Vistaprint built its name on business cards, banners, and printed marketing materials, and later added a custom apparel section to that catalog. Yes, Vistaprint does make and print t shirts, along with polos, hoodies, and a handful of other blanks. Small businesses and startups searching for a Vistaprint alternative for apparel are usually running into one of two walls: per-piece pricing that climbs fast once you add a logo in more than one spot, or a catalog that treats apparel as one category among dozens rather than the main event. This guide compares the two honestly, then walks through what Bear Grips Pro Shops offers as an apparel-focused option built for the same small business swag, hiring event, and conference booth use cases.
Vistaprint sells t shirts, polos, and a limited hoodie and jacket selection through its apparel section, alongside its much larger core business in business cards, signage, and marketing print. Design happens through Vistaprint's own online design tool, with a handful of house-label blanks rather than a large catalog of named brands. It works well for a business that already orders its business cards there and wants to add a handful of branded shirts in the same checkout. It works less well as the base for an ongoing storefront a business can send customers, employees, or event attendees to directly.
Three reasons come up again and again:
Bear Grips Pro Shops (shops.beargrips.com) is a print-on-demand storefront built around 63 apparel and headwear products from Bella+Canvas, Champion, Next Level, Sport-Tek, Gildan, Hanes, Jerzees, AS Colour, Cotton Heritage, Independent Trading Co., Richardson, Yupoong, and the house Bear Grips line. There is no business card or signage catalog to wade through. It is one storefront that stays live, built specifically for apparel.
| Plan | Price | Live products | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/mo | 3 | Higher base item price |
| Self-Service VIP | $59/mo | 200 | Lowest base prices, full control |
| Done-For-You VIP | $105/mo | 250 | Full white-glove service, personal advisor |
A recurring question behind many of these searches is simpler than a Vistaprint comparison: how do you go from a logo file to an actual branded apparel line, not a single print order? The short path is a storefront that holds your design, applies it across a curated product set, and lets buyers order their own size and color without you touching inventory. That is the model behind branded business shirts done this way, and it is also how a small business turns a one-time apparel order into an ongoing revenue line via a Pro Shop.
Every signup, free or paid, also gets a built-in affiliate link: 10% of any referred vendor's subscription forever, plus $1 per unit that referred vendor sells, paid out every two weeks.
No inventory, no minimum order, free US shipping to your buyer. Start on the free plan and upgrade when you are ready.
Start FreeYes. Vistaprint sells t shirts, polos, and a small hoodie and jacket selection through its apparel section, though its core business remains business cards and printed marketing materials.
Only for the apparel piece. Bear Grips Pro Shops does not print business cards, banners, or signage. It is an apparel-focused alternative built for a business that wants an ongoing branded shop rather than a one-time print order.
No. The Free plan and Self-Service VIP plan let you upload your own design and set up the shop yourself. The Done-For-You VIP plan ($105/mo) assigns a personal advisor who applies your design to 15 trending products and sets pricing for you.
The Free plan is $0/mo with 3 live products, so a small business can test the model before committing to a paid plan.
Bear Grips Pro Shops