I plan on purchasing around 50 shirts just to wear. I am tired of paying $20 for a shirt, just because it has a logo on it. I have a few questions.
1. Which website is best for ordering?
2. Which shirt company is best? Hanes, Jerzees, Gildan etc.
3. Which material should I look into? 100% cotton, 50/50 etc.
4. Which weight would be best?
5. Anything else I need to know? (shrinking, color fading etc)
Almost all of the questions you're asking can be answered by simply going to your closet and looking at the tags of the 50 shirts you own. If you can't find manufacturers tags, then take the shirt with you when you go shopping to compare the material and cut.
The reason you should do this is that there is no unequivocal "best" of anything. It's all up to your standards and what you prefer. Some people prefer a thin, light shirt. Some people prefer a heavy, thick shirt. Some people like a boxy, relaxed cut. Some like a trim, fashionable cut. There are a myriad of options and preferences to take into account, so there is no way that someone here can know what is best for you.
Are there any quality differences between companies and materials? IE: does 100% cotton fade faster than 50/50?
I'm pretty sure that all the major brands make good quality products, so you shouldn't have any problems there. This thread should help with specifics:
Basically what you're saying is I should get what is comfortable to me because theyre all basically the same thing?
Since it is for your own personal use, definitely. If you were selling these shirts to customers, then you would need to do a little more research.
If you're planning to have the shirts screen printed, I would recommend simply visiting the printer and checking out some of the various brands of shirts they have available. You will probably find something you like pretty quickly.
__________________ Daniel Slatkin, SBE Multi-Media, LLC Print On demand Fulfillment with free web store included. You Design Apparel T-shirts Hats and more.
Since you're not purchasing shirts for business use, you probably won't be able to get wholesale pricing. So ordering through a distributors or manufacturers website is probably not an option for you. Also, since you want to order a variety of colours, that's really not the best thing.
I think the best thing to do would be to simply purchase the shirts through your screen printer, they will be able to get wholesale pricing. Even if they mark up the price to cover their costs, including the printing you are still going to pay less than retail.
So many choices... 
Daniel Slatkin, 
