Hello my name is Lewis, Im currently working for many skate/art/street clothing companies from the US here in China. I live in Shanghai and work with factories all over and do everything from t-shirts, jeans, hoods, etc...
Anyway to answer your question about getting the custom shirts to your specs, well it is possible. When you connect with factories most will require high mins, but I bring many smaller runs to the factories here and have the ability to do smaller orders due to the amount of work I do with them. I feel your situation completely because I spent 10 years working for a skate clothing company and we dealt with all the headaches of blanks that are available in the US, but we know these days a standard cotton shirt from Hanes, FOL, Guildan, etc is not going to work. If you would like more info send me an email and we can talk further.