The most reliable way to work out how to price custom t-shirts is cost-plus pricing: add up everything one finished shirt costs you, then add the margin you need on top. Guessing, or matching the bargain listings you see online, is how small shops end up busy but barely covering their costs.
This guide gives you the formula, a worked example built on a real DTF transfer price, and the adjustments that matter for bulk orders, extra print locations and selling fees. If you're still setting up, start with our guide on how to start a t-shirt business with DTF.
The cost-plus formula for custom t-shirt pricing
Cost-plus pricing works in two steps:
- Find your cost per shirt. Blank + transfer + labor + supplies + selling fees + overhead.
- Add your margin. Price = cost per shirt ÷ (1 − target margin).
Working from a target margin, rather than adding a flat amount, keeps your profit share steady when costs change. It also lets you price every product the same way, from a basic tee to a hoodie with two prints.
Markup vs margin: know the difference
Markup is what you add as a percentage of your cost. Margin is the share of the selling price you keep after covering costs. They are different numbers, and mixing them up leads to prices lower than you intended.
| Markup on cost | Resulting margin |
|---|---|
| 25% | 20% |
| 50% | About 33% |
| 100% (double your cost) | 50% |
So for a 50% t-shirt profit margin, you need to double your cost, not add half. To hit any target margin, divide your cost by (1 − margin). For a 40% margin, that means dividing by 0.6.
Step 1: Add up your true cost per shirt
List every cost that goes into one finished shirt. Labor, fees and misprints are the easiest to forget, and they often decide whether a price really works.
- Blank shirt: what your supplier charges for that style, color and size. Larger sizes often cost more, so check each one.
- Transfer: one DTF transfer for each print location (see Step 2).
- Labor: your hourly rate divided by the number of shirts you can prep, press, fold and pack in an hour.
- Supplies and packaging: parchment paper or Teflon sheets, mailers, hang tags and care cards.
- Selling fees: marketplace, listing and payment processing fees. Check your platform's current fee schedule, since fees change.
- Inbound shipping: the shipping on your supply orders, spread across the shirts in that order. Transfer orders of $75+ ship free.
- Overhead and waste: a share of your heat press, software and website, plus an allowance for misprints.
Step 2: Work out your transfer cost per design
For DTF shirts, the transfer is the one cost you can pin down to the cent. Pricing is based on size, not on how many colors your design uses, so extra colors don't add to your transfer cost.
- Transfers by size are priced by each design's dimensions, from around $0.03 per square inch. A 12" × 12" transfer, for example, is $4.51. Order them as DTF transfers by size.
- Gang sheets are 22 inches wide and sold by length, from $5.99 for 1 ft. You pay for the sheet, not per design, so divide the sheet price by the number of designs on it.
Gang sheets go as low as $4.50 per foot, for example 20 ft for $89.99 or 40 ft for $179.99, which works out to about $0.017 per square inch. Our guide on how to make a DTF gang sheet shows how to fit more designs per foot, and every length is listed on our DTF transfer pricing page.
Worked example: pricing one DTF shirt
Here is the formula applied to a shirt with one full-front print. The transfer uses a real price, and everything else is a placeholder for your own numbers.
| Cost item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Blank shirt | Your blank cost (B) |
| DTF transfer, 12" × 12" by size | $4.51 |
| Labor (hourly rate ÷ shirts per hour) | Your labor cost (L) |
| Supplies and packaging | Your supply cost (S) |
| Fees, overhead and waste | Your share per shirt (F) |
| Total cost per shirt | B + $4.51 + L + S + F |
Now apply your target margin (M): price = (B + $4.51 + L + S + F) ÷ (1 − M). For a 40% margin, divide the total by 0.6, then round to a clean price point.
Before you publish the price, run the same math for two variations:
- Larger sizes: if bigger blanks cost you more, either price those sizes separately or base one price on your most expensive size.
- Extra placements: a back or sleeve print adds another transfer and another press, so add both to the cost before you apply your margin.
Step 3: Check your price against the market
Cost-plus pricing tells you the minimum that works for your business. The market tells you how far above that you can go.
- Compare like for like. Look at shirts with similar blanks, print sizes and turnaround, not just the bargain listings at the top of search results.
- Price the value. A design made for a specific niche, team or event is often worth more to the buyer than a generic shirt.
- Don't go below cost. If the going rate is under your cost per shirt, change the blank, the print size or the product before you cut your margin.
Pricing bulk and custom orders
Teams, schools and businesses usually order in quantity and expect a price break. Offer one only where your costs actually drop:
- Transfers: a longer, well-filled gang sheet lowers your cost per design.
- Labor: pressing many shirts with the same design goes faster per shirt than pressing one-offs.
- Setup time: artwork prep, proofing and ordering take about as long for a small order as a large one, so a bigger order spreads that time thinner.
Charge separately for extras that add cost, such as additional print locations, individual names or rush jobs. Faster shipping on your transfer order costs more too: Rush (1–3 business days) is $19.99, compared with $9.99 for Standard (1–5 business days).
Common pricing mistakes to avoid
- Leaving out your time. If labor isn't in the price, you're pressing shirts for free.
- Forgetting fees. Marketplace and payment fees come out of every sale.
- Ignoring misprints. A crooked press or a typo costs a blank and a transfer, so build in a small allowance.
- Never updating prices. Recheck your numbers whenever blank, transfer or shipping costs change.
- Racing to the bottom. Underpricing the competition leaves no room for mistakes, discounts or growth.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good profit margin for custom t-shirts?
There isn't one right number. Your margin depends on your costs, where you sell, order size and how much the design is worth to the buyer. Start from your full cost per shirt, choose a margin that pays for your time and growth, then check the result against similar shirts.
Should I charge more for designs with more colors?
Not for the transfer. DTF transfers are priced by size, not by the number of colors. Charge more only if a design takes extra time to create or prepare.
How do I price shirts with more than one print?
Add a transfer and pressing time for each extra location, then apply your margin to the new total cost.
Should shipping be included in the price?
Either approach works as long as shipping is covered somewhere. You can build it into the shirt price or charge it at checkout, but include mailers and postage in your numbers either way.
How can I lower my cost per shirt?
Fill longer gang sheets, press designs in batches and combine supply orders, since transfer orders of $75+ ship free. New customers get 10% off the first order with WELCOME10, and Tidal Rewards lets you earn up to 10% back in store credit.
Put the formula to work
Price every product the same way: add up the real cost, apply your margin and check the result against the market. Recheck whenever your costs change so your prices keep pace. A good first step is laying out your designs to see your real transfer cost per shirt.
