Discuss the wholesale blanks industry: Factory direct, custom labels. You can also use this forum to locate a wide variety of wholesale products including t-shirts, hoodies, mousepads, coffee mugs and other imprintable products.
The brands are actually pretty similar. Most of the brands you've listed I would consider more "high end" fashion type blanks.
I think if you have certain preferences, or if you think your customers may have a certain preference, it could be worth it to you to buy a sample blank from the various companies to see which one you prefer. That way you have first hand knowledge.
Some manufacturers have different styles within their line that stand out.
For example, American Apparel has a very wide color range. Article 1 has a eurofit t-shirt that is *very* soft. Continental has bamboo blank t-shirts that are more affordable than other bamboo blank t-shirt brands. Royal Apparel has nice relabeling and custom blank t-shirt programs, etc, etc.
I printed on some Pacific Sports shirts the other day. They are EXTREMELY soft. I think they are a good alternative to American Apparel. Less expensive also.
Which style of PS did you use? Are you familiar with a few of their styles or just the one you printed on? The big problem for me is that no style or even brand has all of the colors I want to print on. At the moment, I am using 4 different brands and am thinking about using even more! And I only have 12 designs!
personally I never seen a royal apparel tee..but i love american apparel. when i buy a tee its the look, fit, style and feel that i shop for. american app is by far the best i found so far. just pricey for a shirt. also i found a gildan shirt of the same caliber and i think other comman brands carry a higher end tee like these. but the fit, especially the collar is what is a turn off for me. like i said their are certain characteristics i look for in a tee and also customers look for. i sell a boat load of american apparel. but hard to tell if its solely on those characteristics or because its a mainstream popular brand...
I had heard back in the day and correct me if i'm wrong but The person whos started Royal Apparel originally had started AA with the current owner. They did not agree on the direction and he went off and started Royal Apparel. So for the most part i think the clothing if very similar. I feel the difference is that AA offers more product. Basically AA wanted more average looking models while Royal wanted your typical model. Basically i think they both had 2 different ideas of what sexy was. Am i wrong about this?
__________________ "well, you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't."Bart Simpson www.wabangwear.wordpress.com
interesting...i need to order some and compare. btw i went on royals website...but im pretty sure if they had a business partnership the models wasnt the breaking point..usually a money issue. btw royals models on their site look like typical models.
interesting...i need to order some and compare. btw i went on royals website...but im pretty sure if they had a business partnership the models wasnt the breaking point..usually a money issue. btw royals models on their site look like typical models.
its not necessarily "models", it's "marketing". AA is a marketing beast. And yes RA models do look typical thats what i mean. AA are not typical models.
__________________ "well, you're damned if you do, and you're damned if you don't."Bart Simpson www.wabangwear.wordpress.com
i think some of the AA models are actual employees of AA. I could be wrong though next time you see one of the AA ads look at it closely and it may give a name of the model and position held with AA.
I have now used AA, Royal, Alstyle, Continental bamboo, and Next Level Apparel. I have to say my favorites by far are the Continental bamboo and Next Level. The bamboo are extremely soft and comfy, but they're also expensive. I therefore only use them for my best sellers. They also only have 7 colors, which is pretty limiting. I would say that, as far as high-singles ringspun cotton shirts go, there's no better shirt for your money than Next Level. They are just as soft and comfy as AA, but I find that they fit much better. They are still fitted, but they are side seemed so they are shaped more like an actual torso. AA are tight right around the chest, but because they are tubular, they just kind of bag out near the bottom. I guess it all depends on how you are built. While the color selection at NL isn't quite as extensive as AA, it is definitely pretty good. In fact, they have colors I always wanted that AA didn't have. These days, I don't even wear my shirts that are printed on AA because of how they fit. I plan on reprinting all of my designs on NL eventually. And the best part: NL is at least 30% cheaper than AA! Its an amazing deal. Through printmojo, they are even less expensive than the Gildan ringspun, I think.
American Apparel offers the best in all aspects.
the 2001 basic shirt is by far the best i've worn and used for printing.
if you're printing your own line, it's even better since American Apparel is widely familiar througout the world and the general public will buy the AA shirt for the name without hesitation. I think the colors are very bright and fade slowly as well.
I do also love Next Level. but most bang for your buck, AA is it.
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B Street Hill Apparel - Screen printing & Direct to Garment.
Royal Apparel vs. American Apparel? 
