Boxercraft blanks: buyer's guide

Boxercraft blanks land on group orders and retail lines: spirit wear, sorority and fraternity merch, camp gear, lounge sets. The line covers flannel bottoms and shirts, heavier sweatshirts and hoodies, and two knit tops. Check the fiber before anything else. Some of the flannel is cotton and some is polyester, so the same flannel pant can need a different decoration plan depending on the cut you order.

What's in the Boxercraft line?

Twelve styles cover the flannel, fleece, corded, French terry, jersey and bamboo lines in this guide:

• Men's Harley Flannel Pants: 4.3 oz, 100% cotton, men's cut. Best for printed or embroidered lounge pants.
• Women's Haley Flannel Pants: 4.3 oz, 100% cotton twill, relaxed fit, women's cut. Best for sorority and lounge sets.
• Youth Flannel Pants: 4.3 oz, 100% polyester, youth cut. Best for camp and family orders. Vinyl, DTF and embroidery all work.
• Unisex Flannel Joggers: 4.3 oz, 100% cotton, unisex. Best for one-style group orders.
• Women's Boxy Flannel Shirt: 4.3 oz, 100% cotton, relaxed fit. Best for a stitched chest logo or a printed back.
• Men's Flannel Button Down Shirt: 4.3 oz, 100% polyester. Suits a stitched logo, heat transfer vinyl or DTF.
• Unisex Corded Crewneck Sweatshirt: 8.3 oz, 60% cotton / 40% polyester, unisex. Best for embroidered chapter and spirit crews.
• Unisex Corded Pullover Hooded Sweatshirt: 8 oz, 60% cotton / 40% polyester, classic and oversized fits. Built for embroidery and screen print.
• Men's French Terry Crewneck Sweatshirt: 8.3 oz, 70% cotton / 30% polyester. Made for stitching, with print as a second option.
• Women's Cropped Fleece Hooded Sweatshirt: 7.1 oz, 52% cotton / 48% polyester. A natural embroidered retail piece.
• Women's Pom Pom Long Sleeve Jersey T-Shirt: 5.5 oz, 100% cotton jersey. Best for screen print, discharge and DTF.
• Women's Bamboo Scoop Neck T-Shirt: 5.8 oz, 96% bamboo / 4% spandex. Best for stitched or DTF designs on a stretch retail tee.

How do you decorate Boxercraft flannel?

Match the method to the fiber. Four flannels are 100% cotton: the Harley pants, the Haley pants, the joggers and the Boxy shirt. Two are 100% polyester: the Youth Flannel Pants and the Men's Flannel Button Down Shirt.

On the cotton flannels, screen print and DTF work well, and DTG, embroidery and vinyl work too. If you're choosing between the joggers and open-hem pants, the joggers and sweatpants guide lays out how they differ.

On the polyester flannels, the list flips. Vinyl is the strongest choice, and DTF and embroidery work well. DTG needs cotton, so leave it off. You can screen print polyester, but on dark colors the fabric dye can bleed into light plastisol. A low-bleed ink or a blocker base is the usual fix.

The Harley, Haley and Youth pants are three of the six flannels here. For the wider range beyond Boxercraft, see the bottoms buyer's guide.

Can one order match men's, women's and youth?

Yes. The flannel pants come in all three cuts: Harley for men, Haley for women and Youth for kids. A camp, a family reunion or a chapter can put everyone in matching lounge pants.

Plan around the fiber, though. The adult pants are cotton and the youth pants are polyester. If one design has to look the same on all three, use a method that works on both: embroidery, vinyl and DTF all do. The flannel shirts split the same way. The women's Boxy shirt is cotton and the men's button-down is polyester, so the same rule applies.

Which sweatshirt or hoodie should you pick?

If the job is a stitched logo, start with the corded pair. The crewneck is 8.3 oz and the hoodie is 8 oz, heavy enough to hold a dense stitched logo. Both are 60/40 cotton-poly, so screen print, DTG, DTF and vinyl also work. Discharge is off the table because of the polyester. To see how these stack up against other crews, read the crewneck sweatshirt guide.

The other two lean different ways:

• Men's French Terry Crewneck: cotton-heavy at 70%. It embroiders well and takes print.
• Women's Cropped Fleece Hooded Sweatshirt: nearly half polyester, and embroidery is its strongest method. On dark or heather colors, light inks can pick up dye from the fabric. More cuts for this buyer are in the women's sweatshirts guide.

Which knit top fits your decoration?

For a printed top, use the Pom Pom Long Sleeve. It's 100% cotton jersey, so screen print, DTG, DTF and discharge all go down cleanly, and embroidery and vinyl work too. That makes it an easy spirit-wear top, and the long-sleeve tees guide compares other long-sleeve cuts.

The Bamboo Scoop Neck is 96% bamboo with 4% spandex, and it suits embroidery, DTF and vinyl. If you want screen print or DTG on it, run a sample first. Bamboo blends are less common on press than cotton, and a test print shows how your ink behaves before the bulk run.

Will it shrink?

Find out before you lock sizes. Wash and dry one sample of each style you're ordering, then measure it. It's a cheap step, and it catches fit surprises before the whole order is decorated.

Which Boxercraft style for which job?

• Matching camp or family lounge pants: Harley, Haley and Youth Flannel Pants, decorated with a method that works on cotton and polyester alike.
• One-style group lounge order: Unisex Flannel Joggers.
• Sorority lounge set: Haley Flannel Pants with the Women's Boxy Flannel Shirt.
• Printed spirit-wear top: Women's Pom Pom Long Sleeve Jersey T-Shirt.
• Stretch retail tee: Women's Bamboo Scoop Neck T-Shirt.
• Embroidered chapter crew: Unisex Corded Crewneck Sweatshirt.

For a Greek order, our pick is the Unisex Corded Crewneck Sweatshirt. At 8.3 oz it holds dense letters and crests well. It's unisex, so one style covers the whole chapter. The cotton-poly blend also leaves room for a printed back if the design calls for one.