The Best Blank Hoodies & Crewnecks for Custom Printing

Someone walked in last week wanting forty hoodies for a brewery staff, and the first question wasn't about the art. It was "which hoodie should we even get?" Fair question. The blank you pick decides more about how the finished piece looks and feels than most people realize. A great design on a thin, scratchy hoodie still feels cheap, and a simple one-color print on a heavyweight fleece feels like something you'd actually pay retail for.

So here's how we'd talk you through it at the counter. Not the brands a catalog wants to push, just the ones that come back clean off our presses and hold a print after a winter of washing.

What makes a hoodie good to print on?

Three things, mostly. Weight, measured in ounces, tells you how heavy and warm the fleece is. Anything in the 7 to 12 oz range is the sweet spot for screen printing. Lighter than that and the ink can show through or the garment feels flimsy; the heavier stuff drinks up ink and feels premium. Fabric blend matters too: a cotton-heavy fleece feels softer and takes a vintage print well, while a 50/50 blend resists shrinking and pilling. And fit: the difference between a roomy classic cut and a trimmer retail fit is the difference between "team hoodie" and "something I'd grab off a shelf."

One real-world note: the front pocket. It's the one spot on a hoodie that fights a clean print, because the pouch creates a raised, uneven surface. That's why most hoodie prints land high on the chest, across the back, or down a sleeve. None of this is a problem. It's just the stuff we think about before the squeegee ever touches the screen.

The best blank hoodies, ranked

Gildan 18500 is the one we order more than any other, and for good reason. The 50/50 blend resists shrinking and pilling, the color range is enormous, and it gives you the lowest cost per piece of anything on this list. If you're doing a fundraiser, a team, or staff hoodies and budget matters, start here. It's not the softest hoodie in the world, but it prints bold and lasts.

Independent Trading SS4500 is the upgrade we steer people toward when they want that "where'd you buy this?" feel. Softer cotton-rich face, a slightly trimmer cut, and it still takes a screen print beautifully. It costs a bit more than the Gildan, and it's worth it when the hoodie itself is part of the impression you're making.

Comfort Colors 1467 is the move for vintage brand merch. It's garment-dyed, so every piece has that soft, slightly washed-out, broken-in color from day one. Pair it with a water-based or distressed print and it looks like a tour hoodie you've owned for years. Heavier, pricier, and absolutely the right call for a coffee shop, a band, or a brand that wants character. (We get into water-based versus plastisol another time, but garment-dyed blanks and water-based ink are a match made in heaven.)

Hoodie or crewneck: which should you pick?

If you don't need the hood, a crewneck almost always prints better. No hood strings, no pocket, just a flat, open canvas across the chest and back. That's why crewnecks are a favorite for big front prints and full-back designs, and why a lot of brands run a crewneck for the clean look and a pullover hoodie for the warmth, same design on both.

• Pullover hoodie: warmest, most casual, the default request. Plan the print around the front pocket.
• Crewneck sweatshirt: cleanest print area, slightly dressier, great for bold chest and back art.
• Zip-up hoodie: the zipper splits the front, so designs go on the back, a chest corner, or the sleeves.

Good crewneck blanks mirror the hoodie list. The Gildan 18000 is the crewneck sibling of the 18500, and Comfort Colors and Independent Trading both make excellent crews. Pick the blank first, then decide hood or no hood.

Printing or embroidery on fleece?

Both look great on a hoodie; it comes down to the look you're after. Screen printing gives you a big, bold graphic at the lowest cost per piece, ideal for a back hit or a large chest design. Embroidery gives you that clean, stitched, premium left-chest logo that reads sharp on a heavier fleece and lasts the life of the garment. Plenty of our hoodie orders use both: an embroidered logo on the chest, a printed graphic on the back. If you're weighing the two, our breakdown of screen printing vs. DTF vs. embroidery walks through the trade-offs. And for small runs or photo-detailed art, our Premium Film Print (DTF) handles full color with no screen fees.

How to keep custom hoodie cost down

Hoodies cost more than tees. That's just the blank. But the price per piece still drops as your quantity climbs, and there are real ways to save. Keep your ink colors low (a one or two-color print is cheaper than a six-color one). Order enough to cross the 100-piece line on a single design and your screens are free. And here's the one most people miss: you can mix sizes, garment styles, and shirt colors in the same run as long as the ink colors stay the same, so your small/medium/XL spread, and even hoodies and crewnecks together, can all count toward the same order. For a deeper look at what drives a quote, see our plain-English pricing guide.

We have no order minimums, so you can do twelve hoodies for a small team or three hundred for a school. Turnaround runs about 10–12 business days plus shipping, with rush available by quote. We're in Warrenville and serve Naperville, Wheaton, Aurora, and all of Chicagoland, and we ship worldwide.