How Much Should You Charge for DTF Shirts?
Pricing a DTF shirt starts with more than the blank and transfer. Your real job cost can include the garment, transfer, production labor, equipment, shop overhead and expected waste. Add those costs together, divide by the number of shirts you can actually sell, then use your target margin to determine a selling price.
The DTF shirt cost formula
- Blank garments
- DTF transfers
- Production labor
- Equipment cost
- Allocated shop overhead
- Waste / remakes
= True Job Cost
True Job Cost ÷ Sellable Quantity = Cost Per Shirt
Cost Per Shirt ÷ (1 − Target Margin) = Selling Price Per Shirt
These are shop-costing concepts, not suggested market prices. Every shop's costs are different.
Employee wage vs. shop cost per hour
A production wage and your shop's cost per productive hour are not the same thing. The example below uses a hypothetical production wage of $18/hour.
If an employee earns $18/hour, the actual employer cost may be somewhat higher after payroll taxes and other employer-paid labor costs.
Rent, insurance, software and administrative expenses are shop overhead. They shouldn't be hidden inside a higher "labor rate." PriceMyPrint treats production labor and shop overhead as separate costs so you can see each one.
Worked example: 24 DTF T-shirts
Hypothetical costs for illustration only. The customer orders 24 front-print shirts; the shop produces 25 to allow for one possible remake.
| Blank shirts (25 × $4.00) | $100.00 |
| Purchased DTF transfers (25 × $2.00) | $50.00 |
| Production labor (example: 0.5 hr × $18/hr wage) | $9.00 |
| Equipment allocation (hypothetical) | $3.00 |
| Allocated shop overhead for this job (hypothetical) | $12.00 |
| True Job Cost | $174.00 |
| Cost per sellable shirt ($174 ÷ 24) | $7.25 |
| Price at 40% margin ($7.25 ÷ 0.60) | $12.08 |
| Price at 50% margin ($7.25 ÷ 0.50) | $14.50 |
The 30 minutes of labor is an example, not a universal production speed. The $12.00 overhead is this hypothetical shop's share for this particular job, not a standard rate.
This doesn't mean you should charge $14.50 for a DTF shirt. It means that if your true cost were $7.25, selling at $14.50 would mathematically produce a 50% gross margin before other selling expenses. Your actual costs, market, order complexity and business goals determine what you charge.
Why the extra shirt matters
The customer ordered 24 shirts, but the example assumes the shop prepares 25. If one shirt is ruined during production, the cost of that extra blank and transfer doesn't disappear. It's part of the cost of successfully delivering 24 shirts.
Not every shop needs exactly one extra shirt. Use the waste allowance that matches your own experience.
Enter your quantity, blank cost, transfer setup and shop assumptions to see your estimated job cost, cost per piece and margin-based selling prices.
Calculate My DTF JobBuying DTF transfers vs. printing them in-house
Purchased transfers can include the transfer or gang sheet price, shipping when appropriate, unused sheet space, press labor and failed transfers or remakes. If you buy gang sheets, divide the sheet cost by the usable designs that fit on it.
In-house DTF can include film, ink, powder, printing and handling labor, curing, maintenance, equipment, wasted film and ink, failed prints and press labor.
Printing transfers in-house can reduce transfer acquisition cost at sufficient volume, but equipment, maintenance, waste, downtime and labor also become your responsibility. Buying transfers can cost more per transfer while avoiding much of that fixed equipment and production burden. The better option depends on your shop's actual numbers.
Multiple print locations
A front-only shirt is not economically identical to a left chest + full back shirt, even on the same blank. A second location can add another transfer, more positioning, another press cycle, extra handling and another chance for a production error.
The DTF calculator lets you add each print location so those costs are counted.
How quantity changes cost per shirt
Fixed or semi-fixed job costs — setup, job preparation and some admin and production tasks — happen once per job.
Variable costs — blanks, transfers, much of production labor and waste — grow with every piece.
Larger orders spread fixed costs across more sellable shirts, but they don't make blanks or transfers free.
Costs that are easy to leave out
It's easy to leave costs out of a DTF quote when you only look at the blank and transfer. Check that your price also covers production labor, equipment, overhead, waste and remakes, and every additional print location.
Where shop overhead fits
A print shop has expenses that can't be assigned directly to one shirt: rent, insurance, software, utilities and administrative costs. Those expenses still have to be supported by the jobs the shop produces.
Know Your Shop helps you estimate monthly operating costs ÷ practical productive hours = shop overhead per productive hour.
Margin vs. markup
If your true cost is $10:
- 50% markup: $10 + $5 = $15 selling price
- 50% margin: $10 ÷ (1 − 0.50) = $20 selling price
PriceMyPrint uses margin-based target pricing. See how PriceMyPrint calculates job costs.
Enter your quantity, blank cost, transfer setup and shop assumptions to see your estimated job cost, cost per piece and margin-based selling prices.
Calculate My DTF Job