Looking for Better Swag? These Are the Best 4imprint Alternatives Right Now 

Last Updated on November 24, 2025 by Ewen Finser

If you’ve ever unboxed a batch of company swag and immediately thought, “Huh… that looked better in the mockup,” you’re not alone.

You spend days choosing colors, sizes, and designs… only for someone to quietly slide your branded hoodie into their donation pile or let their brand-new tumbler sit on their desk like an expensive paperweight.

4imprint has been a staple in the branded swag industry for years, but even their most loyal customers are wanting trendier products, faster turnarounds, easier design tools, lower minimums, and a website that doesn’t feel like a throwback to early-2010s catalogs.

So here are the best 4imprint alternatives I’ve found, based on years of ordering swag for teams, events, and client projects (and a stubborn refusal to hand out anything I wouldn’t personally keep).

At a Glance

Brand	Best For	What Makes It Stand Out
BlueCotton	High-quality apparel & consistent prints	Human customer service, color accuracy, & soft garments
Baudville	Employee gifts & recognition-focused swag	Curated corporate gifts & strong personalization options
Vistaprint	Marketing & merch bundles	One-stop shop for signage, business cards, & swag
Custom Ink	Team shirts & group orders	Extremely user-friendly design studio
Printful	On-demand brand merch	Retail-level garment quality
Printify	Lowest prices for creators	Flexible supplier network
Pens.com	Affordable but surprisingly nice staples	Fast, simple, & dependable
4AllPromos	Bulk orders & low prices	Massive catalog & rush shipping
Swag.com	Premium branded gifts & kitting	High-end items you’re proud to hand out
Wayo	Trendy, minimal, & modern swag	Clean aesthetic & well-curated catalog

Why You Might Want an Alternative to 4imprint

4imprint is fantastic for reliability: they ship on time, their customer service is rock solid, and their catalog covers almost anything you’d ever want to put a logo on.

But here’s where people start reaching for alternatives:

• You want more modern designs: Some 4imprint products feel a little… 2012-ish. If your brand skews minimalist, high-end, or tech-forward, you might want fresher options.
• You want smaller minimum quantities: Sometimes, you don’t need 200 tumblers; maybe you just need a dozen.
• You want trendier apparel: While 4imprint has some soft-wash tees, fleece-lined hoodies, and premium athleisure cuts, it doesn’t have as many options as the newer players.
• You want better mockup tools: Some vendors have cleaner, more intuitive design studios.
• You need kitting or multi-location shipping: 4imprint does, but others are built specifically for it.

Sometimes, it’s as simple as just wanting a second quote or a whole new vibe — both totally justifiable reasons for wanting another option.

What to Look For When Comparing 4imprint Alternatives

Here’s what actually matters when comparing 4imprint alternatives:

• Print quality: Look for vendors known for consistent color matching, crisp decoration, and garments that survive more than two washes.
• Product catalog depth: Do they have trendy colors? Premium accessories? A deeper, more curated catalog usually means better end results.
• Minimum order quantities (MOQs): Some vendors let you order a single beautifully printed water bottle, while others want you to commit to 250 of them like you’re outfitting a small army.
• Turnaround times: Do you have a comfortable deadline? Or is this one of those “we should’ve ordered this two weeks ago” situations? Different vendors excel at different speeds.
• Shipping & distribution: If your team is spread out, or if you’re sending client gifts to 20 different addresses, some companies make that feel effortless. Others make you feel like you’re coordinating a family reunion via an old-fashioned spreadsheet.
• Return and reprint policies: Some vendors stand behind their work and will happily redo a misprint. Others? Once the ink hits the fabric, it’s considered gospel. Always check the policy before you check out.
• Inventory reliability: Popular colors disappear fast. Some vendors update their stock religiously; others don’t warn you until checkout… Ask me how that week went.
• Eco-friendly options: Not every vendor offers reusable materials, recycled fabrics, or reduced-waste decoration methods. 
• Brand partnerships: Some vendors stock retail brands (such as Nike, Carhartt, CamelBak, YETI, and North Face), which instantly elevates your swag. Generic brands? They’re just not the same vibe.
• Design help: If you don’t have an in-house designer, free art support and easy templates are a godsend.
• Customer support: This is the make-or-break factor. You want real humans who can help when files won’t upload, colors look off, or someone in leadership decides the logo needs more breathing room 48 hours before printing.

The Best 4imprint Alternatives Right Now

Below are my top standouts: the tested, worn, washed, gifted, and occasionally fought over in office kitchens.

1. BlueCotton

Best for: High-quality custom apparel with excellent customer support

BlueCotton is one of those vendors you try once and then wonder why you didn’t start there years ago. Their print quality is consistently crisp, the colors land where they’re supposed to, and the apparel itself feels genuinely nice — not the stiff giveaway tee your uncle sleeps in.

The first time I ordered from them, I pulled a hoodie straight out of the box and immediately thought, “Oh. This actually feels premium.” The fabric had weight without being hot, the print sat smoothly on the surface, and it held up after multiple washes without cracking or fading.

But where BlueCotton really shines is their customer support. Their team answers quickly, and every order gets a professional design check and multiple in-house quality reviews, which makes the process feel much less risky.

Key Features

• Good-looking, comfortable apparel that people will keep wearing
• Clear, simple UX with real-time previews
• Helpful for small or mid-size teams ordering for events or staff
• Reliable color consistency and high-quality printing

2. Baudville

Best for: Employee gifts, recognition programs, and small curated swag orders

Baudville is all about employee impact. If you’ve ever wished your swag order felt more like a thoughtful gesture and less like a marketing obligation, this is the vendor you’ll like. 

Their catalog leans heavily toward curated gift sets, appreciation boxes, recognition awards, wellness kits, and ready-to-give items designed to make someone on your team feel genuinely valued.

In my experience, their items land really well in office settings. I once ordered a small batch of their gratitude boxes for a team milestone, expecting them to be cute but simple. Instead, the packaging felt polished, the items inside were surprisingly high-quality for the price point, and the handwritten-feel note cards got more reaction than the gifts themselves.

Key Features

• Strong focus on employee engagement and appreciation
• Thoughtfully curated gift sets and recognition products
• Low minimums on many items
• Good personalization options
• Great fit for HR, onboarding, culture, and team-building moments

3. VistaPrint

Best for: All-in-one marketing & merch bundles

VistaPrint is a good choice when you need swag and you suddenly realize your event also needs signage, business cards, a foam board sign, and a banner you forgot to order.

Their apparel quality is solid (especially the soft tees), but their biggest strength is consistency. They’re rarely the cheapest, but they’re dependable and you always know exactly what you’re getting.

My last order included shirts, a retractable banner, and business cards all in the same shipment, and everything matched color-wise, which is a huge deal when your brand has a tricky palette.

Key Features

• One-stop shop for merch, marketing, and signage
• Excellent color consistency across product types
• Affordable and reliable
• Good for teams needing multiple branded assets
• User-friendly design tools

4. Custom Ink

Best for: Team apparel and group events

Custom Ink is the king of “We need shirts for the retreat,” “We forgot to order staff tees,” and “Our charity 5k is in two weeks… HELP.”

Their design studio is genuinely fun to use and miles easier than most others. And their shirts? Surprisingly great. One of their tri-blend tees became a gym staple for me even though it was technically “work merch.”

The only downside: they’re more apparel-focused than swag-focused. But for clothing, they’re one of the best.

Key Features

• Industry-leading design studio
• Trendy, comfortable apparel options
• Great for groups and team orders
• Helpful design support
• Easy re-ordering for recurring events

5. Printful

Best for: Creators, shops, and on-demand merch

Printful is the on-demand darling. If you’ve ever bought merch from a YouTuber or indie brand, it might’ve come from here. Their quality is surprisingly retail-level — the kind of sweatshirt you’d find in a boutique.

I’ve washed Printful hoodies dozens of times, and the prints still look great. Their embroidery is especially impressive for a fulfillment company that doesn’t require giant orders.

Key Features

• No inventory required
• High-quality apparel and embroidery
• Seamless e-commerce integrations
• Great for creators, influencers, and small brands
• Fast sample production

6. Printify

Best for: Lowest prices for on-demand merch

If Printful is the premium boutique, Printify is the marketplace that lets you find the best price, print style, and supplier for each product.

It’s perfect for creators or small businesses watching margins. The tradeoff is that quality varies slightly depending on the printing partner, but their review system helps a ton.

Key Features

• Big supplier network for better pricing
• Excellent for e-commerce
• Wide range of product styles
• On-demand production with no upfront cost
• Great margins for sellers

7. Pens.com

Best for: Low-cost staples that look more expensive than they are

Do not underestimate the power of a great pen. I once ordered a set of engraved metal pens from Pens.com thinking they’d be mediocre freebies. Nope. They were so smooth and weighty that someone on the team asked if they could have two.

If you need cheap-but-good giveaways like pens, notepads, and keychains, this is your spot.

Key Features

• Very low prices
• Surprisingly high-quality metal pens
• Fast turnaround
• Great for mass giveaways
• Good engraving quality

8. 4AllPromos

Best for: Budget bulk orders & huge catalogs

4AllPromos is the vendor you use when you need 600 totes under budget by next week.

Their catalog is massive (borderline overwhelming, to be honest), but if you’re looking for variety, this is heaven. The quality ranges from “solid” to “better than expected,” and their rush service has saved me a few times.

My favorite order from them was a set of reusable shopping totes that turned out thicker and sturdier than I thought possible at the price point.

Key Features

• Lowest price guarantee
• Huge catalog
• Fast shipping options
• Great for big volume orders
• Lots of color and imprint choices

9. Swag.com

Best for: High-end swag, kitting, and beautiful unboxing experiences

Swag.com is for when you want the good stuff… the kind of swag employees actually get excited about. Think insulated bottles that don’t feel cheap, premium hoodies, tech gadgets, work bags, and fully branded gift boxes that look like PR packages.

I ordered a set of custom boxes once, and they looked like we had hired a design agency. Everything felt intentional, curated, and polished.

Key Features

• Premium product selection
• Fully custom-branded kits
• Sleek, modern UX
• Global shipping
• Great for employee onboarding gifts

10. Wayo

Best for: Modern, minimal, curated swag

Wayo feels like the boutique option on this list. Their catalog is small but beautifully curated. If your aesthetic is modern, clean, and minimal, you’ll like their vibe.

The t-shirts I ordered had a soft, luxe feel, and the print sat flush to the fabric instead of feeling rubbery. Not many vendors nail that.

Key Features

• Beautiful, minimalistic products
• Thoughtfully curated catalog
• Great apparel printing
• Nice for startups, agencies, creators
• Good for modern branding styles

FAQs

Make Your Next Swag Order Worth Keeping

Swag shouldn’t feel like an afterthought. It shouldn’t be stiff, scratchy, or destined to live in the backseat of someone’s car. With the right vendor, swag becomes:

• An internal culture booster
• A client-pleasing detail
• A revenue stream for creators
• A way to make your brand feel real

Whether you need budget-friendly basics, premium employee kits, or a few super-creative one-offs, one of the alternatives above will fit your vibe and your budget. I like Blue Cotton for their high-quality feel, VistaPrint for marketing materials, and, yes, Pens.com for their pens.

My advice? Try multiple. Order samples. Touch the fabric. Check the colors. Hold the mug. Your brand deserves stuff people actually want to use.