I spent $1,200 on a batch of shirts back in 2018 for a pop-up in Chicago. I thought I was being smart by saving two bucks per unit on the blanks. I wasn’t. When the boxes arrived, they felt like 100-grit sandpaper. I had to sell them to actual human beings with skin, and I felt like a scammer the whole time. Since then, I’ve probably spent four grand testing different blanks just to see which ones don’t turn into a crop top after three washes.
If you’re looking for a “comprehensive” list of every shirt ever made, go read a marketing blog. This is just what I’ve found works and what makes me want to throw my heat press out the window.
The Gildan 5000 is a trap
I’m just going to say it. If you print your designs on a Gildan 5000 (the “Heavy Cotton”), you basically hate your customers. I know, I know—every print shop recommends them because they’re cheap and they hold ink well. But they fit like a cardboard box. They have no shape. They’re “tubular,” which is just a fancy industry way of saying they didn’t bother to sew side seams, so the shirt eventually twists around your body until the left shoulder is touching your chin.
I used to think heavy fabric meant quality. I was completely wrong. Weight doesn’t mean anything if the cotton is “carded open-end.” That’s the cheap stuff where the fibers are all tangled and scratchy. You want combed and ringspun cotton. What I mean is—actually, let me put it differently. You want the cotton that has had the literal trash combed out of it before it was spun into yarn. It makes the surface of the shirt smooth. Like a fresh sheet of glass for the ink to sit on.
If the shirt feels like a dish towel before it’s even printed, it’s going to feel like a burlap sack after the ink cures.
The data I actually tracked
I’m a bit obsessive, so I ran a test last year. I took six of the most popular blanks—Bella+Canvas 3001, Next Level 3600, AS Colour Staple, Gildan Hammer, Comfort Colors 1717, and a generic Hanes—and I washed them 22 times. I measured the length and width after every fifth wash.
- Bella+Canvas 3001: Shrank 4mm in length. Held its shape perfectly.
- Next Level 3600: Shrank nearly a full inch in length. It became a “dad shirt” real fast.
- AS Colour Staple: Zero measurable shrinkage. It’s spooky.
- Comfort Colors 1717: Lost a lot of color, but that’s supposedly the “vibe.”
The Bella+Canvas 3001 is the gold standard for a reason. It’s 4.2 oz (about 142 GSM), which is light but not see-through. I might be wrong about this, but I think the reason people complain about them being “thin” is just because they’re used to those thick, crusty shirts from 5K fun runs. Thin is good if the weave is tight.
I have an irrational hatred for Comfort Colors
I know people will disagree with me here. Every “aesthetic” brand on Instagram uses Comfort Colors 1717. They love that garment-dyed, lived-in look. I hate it. I think it looks like you found the shirt in a dumpster behind a Goodwill. The collar is always a little too loose, and the fabric is so heavy (6.1 oz) that it hangs off you like a wet blanket. If you’re doing a vintage 90s bootleg design, fine. Use it. But for anything else? It’s just sloppy. There, I said it. It’s a lazy choice for people who want to charge $45 for a shirt that feels old before you even buy it.
Anyway, back to the stuff that actually works.
The part nobody talks about: The Neck
Nothing ruins a good print faster than a “bacon neck.” You know what I’m talking about—when the collar gets all wavy and stretched out after two wears. This usually happens because the manufacturer used cheap ribbing with no spandex.
If you want to check the quality of a blank, grab the collar and give it a firm tug. If it doesn’t snap back instantly, walk away. The AS Colour Staple Tee has the best neck in the game. It’s thick, it stays flat, and it makes the whole shirt look expensive even if the design is just a stupid meme you made in Canva. I used to think AS Colour was overhyped because they’re an Australian brand and shipping was a nightmare, but they’re legitimately better than anything else on the market right now.
I’ve switched almost all my personal projects to them. They’re about $1.50 more per shirt than the Bella+Canvas, but I haven’t had a single person complain about the fit in three years. Not one.
A quick verdict for the lazy
If you’re staring at a wholesale catalog and your head is spinning, just do this:
- For the best overall balance: Bella+Canvas 3001. It fits everyone. It prints easy.
- For a premium, “boutique” feel: AS Colour Staple (5001). The neck is incredible.
- For the heavy, streetwear look: Los Angeles Apparel 1801GD. It’s expensive, but it’s the only heavy shirt that doesn’t feel like garbage.
- For cheap promos you’re giving away for free: Next Level 3600. It’s better than Gildan, but barely.
That’s it. That’s the list.
I still have those 50 sandpaper shirts in a box in my garage. I can’t bring myself to throw them away because I paid for them, but I can’t give them away because I don’t want people to think that’s the kind of work I do. It’s a weird kind of purgatory. I guess the real lesson is that your art is only as good as the thing you put it on. If you’re going to spend hours on a design, don’t be cheap at the finish line.
Is it weird that I care this much about pieces of cotton? Maybe. But then again, we’re all just walking billboards for something. Might as well be a comfortable one.
