Last Updated on December 11, 2025 by Ewen Finser
Bulk garment printing has exploded into a booming industry, with countless local and national screen printing companies vying for your next customized t-shirt or hoodie order. While competition is a good thing, the sheer number of options out there is pretty overwhelming – and when you’re ordering 100 shirts or more, the stakes are far too high to risk choosing a dud.
To help out other small business owners, I’ve taken a magnifying glass to two top contenders out there right now: RushOrderTees and BlueCotton. RushOrderTees is a popular choice for their two-day rush shipping that doesn’t require a minimum order. BlueCotton, on the other hand, is known for their high quality standards and reliable customer service.
To get a big picture view of where they shine, where they fall short, and the secret sauce that sets each apart, I looked at their websites, policies, customer reviews, and Better Business Bureau pages, combined with my own experiences with them.
TL;DR: BlueCotton is my go-to for all garment printing, no question. To learn exactly why, read on.
Ease of Use
Winner: BlueCotton
Keeping things simple is one of BlueCotton’s superpowers. Their design studio lays everything out clearly, making it easy to upload an existing image or create a new one from scratch. Design novices will find it easy to bring their vision to life using BlueCotton’s professional templates and text-to-image AI creator. They also have around 40,000 clip art images organized into categories for quick browsing. And if you’re designing team jerseys, their name-and-number customizer streamlines the process, which is an incredible timesaver.
Design and print options are included in the same screen without feeling crowded or busy. Undo,
redo, and rotate functions are easy to find, and you can open, save, and share your designs in seconds. My favorite part of BlueCotton’s design platform is the Distress button, which instantly gives your design a vintage feel. You don’t see that every day.
Reorders are dead simple – just click a button to duplicate your past order. Want to switch up the size, color, or quantity of your garments? That process is also very easy. Overall, BlueCotton’s order builder and design studio are robust and intuitive. That’s an A+ from me.
RushOrderTees
Their design studio is easy to use, but a little more barebones than BlueCotton’s. While they don’t provide clip art, their integrated generative AI lets you create logos and graphics using prompts guided by detailed category selections. If you don’t love the result, their undo and redo options are easily accessible. Like BlueCotton, they have a convenient name-and-number customizer for jerseys. But their coolest feature is their sleeve design widget, which allows you to add extra customization to short- and long-sleeved shirts.
Experimenting with the overall look of your garment is effortless – if your design doesn’t pop the way you imagined it would, you can change the color of your shirt right in the design studio, or add multiple different colored shirts to see which looks best.
Love what you came up with? You can hit the reorder button on any of your previous purchases to set up another order in a snap. Just be aware that RushOrderTees uses third-party printing partners that may have different machines and inks, so your next batch may differ slightly.
Note: If you’re unsure about your design or placement, you’ll need to be proactive – RushOrderTees doesn’t require design proof approval for orders of less than 15 pieces, so you’ll need to submit a request.
Inventory
Winner: RushOrderTees
RushOrderTees kills it in this category with hundreds of t-shirt and hoodie options available from a wide range of brands. And don’t let their name fool you – they also carry a huge range of non-apparel promo products, including office supplies, bags, and drinkware from brands like Stanley and Owala. You can even slap your logo onto Bluetooth speakers, headphones, or wireless chargers from brands like Sony, Apple, SkullCandy, LogiTech, and Beats by Dre. Just keep in mind that these big-name brands come with matching price points.
BlueCotton
BlueCotton may have a smaller catalog, but they’re no slouch. They carry 34 different t-shirt and tank styles from 27 high-quality brands, plus a range of sweats, outerwear, hats, and athletic apparel. They also print promotional products like bags, frisbees, tumblers, can coolers, towels, notebooks, pens, magnets, and phone wallets.
Sample Policy
Winner: BlueCotton
Of the dozen or so screen printing companies I’ve researched, BlueCotton is the absolute gold standard when it comes to sample policy. All orders of 250+ units include a complimentary printed sample, so you can move forward with your full order in total confidence.
If your order is smaller, you can order a printed sample for $100, and this fee will be credited back to your bulk order once you’re ready to print. Blank garment samples are also available. To order your sample(s), you just need to call or email their customer service team.
RushOrderTees
Unfortunately, their sample policy is less clear-cut than BlueCotton’s. Printed samples can be ordered through phone, email, or live chat for a fee that is not disclosed on their website, as prices may vary depending on the order.
Production
Winner: BlueCotton
BlueCotton handles everything from design to fulfillment completely in-house. 130 team members work out of their Kentucky facility, with art, production, operations, and customer support teams on-site. This means that teams can easily reach out to one another to resolve any snags that may come up during the process of creating your order. Bonus: since they handle everything, you aren’t paying any middleman markups.
RushOrderTees
While higher-volume orders benefit from discounted pricing, their business model means that customers like you wind up paying more for service that is sometimes lower quality. Their production is fully outsourced, with printing and fulfillment handled by over 80 different vendor partners in their network. What does this mean for you? Less consistency and hit-or-miss quality control, paired with a middleman markup.
Quality
Winner: BlueCotton
BlueCotton tends to get rave reviews for their printing and embroidery, and for good reason – their orders undergo a 9-step quality check performed by skilled humans. If they catch an error in your design, one of their artists will reach out to let you know and suggest alternative design options. If they catch a mistake in their production, they’ll resolve it – and on the off chance it makes it into your delivered order, you’ll get a free reprint.
RushOrderTees
I wanted to love RushOrderTees, I really did. The lack of minimum order quantities, the huge product catalog – they have a lot going for them, but quality trumps everything else. With dozens of different vendors handling their production, it’s impossible for RushOrderTees to oversee or maintain quality control in any meaningful way.
This is a big problem for them, and it shows in their Better Business Bureau profile (BlueCotton, on the other hand, currently has zero complaints despite being in business a decade longer). On other review sites, customers complain about shirts being swapped out for lower quality items, screen print orders being heat-printed, and graphics winding up off-center or smaller than desired. Of course, there are also many positive reviews, but the pushback that their customer service team seems to give customers seeking refunds is a red flag for me.
Turnaround & Shipping
Winner: BlueCotton
BlueCotton guarantees all of their delivery timelines within the contiguous US, and they offer multiple shipping options. Their free standard shipping arrives within 10 business days of submitting your order, which is great. But their rush shipping selection is where they truly shine.
Their five-day rush option comes with a surcharge of $25 or 15% of your order total (whichever is greater), and is a lifesaver for time-crunched companies and creators. Need it even faster? For $39 or 25% of your order, you can get it in just three days. They also have a Shirts In A Day option – if ordered by noon CST, they’ll arrive in just 1 business day. While this will set you back $69 or 40% of your order cost, it’s well worth it in an emergency.
RushOrderTees
Their free standard shipping is expected to arrive in 9-12 days within the contiguous US, which isn’t bad at all. If you need your products faster, they also offer rush shipping, with guaranteed delivery in two days. Overall, their turnaround and delivery options are actually pretty good – just not as good as BlueCotton’s.
Customer Service
Winner: BlueCotton
BlueCotton takes a strongly people-centered approach to their business, with the goal of building loyal, long-term relationships with their customers. It’s actually one of their core company values, and it shows up in the many reviews shouting out their service team for going above and beyond to keep their customers happy.
In addition to their stellar sample policy, they have a great approach to customer satisfaction. If there are any issues with your order, just reach out within 15 days. If it’s something that happened on their end, you’ll get a free reprint. If you made an oopsy in your design or product selections, they’ll give you a discount of up to 50% when you reorder. You don’t even have to return the original order, which removes a ton of friction and hassle from the process.
RushOrderTees
Let’s cover the good stuff first: Their refund/replacement policy has a hugely generous grace period. You have 45 days from the time you receive your order to reach out to their customer service team to report an issue – this is far and away the lengthiest period offered by any of the screen printing companies I’ve researched. If you’re ordering in bulk, you’ll definitely appreciate this extra time.
Now for the bad: Apart from the grace period, they don’t really spell out the specific terms of their refund/replacement policy. And while they promise customer satisfaction and have a lot of positive reviews, their negative reviews tend to focus on their lack of communication, lack of transparency, and stonewalling around refund requests. As a business owner, this makes me very nervous. While I had no issues with my own small order, I’d hesitate to take the risk with a larger order or a tighter deadline.
Final Thoughts
If you’re looking for deluxe promotional items, RushOrderTees has you covered with a catalog full of high-end products from name brands, along with some more affordable options. But if you’re looking for high-quality garment printing, BlueCotton is the best choice, hands down. From their obsessive quality control to their guaranteed delivery dates, they work hard to keep their customers happy and coming back for more.