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Printing merch: choosing products, methods and the size mix
Shirts, hoodies, bags: how to plan merch for a band, channel, club or event – from choosing products and screen printing or DTF to the size mix and reruns.
Which products work as merch
Merch is clothing that people choose to buy and wear. That goes for the band on tour, the creator with a community, the club and the festival. So what counts is not what you would like to have, but what your audience puts on in everyday life.
The T-shirt is almost always the starting point: it suits almost any occasion and any design. If you want T-shirts printed with your logo, you’ll find basics and heavier organic cotton qualities with us. Add hoodies for loyal fans and bags as the piece everyone takes home.
T-shirts
The core piece. Large front design or back print with tour dates, small logo on the chest.
- FrontBack
Hoodies
The piece for fans who want more. Small logo on the front, large design on the back.
Cotton bags
Carried and seen in everyday life. A large, calm surface for a clear design.
Fewer products, done better
To start with, a shirt in two colours, a hoodie and a bag are often enough. A small, clear range is easier to plan than ten variants that each find only a few buyers.
Matching garments
Design them in the shop
Screen printing or DTF for your merch?
Choosing the method comes down to two questions: how many colours does your design have, and how many pieces do you need? Screen printing uses one screen per colour. It pays off for larger runs with few colours and delivers strong, opaque colours – the classic for band and festival shirts. More on our screen printing page.
DTF puts the design digitally onto a film, which we then press on. The number of colours doesn’t matter, and photos and gradients come out cleanly. That suits colourful artwork and smaller quantities. How DTF, flex and flock work in detail is explained in our post transfer printing explained.
A tour shirt with a two-colour logo for many gigs
Screen printing
Artwork with a photo, gradient or lots of colours
DTF
Clean single-colour lettering on black shirts
Screen printing
A first test run before you order bigger
DTF
Different designs for several events in small quantities
DTF
Often the best answer
Combine both
The main design in screen printing, a colourful detail or the tour dates in DTF.
Screen printing + DTF
Organic cotton and quality
Merch is often worn for a long time, and the quality reflects on you. A shirt that loses its shape after a few washes is not good advertising. That makes material and fabric weight worth a closer look.
If sustainability matters to you, go for organic cotton. One example from our shop is the Stanley/Stella Creator 2.0: combed, ring-spun organic cotton at 180 g/m², washable at 30 °C. To match it, there is the Stanley/Stella Cruiser 2.0 hoodie in organic cotton. For bags, we stock the Organic range from Westford Mill.
Feel it first, then order
Fabric weight, cut and handle differ from model to model. If you’re unsure which shirt suits your audience, we’ll advise you in the free layout consultation.
Planning the size mix
A typical merch headache: the middle sizes go quickly, and at the end you are left with boxes of edge sizes. A few questions help you avoid that.
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Who is your audience? | A young festival crowd dresses differently from a club fête with families. |
| Unisex or fitted cut? | A unisex shirt as the base, plus a fitted cut if your audience wants one. |
| Do you have figures from last time? | Previous sales are the best basis for the split. |
| Can you take pre-orders? | Pre-orders show you real demand before you print. |
| Do you need children’s sizes? | Often yes for clubs and family events, rarely for gigs. |
On quantity, you have to weigh things up: our tiered pricing speaks for a bigger run, because with larger quantities the price per piece drops noticeably. If demand is still unclear, a more cautious first run with a planned reorder is often the calmer choice. Which other factors set the price is covered in What does textile printing cost?
Neck, sleeve, label: the details
A merch shirt only really feels like a product of its own when the details are right. That doesn’t take five print positions. One or two small accents are enough.
Small neck print
Name, logo or website at the neck works like your own label
Detail on the sleeve
A small mark on the sleeve stands out without disturbing the design
Back print with dates
Tour dates or the event date turn the shirt into a keepsake
Printing every surface
Each position is a separate work step and makes the piece more expensive
From the workshop
Many colours on a coloured shirt
The photo shows a colourful funfair design with a heart on a green shirt. Designs like this are typical of event merch: lots of colours on a coloured base. Whether screen printing with several screens or DTF makes more sense depends mainly on the run size. That is exactly what we clarify with you before printing.
How your merch is made with us
Products and design
You choose shirts, hoodies or bags in the shop and send us your artwork, ideally as a vector file.
Advice
We check the design, colours and size and recommend the right method. The layout consultation is free.
Print approval
You receive a digital preview with position and size and sign it off before production.
Printing in Munich
We print in our workshop. Delivery takes approx. 7–10 working days – build that in before the tour or event starts.
Reprinting when it sells
When your merch sells well, you’ll want to restock quickly. To make that work, keep a note of the key details: model, colour, position, design size and the approved preview. That way the second run looks exactly like the first.
Factor in the delivery time of approx. 7–10 working days and reorder before the popular sizes are completely gone. Our reorder page takes you straight to us for that.
Frequently asked questions about merch
Which method suits band merch?
For designs with few colours and a larger run, usually screen printing. For colourful artwork, photos or small quantities, DTF. We advise you on what suits your design.
Is there merch in organic cotton?
Yes. In our shop you’ll find shirts and hoodies in organic cotton, for example the Stanley/Stella Creator 2.0, and bags from the Organic range by Westford Mill.
Can I order shirts and hoodies with the same design?
Yes. We adapt the size and position of the design to each piece. In the print approval you see every piece before we print.
How long does production take?
Delivery takes approx. 7–10 working days. Build that time in before a tour, release or event.
Planning merch for a band, channel, club or event? Send us your enquiry with your design and the products you have in mind – we’ll get back to you with a recommendation.
Team Shirtplus
Printing and embroidery in our own workshop in Munich. Created with AI support. Last updated: 12 Oct 2026.
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