# T-shirt + sticker quotes — real numbers, CAD, 23 Oct 2026

## Shirts: screen printing in the GTA beats Vistaprint on price and speed
Verified published price grids (all CAD, 1-colour / 1-location, garment included unless noted):

**Donkey Tees (Mississauga, 905-282-9292)** — cheapest published grid:
- up to 24 pcs: **$9.58 each**
- up to 49 pcs: **$8.03 each**
- up to 99 pcs: **$6.82 each**
- 24-hour rush available

**Unimpressed Screen Printing** (Gildan 980 Softstyle / Bella+Canvas 3001):
- 12–24: $13.00 / $14.00
- 25–49: $12.00 / $13.00
- 50–74: $11.00 / $12.00
- 100–149: $9.75 / $10.75

**Sterling Screen Printing (Toronto)** — ballpark: 1-colour front on a quality blank, 50 pcs **$10–14**; 200 pcs **$7–9**; 8-colour DTF **$14–20** at any quantity.

**Printing Uncle (East York, 16 Bermondsey Rd)** — 24-piece minimum, **$35 screen setup fee**, blanks from ~$4 (Gildan 5000); prints both screen and DTF and will tell you which is cheaper.

**Vistaprint** could not be price-verified — its pricing is generated live per design/quantity, so there is no published grid to quote. Treat it as the convenience option, not the cheap one; the GTA shops above are local (no shipping, no duty, no 2-week wait).

## What 2 brands × ~25 shirts actually costs
| Route | Per design | Both brands (25 each) |
|---|---|---|
| Donkey Tees, 25 pcs @ $8.03 | $200.75 | **$401.50** |
| Unimpressed, 25 pcs @ $12.00 (Gildan 980) | $300.00 | **$600.00** |
| Printing Uncle, 24 pcs, blanks ~$4 + $35 setup | ~$131 + print | ask — they quote per job |
| Vistaprint | unverified | — |

Two designs means **two setups** — there is no combined-run discount. 24–25 pieces is the price cliff: going to 50 per design drops the per-shirt to ~$11 (Unimpressed) or ~$6.82 (Donkey, 49+). If the plan is ever to give shirts to clients, order 50 and pay less per unit than 25.

## Stickers: Sticker Mule, verified tiers
Die-cut vinyl, 3" × 3", free shipping to Canada, 4-day turnaround:
- 10 → $9
- 50 → $60
- 100 → **$73–$91** (Sticker Mule's own FAQ uses **$88 for 100 3"×3"**)
- 200 → $95–$127
- 500 → $152–$220
Their proofing pass adjusts the price down if your artwork's real size is smaller than ordered — so upload at the final size, don't guess large.

**Both brands at 100 stickers each: ~$176.** At 50 each: ~$120. Cheaper per sticker at 200+ but there's no reason to hold 400 stickers of a two-person brand.

## Design brief — what to hand the printer/Canva
Both logos should be built to the cheapest, most durable spec:
1. **One colour, pure black on white** for the screen-print version (a second colour doubles the setup and the per-piece print cost). Colour version can exist separately for web.
2. **Vector only**: SVG or PDF with outlined text. Printers reject or re-charge for raster JPGs.
3. **Wordmark + optional mark**: the name must be legible at 3" sticker size and at 3" chest-print size. Test by shrinking to 25 mm wide.
4. **Sticker needs 2–3 mm bleed and a cut path** — Sticker Mule cuts to the artwork outline, so the design must have a defined outer shape.
5. **CADsmart**: industrial/technical register — geometric, tight letter-spacing, no gradients, works embroidered and screen-printed.
6. **Protonotebook**: warmer, more product-like, but same one-colour discipline. If a notebook/cover mockup matters, the logo must survive being printed 40 mm wide on a spine.
7. Deliver: `logo_black.svg`, `logo_colour.svg`, `sticker_cutline.ai/svg`, plus a 2000 px PNG for socials.

## Recommendation in one line
**Donkey Tees for 25 shirts per brand (~$400 both, or ~$340 at 50) and Sticker Mule at 100 each (~$176)** — ~$580 all-in for real branded merch for both companies, before HST. Order one sample shirt and one sample sticker pack first ($9 sticker sample), which is what the "order samples" step is for.

## Blocker
The logos. Neither brand has artwork yet — that's the Canva/design step, and it's the gate on every quote. Once there's an SVG, the quotes above convert to orders in about ten minutes.