Last Updated on December 3, 2025 by Ewen Finser
“We need 40 sweatshirts in hand by the end of the month. Can you take care of this?”
Receiving this email on the 1st of the month might have you raising an eyebrow. Receiving it on the 12th will get your heart pumping.
When I was tasked with finding a screen printing company to handle a large batch of hoodies for a fundraising event, I stepped into gear. After checking in with Google and a few trusted friends, I decided to focus on five potential vendors:
I spent a solid week diving deep into customer reviews, chatting up sales reps, comparing policies, and filling out pro/con columns in shared spreadsheets to see where each company ranked in terms of overall quality, shipping options, customer support, sample policy, refund policy, and reorder process.
Here’s what I discovered.
TL;DR: The Top Choices
Two companies stood out above all the others:
FIRST PLACE: BlueCotton
BlueCotton effortlessly leads the pack in terms of print and garment quality, outstanding customer service, and simplified processes. Their free standard shipping is a huge plus for larger (and heftier) orders, and their guaranteed rush deliveries offer incredible peace of mind when dealing with tight deadlines.
RUNNER-UP: Queensboro
For 45 years, Queensboro has been dedicated to making life easy for small business owners, keeping their pricing and minimum quantities as low as possible, using flat-rate shipping, and offering hassle-free replacements for order mistakes. Customers love the genuine care they bring to each step of the process.
To learn how the rest of the contenders measured up, and why BlueCotton wound up taking the prize, read on.
Overall Quality
Custom Ink & RushOrderTees: These two have a lot in common when it comes to customer feedback about the quality of their products. While online reviews are generally highly positive, numerous customers have shared concerns about their quality control, complaining about misplaced graphics, inconsistent ink colors, and having the garments they ordered replaced with poor-quality substitutes.
While these complaints about Custom Ink and RushOrderTees are a minority, they’re worth considering as they stem from their shared business model. Both companies outsource their production to third-party vendors that have their own quality standards and procedures.
Although it’s likely most of these vendors consistently turn out excellent work, reviews hint that there may be a few bad apples in the bunch who cut corners. This outsourced production also means that customers like you are hit with markups.
Note: RushOrderTees doesn’t require design proof approval for orders of less than 15 pieces. If you want to double-check your upload, you’ll need to proactively check your account page for an order preview.
BlueCotton: BlueCotton handles all of its design, production, and fulfillment services in a single facility in Kentucky, giving them full control over each step of the process. Their robust 9-step quality check is performed entirely by humans. If one of their professional artists catches an error in your design, they’ll reach out to you to resolve the issue before sending your hoodies to the printing department. This means more peace of mind and far fewer returns, if any.
Reviews praise their excellent printing and embroidery, fair pricing, and high-quality shirts. And since they do everything in-house, you aren’t paying any middleman markups.
Queensboro: Boasting a whopping 4.9% score on TrustPilot, Queensboro holds its own among the bigger players in the screen printing world. Customers praise their fine embroidery work, comfortable hoodies, crisp detail, and reasonable prices.
Threadbird: Threadbird offers a lot of special techniques like discharge, foil, water-based, and metallic printing to help their customers achieve their artistic vision. They create custom shirt tags, and they’ve also even innovated a smooth new type of ink. This makes them a great choice for streetwear designers and for companies that want their branded hoodies to feel like a haute couture statement. If you have a more standard design, however, there are cheaper options out there that’ll do just as good a job.
Customer Support
Custom Ink & RushOrderTees: Both companies have mostly positive reviews, with just a handful mentioning poor communication. Custom Ink fared a little better than RushOrderTees – even on the reviews complaining about shirt quality, their customer support team was praised. Both offer telephone support, live chat, and well-crafted Help Centers on their websites.
BlueCotton: BlueCotton’s approach focuses on building long-term relationships with their customers, going the extra mile to keep them coming back project after project. This company-wide commitment is reflected in the many reviews praising their unmatched customer service, with customers shouting out their friendly representatives, responsive communication, and attention to detail.
Queensboro: Reviews rave about the customer service team’s responsiveness, patience, and willingness to make things right, even when the customer has screwed up an order. You can reach them through call, live chat, and email.
Threadbird: Their customer service team can be reached via phone, email, and chat, and they offer a ton of info on their website about everything from their shipping policies to the finer points of their printing techniques.
Reorder Process
Custom Ink: Saved designs can be re-ordered with a couple of clicks through your account, or you can call their customer support line with your order and billing info. Note: due to their outsourced production, you may wind up with reorders that differ slightly from previous batches due to variations in the machines, techniques, and inks used.
BlueCotton: BlueCotton makes the reorder process quick and simple – it takes just one click to duplicate a past order. You can also easily tweak garment quantities, colors, and sizes, or swap in a new graphic from the Saved Designs section of your account. If reordering by phone, just be ready with your name, address, order info, and the date you need it delivered. Super easy.
Queensboro: Designs and order specs are saved in your account, so you can reorder quickly online or by phoning their customer service team.
RushOrderTees: Just click the reorder button on your previous orders to quickly set up a new order. Note: like Custom Ink, there’s no guarantee that your reorders will exactly match your past orders.
Threadbird: You can contact your Customer Account Specialist by email or phone to request a reorder.
Sample Policy
Custom Ink: Blank (unprinted) sample garments are available for order, so you can verify sizing and check out the garment quality. If your order includes 5000+ units, Custom Ink will send you a printed sample for free. If you’re ordering fewer pieces, you’ll have to pay $100 for a printed sample, and that fee is non-refundable.
BlueCotton: BlueCotton has the best sample policy on this list by far, generously supplying free printed samples for any order larger than 250 pieces. While they do charge a $100 printed sample fee for smaller orders, that cost is credited back to your order.
Queensboro: By joining their QueensboroPlus membership, you get access to custom pricing, samples, and a dedicated account representative. Membership is free, but typically members have spent $1000+ in the previous 12 months, order frequently, and have an ongoing need for Queensboro’s services.
RushOrderTees: Samples can be ordered through phone, email, or live chat. Unfortunately, RushOrderTees does not seem to have a free printed sample policy – or at least not one that they choose to advertise.
Threadbird: Threadbird’s satisfaction policy is that they are not responsible for your satisfaction – literally. While they do not offer printed samples of your own art, you can order demo samples for their various techniques in their Sample Store. They’ll also ship you blank samples billed at a per-piece rate, though they’re quick to point out that these will not be credited to your order.
Refund Policy
Custom Ink: If your delivered product doesn’t match your proof or shows up later than promised, you’re eligible for a full refund if you reach out within 15 days. But unlike many other screen printing companies, Custom Ink does require that you ship back the faulty goods, adding extra hassle to an already stressful event.
BlueCotton: BlueCotton offers free reprints if they make a mistake on your order, and a reorder discount of up to 50% if you make a mistake on your order, which seems more than fair to me.
Queensboro: They’re proud to offer a No Returns Necessary Guarantee, offering replacements (and occasionally refunds) for damaged products, printing or order errors, and delivery mishaps.
RushOrderTees: Instead of spelling out a clear refund/replacement policy on their website, they offer a general satisfaction guarantee. If you have an issue with your order, you can reach out to their customer care team within 45 days of receiving your order, and they will work with you to find a solution. While I generally prefer a clearly stated policy, I do appreciate the wildly generous extended grace period.
Threadbird: If you have an issue with your order, you only have 72 hours to notify them – otherwise, you’re on your own. Have a large order? Good luck with checking each piece in time. Compared to RushOrderTees’s 45 days or BlueCotton’s 15 days, this policy is a huge disappointment.
Shipping
Custom Ink: Custom Ink guarantees delivery within 2 weeks when you choose their free standard shipping option. You can opt for one-week rush delivery for 15% of the cost of your order or 3-day rush delivery for 30%.
BlueCotton: BlueCotton guarantees that your order will arrive within 10 business days when you choose their free standard shipping within the US mainland. If you need faster delivery, they offer multiple rush options, including 5-day, 3-day, and 1-day delivery. 3-day upcharge is 15% of your order or $25, whichever is greater. 5-day upcharge is 25% or $39, and 1-day upcharge is 40% or $69.
Unlike other screen printing companies, BlueCotton guarantees on-time delivery for ALL orders, including their rush options.
Queensboro: They ship across the contiguous US for a flat rate of $13.95. If you’re in AK or HI, you’ll pay just $19.95 per shipment.
RushOrderTees: RushOrderTees provides free delivery within 9-12 business days in the contiguous US, as well as guaranteed 2-day rush shipping.
Threadbird: Standard production turnaround is 7-10 business days. Orders are shipped with FedEx Ground, with estimated delivery between 1-5 business days, depending on your location. Orders can be picked up free of charge at their facility in Orlando, FL.
The Takeaway
If you’re looking for a screen printing company that offers high-quality hoodies, durable and accurate printing or embroidery, and affordable on-time delivery, paired with great customer service and peace of mind, you’ll be very happy with BlueCotton.
Sure, there are other companies to choose from that can get the job done as well, but BlueCotton comes out on top in terms of providing the best, most seamless experience overall.