Screen Printing Cost: What Determines the Price?
Screen printing cost isn’t a single flat number — it depends on your garment, your design, and most importantly, your order quantity. Understanding what drives the price helps you plan your budget and get the best value on your next order.
What Affects Screen Printing Pricing?
Every screen printing quote is built from a handful of core factors. Once you understand these, it becomes much easier to see why two seemingly similar orders can come out at different prices.
- ● Number of colors in your design
- ● Order quantity
- ● Garment style and base price
- ● Number of print locations (front, back, sleeve)
- ● Print size
Why Colors Affect the Price
Each color in a screen-printed design requires its own screen and its own pass through the press. A one-color design is the most affordable option, while a five-color design costs more because it requires more screens, more setup, and more press time per shirt.
Why Quantity Matters More Than Anything Else
Screen printing has real setup costs that don’t change whether you’re printing 10 shirts or 1,000. That means those setup costs get divided across every piece in the order — the more you print, the more you save per item. A design that costs several dollars per shirt at a small quantity can cost a fraction of that once you’re ordering in bulk.
The More You Print, the More You Save
DecorateONE uses volume-based pricing, meaning your per-item decorating cost drops as your order size increases. This tiered structure rewards larger orders without penalizing smaller ones with a required minimum — you can order exactly what you need and simply add more later to unlock a better per-piece rate.
How to See Current Pricing
Because pricing is tied to garment choice, quantity, and design details, the most accurate way to see your cost is to select your product and quantity directly on the DecorateONE website, where pricing is shown transparently before checkout. Our simple formula is: Product Price + Decorating Price + Tax/Shipping = your total cost.
Ways to Lower Your Screen Printing Cost
- ● Order in larger quantities to unlock better per-piece pricing
- ● Reduce the number of colors in your design
- ● Stick to one print location instead of several
- ● Choose a standard garment rather than premium fabric blends
- ● Combine orders across departments or teams to hit a better pricing tier
Screen Printing Cost vs. Other Decoration Methods
Screen printing is typically the most affordable option for large orders of a simple, bold design. Embroidery tends to cost more for large or detailed designs since it’s priced around thread and stitch time, and DTF printing can be more economical for smaller, full-color orders. Comparing quotes across methods for your specific design and quantity is the best way to confirm which option delivers the most value.
Quick Takeaway
Screen printing cost comes down to colors, quantity, garment, and print locations — and quantity has the biggest impact on price. The more you print, the more you save per piece, with no minimum order required to get started.
