Core value t-shirts: buyer's guide

You're ordering shirts for a fun run, a company picnic, a school spirit day or a giveaway table, and the cost per piece is the first number you check. The tees in this guide are built for those runs. The choice that matters most here is fiber, because fiber decides which decoration methods will work. Some of these styles are all cotton, some are a 50/50 cotton-poly blend, and a few are full polyester built for sports.

Which styles are in this guide?

Eight styles, grouped here by fiber: adult and youth tees, plus tanks and a team jersey for athletic jobs.

All cotton

• Tultex 202 Unisex Fine Jersey T-Shirt: 4.5 oz, 100% ringspun cotton, unisex, pre-shrunk. Best for screen print, DTG, DTF and discharge.
• Tultex 235 Youth Fine Jersey T-Shirt: 4.5 oz, 100% ringspun cotton, youth, pre-shrunk. Best for the same methods as the 202, in kids' sizing.

Cotton-poly blend

• Gildan 8000 Unisex DryBlend T-Shirt: 5.5 oz, 50% cotton / 50% polyester, classic fit. Best for screen print, embroidery, HTV and sublimation.
• Gildan 8000B Youth DryBlend T-Shirt: 5.5 oz, 50/50 cotton-poly, modern classic fit, youth. Best for matching an adult 8000 order in kids' sizes.
• Hanes 5170 Unisex EcoSmart T-Shirt: 5 oz, 50/50 cotton-poly, classic fit, pre-shrunk. Best for screen print, embroidery, HTV and DTF.

Polyester

• Augusta Sportswear 148 Unisex Reversible Wicking Tank Top: 3.4 oz, 100% polyester, reversible. Best for sublimation and HTV.
• Augusta Sportswear 322240 Unisex Octane Soccer Jersey: 100% polyester. Best for sublimation and HTV names and numbers.
• Augusta Sportswear 1203 Girls' Solid Racerback Tank Top: 90% polyester / 10% spandex. Best for sublimation and HTV.

Cotton or a cotton-poly blend?

Pick cotton if you run DTG or discharge. Pick a blend if you want the widest range of other methods.

The Tultex 202 and 235 are 100% ringspun cotton, so DTG, discharge, screen print and DTF all go down cleanly. DTG ink needs cotton fiber to grab onto. A 50/50 blend doesn't have enough of it, so send DTG jobs to the Tultex pair and use other methods on the Gildan 8000, 8000B and Hanes 5170.

Those three blends work for screen print, embroidery, HTV, DTF and sublimation. As a general rule, sublimation on a blend comes out softer and less vivid than on full polyester, since the dye only bonds to the poly fibers. That suits a vintage-look promo print. For bright, full-color art, use one of the polyester styles below.

The blends are half polyester, so on dark colors the shirt's dye can bleed up into a light ink. If you're laying light ink on a dark blend shirt, a low-bleed ink or a blocker under-base is the standard fix in any shop.

How do these print on a big promo run?

Every cotton and blend style here takes screen print well, and screen print is the workhorse for volume. The Tultex pair prints even cleaner. Ringspun cotton gives a smooth surface, which helps with fine lines and halftones.

DTF works on all eight styles, cotton, blend and polyester alike. Say one event needs six different sponsor logos in small quantities. DTF lets you mix shirts without re-planning the art.

Which tees hold their shape?

The 5.5 oz Gildan 8000 and 8000B have more body and resist sag, so they hold their shape better on shirts that get worn hard. The 4.5 oz Tultex is the lightest of the cotton and blend tees, so it gives more stretch and sag than the Gildans.

What about the polyester jerseys and tanks?

Picture a team order: full-color jersey art, plus vinyl names and numbers on the back. That's what the three Augusta styles are for. They're polyester, so sublimation comes out vivid and HTV bonds well on all three. The 1203's spandex helps it spring back after stretching, so it keeps its shape through practice and games.

Other methods take more care on these:

• Screen print takes extra care. On dark colors, the dye in polyester can move into a light ink layer when the print goes through the dryer. Low-cure poly inks and a blocker base are the usual answer if you do screen them.
• Embroidery works well on the 322240 and 1203. The 148 is light at 3.4 oz and can pucker under a dense design. Keep logos small there, or go with sublimation or HTV.

Will it shrink?

The Tultex 202, Tultex 235 and Hanes 5170 are pre-shrunk, so they hold their size better in the wash. When sizes have to hold, say for a pre-sized team order, start there. For any other style, wash and dry one sample and measure it before you lock in the size run.

When should you step up to premium?

Step up when the shirt is the product, not the handout. A retail line, band merch, or a shirt people pay for gets judged on hand-feel and weight, and our premium blank t-shirts guide covers the heavier cotton styles built for that. Matching a soft retail fit is its own question, covered in Bella+Canvas 3001 alternatives.

If your event runs into cold weather, the same fiber-and-method thinking carries over to blank long-sleeve tees.

Which style fits your job?

For a general promo run, our pick is the Tultex 202. It's 100% ringspun cotton, so it takes screen print, DTG, DTF and discharge. That covers almost any cotton method a shop runs. It's also pre-shrunk, which makes it the safer bet when you're handing out sizes people picked in advance.

For other jobs:

• Event or giveaway run with screen print, DTG, DTF or discharge: Tultex 202
• Kids' sizes for a school or camp run: Tultex 235 (cotton) or Gildan 8000B (blend)
• Screen-printed company or volunteer shirts that get worn hard: Gildan 8000
• Pre-sized blend order where fit has to hold: Hanes 5170
• Sublimated team jerseys with names and numbers: Augusta 322240
• Race-day or practice tanks: Augusta 148, or the 1203 for girls' teams