% ringspun cotton jersey, unisex. The long-sleeve match to the Realtree® Camo Tee.

Polyester performance

• RealTree Unisex Realtree® Performance Hooded Sweatshirt: 6.5 oz polyester interlock, relaxed fit, UPF 30+. Suited to embroidered logos and vinyl.
• RealTree Unisex Realtree® Performance Colorblocked Hooded Sweatshirt: the same 6.5 oz interlock in a colorblocked style, relaxed fit, UPF 30+. Another strong embroidery blank.
• RealTree Unisex Realtree® Performance Full-Zip Hooded Sweatshirt: the full-zip version, 6.5 oz, relaxed fit, UPF 30+. Takes left-chest stitching or vinyl.
• RealTree Unisex Realtree® Performance Colorblocked Quarter-Zip Pullover: 6.5 oz interlock, relaxed, UPF 30+. For a stitched logo on a pullover.
• RealTree Unisex Realtree® Poly Performance T-Shirt: 4.6 oz, 100% polyester, relaxed fit, UPF 30+. Heat-applied vinyl and DTF are the natural methods here.
• RealTree Unisex Realtree® Performance Long Sleeve T-Shirt: 4.6 oz polyester interlock, relaxed, UPF 30+. Pairs with the RealTree hoodies.
• Paragon Men's Woodland Performance Long Sleeve T-Shirt: 3.5 oz, 100% polyester, men's cut, UPF 50+. Decorate it with vinyl or DTF transfers.

Which camo style fits which job?

Start from who's wearing it and how you're decorating:

• Outdoor or hunting brand, embroidered logo: RealTree Unisex Realtree® Performance Hooded Sweatshirt, with the Full-Zip or Quarter-Zip when you want a zip option.
• Retail drop with printed art: Code Five Unisex Realtree® Camo Tee, plus the matching Realtree® Camo Long Sleeve Tee.
• Youth team or school: Code Five Youth Camouflage T-Shirt for kids, Code Five Unisex Camo Tee for adults.
• DTG shop: any Code Five tee, printed over a white base.
• Lightweight long sleeve for an outdoor crew: Paragon Men's Woodland Performance Long Sleeve T-Shirt, UPF 50+, decorated with vinyl or DTF. If the crew needs a different weight, the long-sleeve guide has more options.

Which camo hoodie should you stock first?

If you stock one, our pick is the Code Five Unisex Camo Fleece Hoodie Sweatshirt. It's the heaviest top here at 7.5 oz, so it holds a full stitched logo. The cotton-heavy blend also takes most print methods, which lets one blank cover nearly any order that comes in. Adding caps with the same logo? The headwear guide covers those.