Print-on-demand vs bulk
When should we stop using print-on-demand?
A design should leave print-on-demand when its sales are known well enough to be sure that most of a bulk run will sell. On list prices checked in October 2026, a one-colour run of the same blank t-shirt costs less per shirt from 47 shirts in the United States, but a run of 47 has to sell every shirt to come out ahead, and a run of 288 has to sell 199.
Two prices that behave differently
Print-on-demand and a bulk run are priced in opposite ways. With print-on-demand, nothing is made until a fan has paid. The printer then prints one shirt and packs it, and charges one price for the shirt and its print, with postage on top. That price is the same for the first shirt and for the thousandth.
A bulk run is printed before anyone has bought. Screen printing needs a screen for each ink colour, which is charged for once, and after that each shirt costs less the longer the run is. So the first price is flat and the second falls, and somewhere they cross.
Take one supplier of each kind, selling the same blank: Gildan’s Softstyle t-shirt, in 4.5 oz ring-spun cotton. Printful, a print-on-demand company, lists it in the United States at $9.63 with one print included. That is the price in every colour in sizes up to XL, and a 2XL is $11.63.
Filed or disclosedPrintful prices by the visitor’s region. These are its prices with the region set to the United States and the currency to US dollars, before postage and tax. · Source: Printful, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000 · checked
4imprint, which sells printed promotional goods and publishes its prices, sells the same shirt screen printed in one colour. Its price is $12.19 a shirt for 18 and falls to $5.99 a shirt for 1,008. It lists seven quantities, and its page works out a price for any quantity in between. Setting up the first colour is $40 on top, whatever the quantity.
Filed or disclosedThe page gives no style number. The match with Printful’s shirt is by name, weight and fibre. · Source: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Men’s, Colors, Screen, 4imprint, Frequently asked questions · checked
- Print-on-demand
- Bulk run, one colour
Where the lines cross: Shirts in the run about 47, Cost a shirt $9.63.
The figures
| Shirts in the run | Print-on-demand | Bulk run, one colour |
|---|---|---|
| 18 | $9.63 | $14.41 |
| 24 | $9.63 | $13.66 |
| 30 | $9.63 | $12.30 |
| 36 | $9.63 | $10.26 |
| 42 | $9.63 | $9.89 |
| 46 | $9.63 | $9.67 |
| 47 | $9.63 | $9.61 |
| 54 | $9.63 | $9.26 |
| 60 | $9.63 | $8.98 |
| 72 | $9.63 | $8.45 |
| 96 | $9.63 | $7.98 |
| 120 | $9.63 | $7.55 |
| 144 | $9.63 | $7.17 |
| 192 | $9.63 | $6.97 |
| 240 | $9.63 | $6.79 |
| 288 | $9.63 | $6.63 |
The bulk line is 4imprint’s price at that quantity plus its $40 set-up charge shared across the run. Between the quantities it lists, the price is the one its page works out as a quantity is typed: 46 shirts come to $9.67 each and 47 to $9.61. Both lines are for the same blank in sizes up to XL, before delivery and tax.
Filed or disclosedEach company’s own published prices in the United States. 4imprint’s prices between its listed quantities are worked out the way its product page works them out. · Source: Printful, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000, 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Men’s, Colors, Screen · checked
Where the crossover sits
On those prices the crossover is 47 shirts of one design in one ink colour. Below it print-on-demand is the cheaper shirt, and above it the bulk run is. The gap then widens: at 288 shirts the run costs $6.63 each, which is $3.00 less than print-on-demand.
That number is not a constant. It is the point where one supplier’s set-up charge and sliding prices meet another supplier’s flat price, and four things move it.
- Ink colours
- A screen print is priced by the colour. 4imprint adds $15 of set-up for each further colour. Fifth Column, a printer in London, charges from £30 a screen. Go Promotional, a UK supplier, adds £35 a colour and then between 75p and 12p a shirt, depending on the length of the run. Printful’s price is for one direct-to-garment print. Its page says the price varies with the technique, the placement, and the shirt’s colour and size. The number of colours in the design is not on that list.
- Designs
- A screen printer counts the run by the design, because each design needs its own screens. Fifth Column’s minimum is 50 garments a design. Three designs of 30 shirts are three short runs, not one run of 90.
- Quantity discounts
- Printful takes 3% off this shirt when 25 are ordered at once, rising to 14% for 500. Its bulk orders page puts the ceiling for t-shirts at around 32%, so this shirt sits well under it. Printful calls this a bulk order, and it is one: the stock is bought before it is sold. Against that discounted price the crossover moves from 47 shirts to 57.
- Country
- The same two companies sell the same shirt in the United Kingdom, at other prices and at other quantities. The table below works the sum again in pounds.
Filed or disclosedEach company’s own price list or product page. · Source: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Men’s, Colors, Screen, Fifth Column, Our prices, Fifth Column, F.A.Q.s, Go Promotional, Gildan Ultra T-Shirts, White, Printful, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000, Printful, Bulk orders · checked
| Shirts in the run | Bulk run, each | Print-on-demand, each |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | £8.29 | £6.88 |
| 50 | £5.69 | £6.88 |
| 100 | £4.45 | £6.88 |
| 250 | £4.17 | £6.88 |
| 500 | £3.99 | £6.88 |
The bulk run is 4imprint’s UK price for the Gildan Softstyle with a one-colour print, at quantities it lists, plus its £20 screen charge shared across the run. Print-on-demand is Printful’s UK price for the same shirt in black and the other colours it had in stock in the UK that day, in sizes up to XL, before VAT. 4imprint’s page does not say whether its price includes VAT, and this table assumes it does not. On that reading the run is the dearer at 25 shirts and the cheaper at 50, and the crossover falls between the two.
Filed or disclosedEach company’s own published prices in the United Kingdom. · Source: 4imprint UK, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Colours, Printed, Printful UK, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000 · checked
What the chart leaves out
The chart compares the cost of a printed shirt. It does not compare what it costs to get that shirt to a fan, and here the two prices cover different things. Printful says every price it quotes includes production, a quality check and fulfilment by its own staff. Postage is separate, and starts at $4.95 in the United States.
Filed or disclosedSource: Printful, Pricing, Printful, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000 · checked
A bulk run arrives in boxes. Shirts sold at a merch table are handed across it, and the run needs nothing more done to it. Shirts sold online have to be stored, and each order has to be picked, packed and posted by somebody. The stock cannot be left with Printful either. Its help centre says that since 1 March 2026 it no longer offers storage for products at any of its fulfilment centres.
Filed or disclosedSource: Printful Help Center, Can I still stock Printful products in your warehouses? · checked
The company that does this for a fee is a 3PL. One 2026 guide to their prices says most online brands pay about $2 to $3 to have a consumer’s order picked and packed, and reports an average of $3.20 from a 2025 survey of more than 600 warehouses. It puts storage at $18 to $25 a pallet a month, and the average monthly minimum at $517.
Third-party estimateA 3PL directory’s guide: its own typical range, and the average from an industry survey it reports. · Source: Fulfill.com, How Much Does a 3PL Cost in 2026? · checked
Add a fee like that to each shirt in the run and the crossover moves a long way.
| Pick and pack, an order | The run is the cheaper from |
|---|---|
| Nothing: sold across a table | 47 shirts |
| $2.00 | 116 shirts |
| $3.00 | 288 shirts |
| $3.20, the survey’s average | 463 shirts |
One shirt to an order. Storage and the monthly minimum come on top, and postage is left out on both sides.
Divini’s own dataWorked out for this chapter from the two companies’ prices and the guide’s fees. · Source: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Men’s, Colors, Screen, Printful, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000, Fulfill.com, How Much Does a 3PL Cost in 2026? · checked
So the crossover is not one number. On these prices it is 47 shirts for stock sold across a table, and somewhere between 116 and 463 for stock sold online through a warehouse.
The chart also says nothing about cash or time. A run is paid for before a shirt is sold: 288 shirts on these prices is $1,909.12. Print-on-demand costs nothing until there is an order. And a run has to be planned. 4imprint quotes five business days from approved artwork to dispatch for a run of this size, and an exact reorder pays no set-up charge again.
Filed or disclosedSource: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Men’s, Colors, Screen, 4imprint, Frequently asked questions · checked
What being wrong costs
There are two ways to get this wrong, and they do not cost the same kind of money.
Printing too many
The chart assumes that every shirt printed is sold. A run is paid for whole, so each shirt left over adds its cost to the ones that sold. The share of a run that sells is its sell-through, and it sets the real price of a bulk shirt.
Take a sample design, printed as a run of 288 shirts for $1,909.12. If all of them sell, each cost $6.63. If 144 sell, each of those cost $13.26. Printed on demand, the same 144 shirts would have cost $1,386.72. The mistake cost $522.40, and it left 144 shirts in boxes.
| Shirts printed | The run costs | Shirts that must sell | Share of the run |
|---|---|---|---|
| 47 | $451.72 | 47 | 100% |
| 72 | $608.08 | 64 | 89% |
| 144 | $1,032.16 | 108 | 75% |
| 288 | $1,909.12 | 199 | 69% |
| 576 | $3,640.00 | 378 | 66% |
| 1,008 | $6,077.92 | 632 | 63% |
The cost of the run divided by $9.63, the print-on-demand price of one shirt, rounded up. Unsold shirts are counted as worth nothing. Whatever is recovered by selling them later lowers the figure.
Divini’s own dataWorked out for this chapter from the two companies’ published prices. · Source: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Men’s, Colors, Screen, Printful, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000 · checked
The last column is a floor: the least a run can sell and still come out ahead. At the crossover it is the whole run. A run of 47 has to sell all 47, which is what a crossover means. The floor falls as the run grows, but slowly, and a run of 1,008 still has to sell 632.
Shopify’s guide for retailers calls 70 to 80% a healthy sell-through for goods in their selling period, and sets the aim above 80% for short-lived and limited runs. A seller who reaches 70% has only just covered a run of 288, which needs 69%, and has lost money on a run of 144. At 80% the run of 144 is covered too. A run of 72 needs 89%, more than either figure.
Third-party estimateA guide for retailers in general, measured over a selling period. No measured figure for merch was found. · Source: Shopify, Sell-Through Rate · checked
A run is also bought size by size, and sizes do not sell evenly. A run bought in the wrong proportions sells out of one size while another sits in the box. The chapter on the merch table sets out a size curve.
Staying on print-on-demand too long
The opposite mistake never arrives as a bill. It is the gap between the two unit costs, paid again on every sale. Take the same sample design and sell all 288 shirts on demand. They cost $2,773.44, against $1,909.12 for the run: $864.32 more, or about $3.00 a shirt. At 1,008 shirts the gap is $3,629.12.
Divini’s own dataWorked out for this chapter from the two companies’ published prices. · Source: 4imprint, Gildan Softstyle T-Shirt, Men’s, Colors, Screen, Printful, Unisex Basic Softstyle T-Shirt, Gildan 64000 · checked
The two mistakes differ in kind. A run that is too large costs cash that has already been spent. The most it can cost is the price of the run, which is known on the day it is ordered, and it leaves stock behind. Staying on demand too long costs margin. It has no upper limit, because it grows with every shirt, but it only ever comes out of sales that were made. One is a loss and the other is a smaller profit.
That is the case for starting a design on demand. While nobody knows what it will sell, print-on-demand risks the cheaper of the two mistakes.
When a design is ready for a run
The table above is the test, and it can be run for any quote.
- Price the run: the price a shirt at that quantity, times the quantity, plus the set-up for each ink colour.
- If the shirts will be sold online, add what it costs to store them and to pick and pack each order.
- Divide the total by the print-on-demand price of one shirt. The answer is the number that must sell.
- Compare it with what the design has already sold on demand, in the time the stock would be kept.
Sales made on demand are the evidence for the last step. Every order records a design and a size, so a design that has been on sale for a few months has its own figures. A design with no sales has nothing to put there, and its number is a guess.
Table stock is the exception. Nothing can be printed on the night, so shirts for a tour have to be a run whatever the arithmetic says. The question for a tour is how many, and the test still answers it.
Two arrangements sit between the models. A pre-order takes the orders first and prints the run to the count, so the sell-through is known before the money is spent. And a print-on-demand supplier will sell in quantity. Printful’s discount starts at 25 of one product, and it offers screen printing on some garments for orders of 500 or more.
Filed or disclosedSource: Printful, Bulk orders · checked
Two kinds of business, in filed accounts
Companies on both sides of this choice file accounts in the United Kingdom, and their margins are far apart. Teemill Tech, whose site calls it “Sustainable Print on Demand”, kept 44.5p of gross profit from each £1 of sales in 2025. Three companies that sell music merchandise kept between 8.5p and 16.5p.
| Company | Business | Year ended | Turnover | Gross profit | Gross margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teemill Tech | Print on demand | 31 December 2025 | £29.35m | £13.07m | 44.5% |
| Global Merchandising Services | Music, celebrity and entertainment merchandising | 31 December 2024 | £147.26m | £24.33m | 16.5% |
| Sandbag | Merchandise and e-commerce for bands and brands | 31 December 2024 | £20.75m | £2.85m | 13.7% |
| Ceremony of Roses UK | Music merchandise | 31 March 2025 | £41.06m | £3.48m | 8.5% |
Gross margin is gross profit as a share of turnover. The business is in each company’s own words. Global Merchandising Services’ figures are for its group.
Filed or disclosedEach company’s accounts at Companies House, read from the profit and loss account. What each company does is from its own site, or from its strategic report for Ceremony of Roses UK. · Source: Companies House, Teemill Tech Ltd, Companies House, Global Merchandising Services Limited, Companies House, Sandbag Limited, Companies House, Ceremony of Roses UK Limited, Teemill, Global Merchandising Services, Sandbag · checked
This is not one print method measured against another. The four companies do different work, and nothing in their profit and loss accounts says they count a cost of sale the same way. Sandbag’s own site lists print-on-demand among the things it supplies. So the gap cannot be put down to stock, or to any one cause. What the table shows is how far apart the two kinds of business sit. At the thin end, Ceremony of Roses UK’s strategic report describes its own as “a low-margin business”.
Filed or disclosedSandbag’s site, and the strategic report in Ceremony of Roses UK’s accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025. · Source: Sandbag, Companies House, Ceremony of Roses UK Limited · checked