5 Ways Custom T-Shirts Can Supercharge Your Marketing

At 1WorldPrint we print custom t-shirts for businesses, brands, charities and events across the UK, from staff uniforms to campaign tees and giveaways. Brands including Strava, Coca-Cola, Smirnoff Ice, BBC iPlayer, Corona, Capital FM and Dairylea trust us with their branded merchandise and clothing. These are the reasons our clients keep coming back again and again for promotional t-shirts, and what we have learned about making them work.

In this guide

• What Are Promotional T-Shirts?
• 1. They Turn Staff and Customers Into Walking Adverts
• 2. They Build Recognition and Trust
• 3. They Cost Less per View Than Most Advertising
• 4. They Create Loyalty and a Sense of Belonging
• 5. They Keep Working Long After the Campaign
• How Businesses Use Promotional T-Shirts
• Choosing the Right T-Shirt
• Choosing the Right Print Method
• Matching Promotional Merchandise
• Tips for a Promotional T-Shirt People Actually Wear
• Promotional T-Shirt FAQs

What Are Promotional T-Shirts?

Short answer: t-shirts printed with your logo, message or campaign design, used to promote your business.

Promotional t-shirts, also referred to as branded or corporate t-shirts, cover everything from matching staff uniforms to event tees, launch giveaways and merch you sell on. What they have in common is that every time one is worn, your brand is seen, in the office, at the gym, on the school run or across a crowded exhibition hall.

1. They Turn Staff and Customers Into Walking Adverts

A branded t-shirt takes your logo wherever the wearer goes. Unlike a digital advert that disappears in a few seconds, a t-shirt is seen by everyone the wearer walks past, sits next to or meets, and it keeps working long after the day it was handed out.

Staff are the most visible wearers of all. Matching t-shirts make your team easy to spot at events, in shops and on site, and they tell customers they are dealing with a professional business. Our guides to branded workwear and hospitality uniforms cover the options for every type of team.

2. They Build Recognition and Trust

People buy from brands they recognise, and recognition comes from seeing a name over and over again. Promotional products are good at this: a BPMA survey of more than 12,000 people found that two thirds of them could recall the brand on a promotional item they had been given. As proud members of the BPMA, the trade body for the promotional merchandise industry, we see that effect on every campaign.

Consistency matters just as much. A logo in slightly the wrong shade looks careless, so we screen print to your Pantone references and your brand colour is exactly the same on every shirt and every reorder, as our guide to Pantone colours in screen printing explains.

3. They Cost Less per View Than Most Advertising

The majority of advertising stops the moment you stop paying for it. A promotional t-shirt is a one off cost, and every time it is worn it is seen again free of charge. Spread across months or years of wear, the cost of each view becomes tiny compared with paid advertising.

The price per shirt also falls as the quantity rises, because the set up for screen printing is shared across the whole order:

What you change	Effect on price
Order a larger quantity	The set up is shared across more shirts, so the price per shirt falls
Use fewer colours	Each colour needs its own screen, so one or two colour designs cost least
Print in one position	Every extra position, such as a back or sleeve print, adds set up
Choose the right garment	The blank t-shirt is a big part of the price, from good value to premium

Our guide to keeping t-shirt printing costs low goes through every way to get more from your budget.

Get a promotional t-shirt quoteor call 0208 064 1315

4. They Create Loyalty and a Sense of Belonging

People tend not to wear clothing they feel nothing about. When a customer, supporter or member of staff chooses to wear your t-shirt, they are telling everyone they are part of what you do. That is why branded t-shirts work so well for clubs, charities, communities and brands with loyal followings, and why so many businesses are now selling their own merch.

A bold design allows people to feel proud to wear it. A large back print, like the jumbo screen print above, turns a promotional tee into something people actually want, and our charity printing page shows how fundraising teams use the same idea.

5. They Keep Working Long After the Campaign

A campaign ends, but a good quality t-shirt stays in someone's wardrobe. The key is quality: a thin, badly fitting shirt is worn once and thrown away, while a soft, well cut t-shirt with a good print is worn over and over again. Spending a little more on the blank usually means far more wear, and far more people seeing your brand.

Sustainable garments help too, because many customers now prefer brands that avoid throwaway merch. Organic cotton t-shirts from Stanley/Stella and Earth Positive are popular choices, and our guide to sustainable promotional merchandise covers greener options across the range.

How Businesses Use Promotional T-Shirts

Use	What works best	Useful guide
Staff uniforms	Matching printed t-shirts or embroidered polos with your logo	Workwear
Events and trade shows	Bright t-shirts so your stand team is easy to spot	Event t-shirts
Product launches and campaigns	A limited edition design for staff, partners and customers	Marketing agencies
Charity and fundraising	Team t-shirts for runs, challenges and volunteers	Charities
Merch to sell	A retail quality tee with your own neck label	Relabelling
Influencers and creators	Small runs of full colour designs	Influencers

Choosing the Right T-Shirt

The right blank depends on how the t-shirt will be used and how long you want it to last. These are popular choices at each level:

Level	Example t-shirt	Best for
Good value	GD001 Gildan Softstyle (64000)	Large giveaways and one day events
Everyday quality	5001 AS Colour Staple Tee	Staff t-shirts and merch people keep wearing
Organic and premium	SX701 Stanley/Stella Creator 2.0 (STTU169) or EP01 Earth Positive	Brand merch and sustainable campaigns
Heavyweight retail feel	5082 AS Colour Heavy Faded Tee	Campaign merch with a vintage, retail look
Classic with tear away label	Alstyle 1301	Merch with your own printed neck label

Our guide to the best clothing brands to personalise compares more options, our oversized t-shirt guide covers boxier fits, and you can browse every style in our clothing catalogue.

Choosing the Right Print Method

Method	Best for	Minimum order
Screen printing	Larger runs and exact Pantone brand colours, at the lowest price per shirt	20 units
Direct to garment (DTG)	Full colour and photographic designs on cotton, in small runs	8 units
Direct to film (DTF)	Detailed designs, names and numbers, and polyester garments	8 units
Embroidery	A premium stitched logo on polos and staff wear	8 units
Puff printing	Raised logos that stand out on merch	25 units

Not sure which suits your design? Our guide to DTF vs DTG printing compares the two different digital methods, and your dedicated Account Manager will recommend the best option when you ask for a quote.

Matching Promotional Merchandise

Promotional t-shirts work even harder alongside matching merchandise. For Strava, we have printed tote bags in their exact brand orange, as well as embroidered caps and branded bottles, so the colour looks the same on every item.

Popular companions to a promotional t-shirt include tote bags, embroidered caps, water bottles and notepads. Our round up of the most popular promotional merchandise has more ideas, and our merchandise catalogues have thousands more products to brand.

Tips for a Promotional T-Shirt People Actually Wear

• Design something people want to wear. A clean logo or a strong slogan beats a shirt crammed with information.
• Choose a good blank. Soft, well fitting t-shirts get worn for years. Cheap ones get used as dusters.
• Get the sizes right. Ask your team for sizes, and order a few spares for new starters.
• Use the space on the back. A small chest logo with a bigger back print gives you two chances to be seen.
• Send vectored artwork. Screen printing needs vectored artwork, such as an AI, EPS or vector PDF file, for the cleanest result.
• Plan ahead. Leave time for your free visual proof and any changes before your deadline.

How to Order Promotional T-Shirts

Four steps from first enquiry to delivered order, with one point of contact the whole way through.

Promotional T-Shirt FAQs

What are promotional t-shirts?

Promotional t-shirts are t-shirts printed with a company logo, message or campaign design, used to market a business. They are worn by staff, given away at events and trade shows, handed to customers or sold as merch, so your brand is seen every time they are worn.

What is the minimum order for promotional t-shirts?

DTG, DTF and embroidery start at 8 units, so even a small team or a one off event is covered. Screen printing starts at just 20 units per design and gives the lowest price per shirt on bigger runs.

How long do promotional t-shirts take?

Promotional t-shirts are usually ready six to seven business days after artwork approval, with express available for launches and events. You will see a free visual proof within 30 minutes of order confirmation.

What is the cheapest way to print promotional t-shirts?

Order in bulk, keep the design to one or two colours and stick to one print position. Screen printing gets cheaper per shirt as the quantity goes up, so a single order for the whole year will cost less than several small ones.

Which t-shirt is best for a promotional giveaway?

For large giveaways, a good value cotton t-shirt such as the GD001 Gildan Softstyle (64000) keeps the cost per shirt down. If you want people to keep wearing it, a better quality blank such as the 5001 AS Colour Staple Tee or the Stanley/Stella Creator 2.0 is worth the extra.

Can you match our brand colours?

Yes. Screen printed inks are mixed to your Pantone references, so your logo is the same colour on every shirt and every reorder. DTG, DTF and embroidery get very close but cannot match exactly.

Do mixed sizes cost extra?

Not at all. Mixed sizes cost no extra, so you can order exactly the sizes your team or customers need.

Can our business pay on account?

Yes. Once you register as a client you can apply for a credit account with 30 or 60 day terms, which makes repeat campaign orders simpler. Start on our client registration page.

Final Thoughts

Promotional t-shirts put your brand in front of people every day, build recognition and loyalty, and keep working long after the campaign that paid for them. Choose a t-shirt people want to wear, a print method that suits your design and a quantity that brings the price per shirt down, and they will be one of the best value marketing tools your business buys.

Tell us what you are planning and we will recommend the right t-shirt and print method, with a free visual proof. You can also see what our customers say about us on Trustpilot. Email hello@1worldprint.co.uk or call us on 0208 064 1315.