Search "bulk custom apparel orders" and most of the results are screen print shops asking for a 24 to 100-piece minimum before they will even send a quote. That model made sense for decades: setting up a screen press has a fixed cost, so shops spread it across a big batch to make the per-piece price work. It also means a small gym, a new business, or a team with 14 players has to either overorder and eat leftover inventory, or find a smaller shop and pay a premium per piece anyway. Print on demand changes the math entirely. Here is how bulk custom apparel orders actually work, where the traditional model still makes sense, and what a no-minimum shop through Bear Grips Pro Shops actually costs.
In the traditional screen printing and embroidery world, "bulk" is not a marketing term, it is a pricing tier. Most local and online print shops publish price breaks at volumes like 12, 24, 48, and 100+ pieces, with the per-piece price dropping at each tier. A shirt that costs $18 at 12 pieces might cost $11 at 100 pieces. The reason is fixed setup cost: burning a screen or digitizing an embroidery file costs the shop money whether they print 1 shirt or 500, so they need enough units to spread that cost across before the order is profitable for them.
The minimum-order model works fine if you know exactly how many pieces you need and you are ordering one design one time. It breaks down fast for anyone running an ongoing shop:
| Factor | Traditional bulk order | Print on demand (Bear Grips Pro Shops) |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum order | 24-100+ pieces | 1 piece, no minimum |
| Upfront cost | Pay for the whole batch before selling any | Pay per piece as orders come in |
| Unsold inventory risk | Yes, wrong sizes or colors sit unsold | None, nothing is printed until it sells |
| Reorder speed | Wait for the next batch minimum to justify a run | Order any single piece any time |
| New design cost | New screen or digitizing setup fee per design | No per-design setup fee |
The tradeoff is per-piece cost at extreme volume. If a business genuinely needs 500 identical shirts for a one-time event and has the cash and storage to handle it, a traditional bulk screen print run can land a lower per-unit price than print on demand. For everything else, especially recurring sales, unknown final quantity, or a mix of sizes and colors, the no-minimum model removes the risk entirely.
Pro Shops runs three plans. The Free plan is $0/month with 3 live products at a higher base price. Self-Service VIP is $59/month with 200 live products at the lowest base prices and full control over the shop. Done-For-You VIP is $105/month, 250 live products, and a personal shop advisor builds the store, mockups, and pricing for you every month. Every plan includes free US shipping to the buyer, USA printing, and delivery in about a week. There is no setup fee per design and no minimum piece count on any plan.
A cotton tee starts at $19.88 VIP base. A mid-weight hoodie runs $36.88 to $45.88 depending on the brand. An embroidered snapback hat is $25.86 to $29.86. Vendors set their own retail price on top of that base and keep the difference, plus every signup earns 10% of referred vendors' subscriptions forever through the built-in affiliate program.
Print on demand is not the right call every time. A traditional bulk order can still make sense when:
For anything with recurring sales, an unknown final count, or a mix of sizes across a group, no-minimum printing removes the guesswork and the leftover-inventory risk.
One piece or a hundred, the base price per item stays the same. No setup fee, ships in about a week.
Start FreeNo. Single-piece orders cost the same per item as a hundred-piece order. A shop can go live with one product and sell one unit at a time from day one.
Screen printed tees typically run $10-$18 per piece depending on volume tier, plus a setup fee per design that is usually $25-$75.
No. The base price per piece is the same whether the order is for 1 unit or 100. There is no volume discount because there is no setup cost being spread across units.
About a week from order to delivery, with free US shipping included in the base price on every plan.
Bear Grips Pro Shops