Company T-Shirt Design: How to Design Shirts for Your Business, Staff and Events

To design company t-shirts, start with the logo file and the placement, not the artwork: most business shirts are a 3.5 to 4 inch logo on the left chest, with an optional larger print on the back. That layout looks professional on staff, reads from across a room and costs less to print than a full front design. This guide covers where a company logo goes and how big, the file a printer needs, keeping brand colours consistent, which blanks suit staff shirts, how to size a team order and what company shirts usually cost.

How do you design company t-shirts?

Design company t-shirts in five steps: pick the placement (left chest logo, with a back print if the shirt also needs to advertise), get a clean logo file, choose the blank and colours, collect every employee's size, and order a proof before the full run. The logo artwork usually already exists, so the design work is mostly about size, position and contrast against the shirt colour.

Where does the logo go on a company shirt?

The left chest logo usually sits 7 to 9 inches down from the left shoulder seam, centred between the placket line and the side. The full figures for every shirt size, including youth and 2XL and up, are in the DTF transfer size chart, and the placement guide shows where each print sits. The placement calculator previews a logo size on any shirt size.

What file does a printer need for a company logo?

Send a vector file (SVG, AI, EPS or PDF) of the logo if the business has one; it scales to any size without blurring. For DTF printing, a PNG with a transparent background at about 300 pixels per inch at the print size also works, so a 4 inch left chest logo needs about 1,200 pixels across. A logo copied from a website or a social media profile is usually far too small and prints soft. The file prep guide covers transparent backgrounds and resolution.

Keeping brand colours consistent

Give the printer the brand's exact colour values (Pantone, CMYK or hex) and ask how close the method can match them. DTF prints full colour from a digital file, so it suits logos with gradients or many colours, but it reproduces colour through ink rather than a mixed spot colour, and a specific brand red or blue can shift slightly. Screen printing mixes each spot colour, which matches a Pantone more closely and is the usual choice for large runs of a one- or two-colour logo. Whichever method you use, approve a printed sample when the colour matters, and check the logo's contrast on the shirt colour: a navy logo disappears on a black shirt, so most brands keep a one-colour white version for dark shirts.

Which blank shirts work for company tees?

Choose the blank for where staff will wear it:

• Office, retail and front-of-house: a soft, fitted cotton or blend tee such as the Bella+Canvas 3001 or Next Level 3600. They hold a clean look and come in many colours.
• Field crews, warehouses and events: a heavier, cheaper cotton tee such as the Gildan 5000, or a 6.0 oz Gildan 2000 Ultra Cotton for durability.
• Hot outdoor work: a polyester performance tee such as the Port & Company PC380, pressed at the lower polyester setting.

Offer a women's or fitted cut alongside the unisex tee if the team wants it, and keep the same colour across styles so the shirts still read as one uniform.

Sizing a company t-shirt order

Collect each person's size before you order instead of guessing a spread; reprints of missing sizes are the most expensive shirts in the order. Share a size chart with the team, since unisex sizing runs larger than many women's sizes. The unisex size chart gives the measurements to send round, and a medium in most mainstream unisex tees is 20 inches across the chest and 29 inches long, laid flat. Order one or two spares in the most common sizes for new hires.

How much do company t-shirts cost?

Printed company shirts usually cost about $7 to $15 each, blank included, for orders up to a hundred, and $4 to $10 each for larger runs, depending on the blank, the number of print locations and the method. A left chest logo alone is the cheapest layout; adding a back print adds a second transfer or screen per shirt. DTF transfers are usually the cheapest method for small and mixed-size orders because there is no setup per design, while screen printing gets cheaper above a few hundred shirts with one or two colours. The cheap t-shirt printing guide breaks the cost down by quantity, and bulk custom t-shirts covers larger runs.

Frequently Asked Questions

What size should a company logo be on a shirt?

A company logo on the left chest of an adult t-shirt is usually 3.5 to 4 inches wide, set 7 to 9 inches down from the left shoulder seam. A back print is larger, 12 to 14 inches wide, and youth or fitted women's shirts take a slightly smaller logo.

Can I use my company logo on t-shirts?

Yes, if the business owns the logo or has the right to use it. A printer may ask you to confirm that you have permission to print the artwork. Do not add other brands' logos, sports team marks or characters to company shirts without a licence.

What is the best method to print company t-shirts?

DTF transfers suit small orders, mixed sizes and full-colour logos because there is no setup per design. Screen printing suits large runs of a simple one- or two-colour logo, and embroidery suits polos and jackets where a stitched logo looks more formal.

How many company shirts should I order?

Order one shirt per person in their collected size, plus a few spares in the most common sizes for new staff and replacements. If staff wear the shirt daily, budget for three to five shirts each so they are not washing one shirt every night.

Related Guides

• Where to place a design on a shirt
• DTF transfer size chart
• T-shirt design for bulk orders
• Cheap t-shirt printing
• Find a DTF supplier