T-shirt production for private label

A meaningful T-shirt quotation needs more than a photo. Fabric composition, weight, knit, wash, fit, neckline, seams, size grading, colour and packaging all affect the result and the unit price. We collect these details in one specification so each manufacturer quotes the same article.

Printing and embroidery are also specified by position, dimensions, colours and artwork. Labels, care labels and hangtags can be included for a private-label product. If no tech pack exists yet, a reference shirt and a marked-up sketch can provide the starting point.

For T-shirts, our network ranges from a supplier of white blank shirts in fixed weights to a streetwear producer that washes, prints and embroiders heavy cotton. Our co-founder Felix works in China with a whole team, and together they know more than 100 producers personally. If you want to know whether a factory does cutting, sewing and printing itself, someone from the team checks it on site straight away.

One European contact goes through your shirt with you, from the fabric weight to the way it is folded into the bag, and makes the order happen. You see every step instead of trusting a black box. As soon as the sample is ready, the run starts or a print is delayed, you hear it from us without having to ask. The delivery dates we give are calculated realistically, and we do everything we can to keep them.

If something is wrong with the goods, a shade or a body length for instance, we talk to you at once and come to see you in person. Your trust matters more to us than anything else. Delivery is DDP, with an invoice from Hamburg.

You receive a physical pre-production sample before series production. A T-shirt sample takes about two to four weeks, depending on the producer. We send it to you so you can check fabric, length and neckline on the body. The sample and its shipping are not free; we tell you the amount before the sample is sewn, and the sample costs are credited in full against the series order. You approve material, fit, workmanship and finishing in writing, and only then does the run begin.

Wash the sample once according to its care label and measure length and chest width again afterwards. That shows you how much the fabric shrinks before thousands of shirts are made from it.

The approved sample remains the reference for the production run and future reorders. Colour and sizing deserve particular attention because deviations between dye lots or grading can affect the appearance and return rate even when the design looks unchanged.

A T-shirt spec starts with the knit: single jersey or double jersey, in 150, 180 or 200 g/m². 180 g/m² is the common anchor for a mid-weight basic. Combed ring-spun cotton gives a smoother surface and less pilling than carded yarn.

Construction decides how the shirt wears: tubular (no side seams, lower cost, can twist after washing) or side-seamed (holds shape better). Neck ribbing and a shoulder-to-shoulder tape are specified separately. The GSM tolerance is one of the points checked at the final inspection before shipment.

The range in our network runs from light shirts at 150 to 160 g/m² for events and ringer styles up to heavy streetwear shirts that some producers knit at more than 300 g/m². One supplier for blank shirts works with fixed weights: white T-shirts at 190 g/m² in a regular cut and at 240 g/m² as an oversized version, in European sizes.

For a heavy shirt with a normal cut, producers often recommend around 220 g/m². From 260 g/m² upwards a regular fit quickly feels stiff; such weights suit wide, boxy cuts better. Besides 100 % cotton there are blends: cotton with some polyester shrinks less, cotton with 5 % elastane suits close-fitting raglan shirts, and pure polyester is used for sports shirts that are sublimation printed.

Many men want shirts that reach well below the belt. Write the body length per size into the size chart, especially for XL and above, so that a 3XL also grows in length.

Print methods for T-shirts are screen print (Siebdruck) for high volumes and solid colours, DTG for photographic artwork at lower volumes, and transfer for small multi-colour placements; embroidery (Stick) is used for logos. The method is specified per artwork with the manufacturer.

Striped shirts can be made in two ways: the stripes are knitted into the fabric, or they are screen printed afterwards. Knitted stripes also look clean on the inside and take more work. For a vintage look, some producers dye or wash finished shirts again, for example as acid wash. Dark shirts can be decorated with discharge printing, which removes the dye from the fabric and keeps the print soft.

A cotton T-shirt is classified under HS heading 6109. Knitted garments from China carry a 12 % EU duty rate; we check the classification again for your specific shirt. The minimum order is 50 pieces per colour, split across a size run.

The usual deviations on T-shirts are side seams that drift towards the front after washing, a wavy neckline, a colour difference between body and neck rib, a fabric weight below the agreed value and prints that sit off centre. With large sizes, poor grading shows quickly when a 3XL only gets wider and hardly longer.

A precise specification with a size chart and tolerances prevents most of this. While the run is in progress, our team compares the first finished shirts with the approved sample. Before shipment it measures the finished goods again at the producer: length, chest width, fabric weight, print position, colour and the quantity per size. Anything that deviates is corrected at the producer while the goods are still there.

A simple shirt made from fabric the producer has in stock can be sewn in little more than a week. With specially dyed fabric, several print positions or knitted stripes, three to four weeks are realistic. Then you choose the transport: from the end of production, sea freight takes about 60 days to delivery, air freight about 15 days, and express for samples or small quantities usually about 5 days.

We combine the manufacturer price with sampling, inspection, freight, customs handling and delivery in the project calculation. The shirts arrive DDP at the agreed address, and the invoice comes from Hamburg.