Over the past few years, print-on-demand has exploded. Selling merch and personalized apparel is now an easy way to grow an online business. In fact, the print-on-demand market is valued at $4.9 billion .
One of the reasons why it is popular is that you don't need capital to start. You just create a custom t-shirt, set a price on it, and pay when someone orders the shirt. But to succeed long-term, you must partner with a great print-on-demand company and have an order fulfillment system in place.
To help you build a successful online dropshipping business, we put together a list of 13 companies that offer a wide range of print-on-demand t-shirts at competitive prices. Ready? Let's begin.
CJ Dropshipping is a company that connects dropshippers with thousands of suppliers. One thing that makes CJ Dropshipping special is the wide range of options.
You can search for products and filter them by shipping rates and warehouse location. When you click on a product, there is more information about variants, supported online stores, and available shipping methods. You can even directly message the supplier.
CJ Dropshipping has 32 warehouses and three shipping methods – the in-house CJPacket Liquid Line, Post NL, and DHL official.
Pros
Cons
Price
No capital is required to open an account and place orders.
Printful is a popular print-on-demand company based in the US. The company has printing facilities in both the US and Europe.
As a dropshipper, you just have to upload a design and add Printful to your online store. When an order comes in, Printful processes it and prints the t-shirt. Shipping is usually done within 3 to 7 business days.
Printful replaces stolen or damaged goods. The company features a mock-up design generator and in-house photographers and videographers
Pros
Cons
Price
No capital or Minimum Quantity Order is required.
Sprocket partners with suppliers based in the US, UK, and Europe. This is why it stands out for faster shipping and easy product returns. Sprocket delivers t-shirts to customers within 5 days.
However, the shipping rates are on the high side. It's a situation of if you can afford it, buy it. Because Sprocket's prices are higher than others, you may lose customers who can't afford your shipping.
To make things easier, Sprocket suppliers typically offer discounts of up to 30%. The app integrates with Shopify, Etsy, and others. More importantly, it supports migration from Oberlo.
Pros
Cons
Price
You can sign up with Sprocket for free and add your Shopify store. But if you want benefits like branded invoicing and exclusive products, Sprocket has a pro version that costs $39 per month.
Printify offers the best of both CJ Dropshipping and Sprocket. The company partners with several suppliers in the US and EU just like Sprocket does. Then it uses the closest supplier to a customer in every order.
By default, you don't pick the supplier to work with. You simply create a design on Printify and upload it to your store. When an order comes in, Printify selects the supplier closest to your customer to print the t-shirt.
So, your customers get fast shipping times and fair rates.
Printify also has a cool feature called order routing where the dropshipping company simply reroutes an order to an available supplier if one isn't available.
Pros
Cons
Price
It's free to install the Printify app in your store. But as you gain customers, consider upgrading to Printify's Premium plan which costs $25 monthly, for added services like white labeling.
Spreadshirt is a US-based print-on-demand company with a focus on both retailers and dropshippers.
To add products directly to your eCommerce store, you have to get SPOD app which is also owned by Spreadshirt. The company accepts bulk purchases which are shipped within 2 to 3 weeks with no automated order fulfillment.
Spreadshirt stands out because of the number of printing methods it offers. You can choose from special printing methods like silk screen printing, digital direct printing, and thermo sublimation. They all have an MOQ of 25 except for embroidery with an MOQ of 12.
Pros
Cons
Price
If you integrate SPOD with your store, then no capital is required. Otherwise, you need the money to make initial orders.
Apliiq dropshipping company has 200+ available products including print-on-demand t-shirts. The company is pretty easy to use.
Once you've created an Apliiq account, you can create a logo for your t-shirt, upload it, and then import the shirt into Shopify or WooCommerce. The company offers automated order fulfillment and ships shirts within days to 100+ countries worldwide. You can get bulk buying discounts of up to 55%.
Pros
Cons
Price
Zero capital is required. No extra charges on the web app
TeeLaunch does not outsource anything to third-party companies. From design to printing to shipping, the company handles it all.
Because of this, TeeLaunch has a limited product catalog. And it does not allow extensive customization of t-shirts. You can only customize color, size, and design placement.
If your customers are primarily based in the US and Europe, you can count on TeeLaunch to provide very fast deliveries.
Pros
Cons
Price
No capital is needed. The web app is completely free.
Print Aura stands out because of its lightning-fast shipping times and low purchasing risk. Most orders are shipped within 3 to 5 days. For a little extra cost, an order can be shipped within 48 hours. And, the dropshipping company replaces all lost or damaged shipments.
If you decide to get a Print Aura account, you get other benefits like a free design generator, no MOQs, and automated order fulfillment. Simply add their app to your Shopify store.
Pros
Cons
Price
You get all services free of charge. Only pay when a customer places an order.
Zazzle is perfect for new dropshippers. The homepage lists trending products, so you get a sense of what people are buying. The page goes on to feature a bestseller list, seasonal trends, and design ideas.
The only downside is that it's difficult to find the t-shirts. You'll have to click the "Create" button on the left-hand side of the homepage. T-shirts are divided into four categories – men's, women's, kids', and adults.
Pros
Cons
Price
You'll have to invest some money I'm inventory and order fulfillment since Zazzle does not automatically ship to your customers.
Gelato is among the fastest t-shirt dropshipping companies available. With warehouses and printing partners in 34 different countries, you can rest assured that your customers will receive their parcels on time.
For orders processed domestically, customers can receive their shirts within 72 hours of ordering from your store. Apart from order fulfillment, Gelato takes care of customs fees, invoices, and VAT fees.
To date, Gelato has fulfilled more than 10 million orders.
Pros
Cons
Price
Zero capital is required. Simply connect Gelato with your store.
Threadless is a print-on-demand t-shirt company for the customer, not the dropshipper. There's no option to create a new design, you can only buy already-made ones.
As a dropshipper, you can bulk purchase t-shirts and store them in a warehouse. Then fulfill orders yourself as they come in.
We recommend that Threadless remains a kind of inspiration for what your print-on-demand store can look like. If you're into social justice, Threadless can be a good supplier because all of its designs support social causes.
Pros
Cons
Price
Does not integrate with sites or work directly with dropshippers. You'll need capital to stock shirts in bulk.
Shirtee is a t-shirt dropshipping company aimed at both customers and dropshippers. An individual customer can go on the Shirtee website to create a customized shirt and order it.
Dropshippers can easily create new designs and also import them into their stores for fulfillment. Shirtee connects with Amazon, Shopify, and WooCommerce. Even is not supported by Shirtee, you can place a bulk purchase and then ask them to manually fulfill orders.
Pros
Cons
Price
Completely free of charge unless you're placing a bulk order.
Inkthreadable is the only UK-based print-on-demand company featured in this article. The business has a fulfillment center in the UK where customer orders are auto-fulfilled.
Inkthreadable has more than 250 products including t-shirts, mugs, hoodies, and wall art. You can use their free mockup generator to create new designs to import into your eCommerce store. No minimum order quantity is required.
Pros
Cons
Price
It's free to start. Inkthreadable has a reward system where you get discounts based on how much you spend on your business per month. Some of the rewards are discounts of up to 10%, a dedicated account manager, a direct customer service channel, and return and inventory management.
