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I have a middle school wanting to sell polo shirts for their spirit wear sale. I have not done any polo shirts. Anyone recommend a good polo shirt without a pocket that can be used for guys or gals and can have a heat press transfer on the left chest crest? Thanks.
What is the difference between that one (which I was looking at) and 100% cotton pique sport shirt. it is Hanes 055X for men and 035X for women. i thought having both of these would be good. Can you press on cotton pique?
The pique knit shirts have more of a texture, which may (or may not) make it harder to get a good even press.
Even screen printing isn't usually done on pique knits, they are more for embroidery (although it can be screen printed).
The Gildan 2800 is the same material (jersey knit) as a regular t-shirt (although a bit heavier), so you shouldn't have any troubles with it.
You could try getting a sample of a few different style polos from sanmar to do some tests if you have time. That way you'll know for sure and have a point of reference for future orders.
I would stay away from the Hanes and Gildan polos. We sell lots of Outer Banks pique knits and our customers are very happy with them. Port Authority has some nice polos also, especially if you're looking for a jersey knit.
And cause for bigger problems as you may not get the transfer to cover properly.
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We sell lots of Outer Banks pique knits and our customers are very happy with them. Port Authority has some nice polos also,
You may want to consider cost. If not an option then I would agree. Lou (Lisa.Sorry I did not answer your email.. I finally sat down today to do some reading. Yesterday me and the dentist had a pulling contest. He won!!!)
I had a customer ask for some sample of the Hanes and Outer Banks polos. When I had them side by side the Hanes polos just seemed inferior. As for the Gildans... I had another customer who wanted a certain color (we'd been supplying him with Outer Banks polos) but the color had been discontinued I believe. We spoke with our rep and they recommended a comparable Gildan polo because the color matched almost exactly. My customer called back after receiving the polo and said he hated it. He didn't like the way it was cut, and I guess it was too long. He said it fit him like a dress. I've also had a supplier tell me before that she wouldn't recommend the Hanes or Gildan polos because they're just not as nice or durable as the Outer Banks polos.
That being said, I just had a large order go bad on me. We had ordered our usual Outer Banks polos and several of the shirts had small holes in them. I'm not sure if this was a manufacturer issue, supplier issue, or something that happened during embroidery. We had ordered half the polos from Sanmar, and the others from another supplier. So that complicated issues because both batches had problems. Now I'm leery of using the Outer Banks polos again because of that problem. I'm now considering switching to the Port Authority brand. They have some nice comparable polos. We'll see.
BTW... Sanmar replaced the bad polos no questions asked and really helped us out. They shipped out the replacements the same day. The other supplier didn't step up at all and therefore we have stopped using them. I love dealing with Sanmar and I would recommend them to anyone.
I would expect the Outer Banks polos to be nicer since they are more expensive than the Hanes and Gildan. It all depends on what the customer wants to pay for.
For a polo, I would definitely consider embroidery. It looks better and has a higher perceived value but the cost is essentially the same as a printed shirt.
Polo Shirt for School Sale 
