What is the difference between Gildan and Bella Canvas shirts?

Gildan Softstyle is the budget-friendly workhorse — affordable, prints well, and soft enough for most uses. Bella Canvas 3001c is a premium option with a softer, lighter feel and a more modern, slim fit. Bella Canvas costs more per piece but is preferred for retail, boutique, and premium spirit wear where the garment quality is part of the product.

Is Comfort Colors worth the extra cost for spirit wear?

For high school and college-age spirit wear audiences, Comfort Colors 1717 is often worth the premium. The garment-dyed, washed vintage feel and relaxed fit are very popular with younger buyers. For mixed-age audiences or large-volume fundraiser orders where cost matters most, Gildan Softstyle is the more practical choice.

Which shirt is best for screen printing?

All three — Gildan Softstyle, Bella Canvas, and Comfort Colors — print well with screen printing. Bella Canvas has a smooth surface that produces very clean prints. Comfort Colors has a slightly textured ring-spun surface that can show texture in fine detail prints. Gildan Softstyle is consistent and reliable.

Does Comfort Colors run true to size?

Comfort Colors 1717 runs with a boxy, oversized fit — it runs generous and wide compared to a standard t-shirt. Customers expecting a fitted or traditional silhouette may want to size down. Bella Canvas runs slightly narrow, so customers may want to size up. Gildan Softstyle runs approximately true to size.

What is the cheapest shirt for custom printing?

Gildan Softstyle 64000 is the most economical option among these three brands while still delivering good softness and printability. For the absolute lowest cost, Gildan Heavy Cotton (5000) is available at an even lower price point but with a stiffer feel.

Gildan vs Bella Canvas vs Comfort Colors — Which Shirt Is Best for Custom Printing?

Gildan vs Bella Canvas vs Comfort Colors — Which Shirt Is Right for Your Order?

Choosing the right blank garment matters almost as much as the decoration. The shirt is what your customers wear every day — it affects how the print looks, how the garment feels, and whether people actually wear it. Here's an honest comparison of the most common options.

Main Street Shirt Company carries all three brands and prints on them regularly. These observations come from years of real production experience.

Quick Summary

Gildan Softstyle (64000) — Best value. Good softness for the price. Best choice for large-volume orders, fundraisers, and events where cost matters.
Bella Canvas (3001c) — Fashion-forward fit, very soft, great for retail and premium spirit wear. More expensive than Gildan. Runs slightly narrow.
Comfort Colors (1717) — Soft, washed vintage feel. Very popular for spirit wear and lifestyle apparel. Most expensive of the three. Wide, relaxed fit.

Side-by-Side Comparison

Factor	Gildan Softstyle 64000	Bella Canvas 3001c	Comfort Colors 1717
Price tier	Budget / Value	Mid / Premium	Premium
Hand feel	Soft for Gildan; medium weight	Very soft, lightweight	Very soft, washed vintage feel
Weight	4.5 oz	4.2 oz	6.1 oz
Fit style	Traditional fit	Modern, slim-ish	Boxy, oversized / relaxed
Color range	Good — basic to extended	Excellent — wide range	Excellent — washed, earthy tones
Printability	Very good	Very good	Good; ring-spun texture shows
Best use case	Events, fundraisers, large runs	Retail, boutique, premium spirit wear	Spirit wear, lifestyle, vintage feel
Youth sizes?	Yes	Yes	Limited
Sizing tendency	True to size / slightly generous	Runs slightly narrow	Generous / boxy

Gildan Softstyle 64000 — The Workhorse

Gildan Softstyle is the most commonly used blank in the custom apparel industry for good reason: it's affordable, prints well, comes in a wide range of colors, and is soft enough that people actually wear it. It's not a premium garment — it doesn't have the fashion-forward fit of Bella Canvas or the vintage softness of Comfort Colors — but for most practical applications, it does the job extremely well.

Choose Gildan Softstyle when: Cost efficiency matters, you're ordering in large quantities, the audience is mixed ages (youth through adult), or it's a functional use case (event shirts, uniforms, fundraisers).

Potential downside: If your audience skews younger and expects a more fashion-forward garment, Gildan may feel generic compared to Comfort Colors or Bella Canvas.

Bella Canvas 3001c — The Fashion Option

Bella Canvas 3001c is a lightweight, ring-spun cotton tee with a modern fit and excellent softness. It has become the standard for boutique and retail apparel decoration because of its wide color range, soft feel, and clean surface for printing. It's popular for premium spirit wear and any situation where the garment itself is part of the brand.

Choose Bella Canvas when: You want a fashion-forward garment, your audience values premium quality, it's for retail sale rather than mass distribution, or you're building a premium spirit wear line.

Potential downside: It runs slightly narrow — customers accustomed to traditional t-shirt sizing may want to size up. It's more expensive than Gildan, which matters at high quantities.

Comfort Colors 1717 — The Spirit Wear Favorite

Comfort Colors has become extremely popular for school spirit wear over the past several years. The garment-dyed, ring-spun construction produces a soft, broken-in feel and the colors have a slightly faded, vintage look that resonates strongly with high school and college students. The relaxed, boxy fit is also on-trend.

Choose Comfort Colors when: You want spirit wear that students will actually wear outside of school events, you want a vintage/lifestyle aesthetic, or you're building a premium fan apparel line.

Potential downside: Most expensive of the three — meaningfully so on large orders. The boxy fit isn't universally preferred. Youth sizes are more limited. The textured surface can slightly affect fine-detail prints compared to smoother blanks.

What About Gildan Heavy Cotton and Heavy Blend?

Gildan Heavy Cotton (5000) and Heavy Blend (18000/18500 for hoodies and crewnecks) are the budget workhorses for those garment types. Heavy Cotton is stiffer than Softstyle and is common for very large-volume orders where cost per unit is the dominant factor. Heavy Blend hoodies are extremely popular for spirit wear because of their warmth, durability, and accessible price point — they're the most common hoodie sold through our spirit stores.

Which Shirt Prints Best?

All three shirts print well with screen printing and DTF. Bella Canvas has a very smooth surface that produces especially clean prints. Comfort Colors has a slightly textured ring-spun surface that can show a bit of texture in fine print detail, but this is generally not noticeable on standard designs. Gildan Softstyle prints consistently and cleanly.

Related resources:

Not sure which garment to choose? Tell us your use case and budget when you contact us for a quote and we'll make a specific recommendation.