"Which blank is best" is the wrong question. The right one is: which two or three blanks cover most of my work, print reliably, and are actually in stock when I need them?
The five comparison criteria
Weight, in gsm. Around 150 is lightweight, 180 to 200 is mid-weight and the workhorse, 220 and up is heavyweight. Heavier fabric needs more ink and longer cure but hides an underbase better and feels more premium.
Yarn type. Ring-spun combed cotton has short fibres removed and is smoother; open-end is coarser and cheaper. On a fine halftone or a DTG print, the difference is visible. Two garments both labelled 100 percent cotton can behave nothing alike, and this is usually why.
Fit and size consistency. Modern versus classic cut, and how consistently a large is a large across a carton. Inconsistency here generates size complaints that look like your error.
Dye consistency. Do two cartons of the same colour match? This matters enormously on split deliveries and reorders, and it is the fault customers notice most.
Availability. A perfect garment that is out of stock in mid-size for three weeks is not a core garment. Reliability of supply belongs in the comparison, not as an afterthought.
Build a three-tier range
| Tier | Purpose | Typical spec |
|---|---|---|
| Budget | Price-driven bulk, events, giveaways | 150 to 165 gsm, open-end |
| Core | Most work, the default recommendation | 180 to 200 gsm, ring-spun |
| Premium | Retail-quality merch, DTG, fashion fits | 200+ gsm, combed ring-spun, modern fit |
Three tiers, one recommendation per enquiry. Customers who want cheaper have somewhere to go, customers who want better have somewhere to go, and you are not stocking twelve styles.
Test them yourself
Order a handful of each candidate and, on your own equipment, check:
- Print quality on the fine end of your typical artwork.
- Underbase opacity and how much white it takes.
- Cure behaviour, including any scorching on lighter fabrics.
- Shrinkage and print appearance after five washes.
- Size consistency across pieces.
- DTG results with your pretreat settings.
That is an afternoon and a small stock order, and it will save you a reprint argument within the year.
Regional supply
Availability is regional, and the shortest lead time usually beats the cheapest list price:
- UK: Ralawise, PenCarrie, Stanley/Stella, AWDis, Gildan EU.
- US: SanMar, S&S Activewear, Alphabroder, Bella + Canvas, Gildan.
- Australia and New Zealand: AS Colour, JB's Wear, Ramo, Gildan AU, Stedman.
Pick one primary and one backup per tier. A single-supplier core range is a stockout waiting to become a missed date.
Watch the discontinuations
Fashion colours and seasonal lines get dropped, and finding out when a customer reorders is a bad way to find out. Prefer core catalogue lines for anything you expect to repeat, and keep the alternate style noted against the customer's design.
Costing, not just choosing
The blank is your largest single cost line, so a 30p difference across a few thousand garments a year is real money, and so is a stockout that loses a job. Both belong in your pricing formula, and holding decisions belong in your par levels.
Compare on landed cost, not list price
The price on the supplier's site is the least useful number in the comparison. What matters is what a saleable garment costs you by the time it is on your shelf and available in the size the customer wants.
| Line | Blank A | Blank B |
|---|---|---|
| List price | £2.10 | £2.55 |
| Freight share | £0.18 | £0.06 |
| Case pack constraint | 72, one colour | 12, mixed |
| Realistic sell-through | 70% | 95% |
| Effective cost per sold unit | £3.26 | £2.75 |
| Print quality | Open-end, fair | Ring-spun, good |
The cheaper blank is 19 percent more expensive per garment you actually sell, before you account for it printing worse. This is the single most common sourcing error in decorating, and it is invisible until you do the arithmetic on sell-through rather than on purchase.
The test protocol worth running once
When you evaluate a candidate blank, put it through the worst job you do rather than the easiest. For most shops that is a white print on a dark garment, or a dense embroidery on a lightweight knit.
- Print your hardest job on it. White on black, full coverage, or an underbase plus four colours.
- Check dimensional stability. Measure body width and length, wash at 40, tumble dry, measure again.
- Wash-test the print. Five cycles minimum, stretch test the print surface after each.
- Check dye migration. Especially on poly blends and anything in a strong colour.
- Compare two batches. Order twice, a month apart, and compare colour and fit. Batch consistency is what decides whether reorders work.
- Record it all against the style so the next person does not repeat the test.
Step five is the one that gets skipped and the one that matters most for repeat club and school work, where this year's garment sits next to last year's on the same body.
Print time is part of the cost
A blank that needs an extra pretreat pass, a second underbase stroke or a slower press because the fabric is unstable costs you labour on every single garment. That cost is real and it is invisible on any spec sheet.
The measurable version: run the same design on two candidate blanks and clock both jobs. The job costing report will show labour per job and margin after labour side by side, and it is common for a blank costing 40p more to be the cheaper garment once press time is counted. That is the comparison to make before you commit a core line, not after.
Keep a live view of availability
A great blank you cannot get is a bad blank. Before you promise a date on a large job, availability matters more than price, and the answer needs to be current rather than remembered.
Where a supplier publishes a feed, sync it and check stock at quote time. Where they do not, import their catalogue and hold your own par levels on the lines you cannot afford to run out of, per inventory for blanks. Either way the goal is the same: nobody should discover a stock problem after the customer has approved a proof.
Printer's Friend holds supplier catalogues with live stock where a feed exists and CSV where it does not, so a quote can check availability before you promise a date, and the regional pages list the suppliers we sync per market.