Bella 3001 vs Gildan 5000 for custom shirts?

3001 for retail where buyers care about feel and fit. Gildan 5000 for bulk team orders where cost and durability matter more than hand-feel. Most Etsy shops run 3001 because the $1 to $1.50 blank premium easily supports a $3 to $5 higher retail.

Can I sublimate on Bella+Canvas 3001?

Technically yes, but results are muted. 3001 is a cotton-poly blend; sublimation prints best on 100% polyester. For true sublimation look on 3001 you need a specialty polyester-coated blank like Sunrise Subli-Tees. Most 3001 work is HTV.

What about shipping for shirts?

Adult tees ship in poly mailers at 6-8 ounces packed. USPS Ground $5.25 domestic or $5.85 over 8oz. Factor into pricing. Heavyweight shirts (heather blends) ship closer to 9-10 ounces and push to the next USPS tier.

How many colors does 3001 come in?

Over 100 colors from Bella+Canvas direct. Wholesalers stock the top 20 consistently: white, black, heather grey, navy, red, forest green, maroon, pink. Specialty colors (pastels, fashion neons) require special order and 2-4 week lead time.

Sublimation blank reference

Adult Bella+Canvas 3001 Tee Sublimation Cost

Written by Maya Reeves. Reviewed 2026-04-21.

Blank cost

$4.50 to $6.25 depending on color and wholesaler

Retail range

$22 to $32 retail at 55% to 70% margin

Production time

6 to 12 active minutes per shirt

The Bella+Canvas 3001 is the shirt most Etsy apparel shops actually use. Softer hand-feel than Gildan, fits true to size across men and women, and photographs well because the fabric takes sublimation and HTV cleanly. A $5 premium over Gildan 5000 buys noticeably better perceived quality.

For sublimation, the 3001 polyester blend (65/35 cotton-polyester) is the upper limit of what dye-sub will handle. It takes sublimation ink but the fabric is cotton-dominant so colors come out muted compared to 100% polyester. Many shops use 3001 exclusively for HTV and stick with polyester blanks for sublimation.

This page covers 3001 economics for both sublimation and HTV. The calculator defaults to HTV math. Adjust ink cost up if you are sublimating on 3001.

Step 1 of 4: Product

Presets

Product and materials

Start with what the item costs you before you touch it. Blank, paper, ink, and anything else you squeeze into the box.

Blank type

Pick the closest blank to auto-fill average costs. You can override each one below.

Blank cost

What you pay your supplier per unit.

Paper cost per sheet

A-Sub, TruePix, or whatever brand you use.

Ink cost per print

Cartridge or ink bottle cost divided by prints per fill.

Other materials

Tape, shrink wrap, butcher paper, lint roller. Per unit.

Step 1 of 4

What a Bella+Canvas 3001 actually costs to produce

Blank cost from S&S Activewear or SanMar at wholesale case-of-24 is $4.50 to $5.50 for white, $5.00 to $6.25 for dark colors. Retail pricing online (single units from craft stores) runs $7 to $9. Budget to buy by the case if you are doing volume; single-unit sourcing eats 25% of your potential margin.

For HTV, vinyl is the big material. Standard EasyWeed at $0.90 per shirt on a chest design. Glitter HTV runs $1.50. Multi-color adds $0.50 to $1.00 per layer. For sublimation, ink at $1.10 per print plus paper $0.25.

Active labor: design 10 to 15 minutes (amortized across batch), weeding 4 to 5 minutes per shirt, press 3 minutes per layer. HTV single-color shirt: 22 to 25 total minutes. Sublimation: 4 minutes prep, 3 press, 2 pack = 9 minutes. Sublimation is faster but only works on poly-dominant blanks, which is why HTV wins on 3001.

Full per-shirt cost breakdown (HTV)

Garment $5, vinyl $0.90, design time per unit (15 min ÷ 1 shirt on single) $6.25, weeding labor $2.08, press labor $1.25. Other $0.30. Overhead $0.40. Total cost $16.18.

At 60% margin retail $25.89. Most Etsy 3001 HTV listings sit at $28 to $32. Net after Etsy fees ($3.20 on $30 gross) and $5.50 shipping label is $5.12, or 17% net. Tight. Move to $30 retail to push to 20%+ net.

Worked example: pricing a single custom HTV shirt

Bella+Canvas 3001 white at $5. Siser EasyWeed 0.3 yards at $3/yd = $0.90. Other materials $0.30. 15 min design, 5 weed, 3 press = 23 min labor at $25/hr = $9.58. Overhead $0.40. Total cost $16.18.

At 60% margin retail $25.89. List at $28 or $30 on Etsy. Net on $28 + $5 shipping is $5.20. Bump to $30 retail and net jumps to $6.70. The extra $2 retail buys real margin.

For a bulk order of 12 shirts, design amortizes to $0.52 per shirt. Per-unit cost drops to $10.12. At 55% margin retail $15.69. Team orders typically work at $15 to $17 per shirt because the amortization math favors the seller.

Where to buy Bella+Canvas 3001 blanks

S&S Activewear and SanMar are the two largest wholesalers. Both require business accounts but have been straightforward to qualify. Minimum orders are typically $50 or 1 case. Free shipping over $100. Bulk pricing drops ~10% at 72 units.

Jiffy Shirts and Blankstyle offer smaller quantities without account requirements but prices run 15% to 25% higher. Use these for sampling colors before committing to a full case wholesale. Amazon Bella 3001 listings are often closeouts or seconds; inspect before using for sellable products.

FAQs

Sources

S&S Activewear Bella+Canvas 3001 wholesale pricing, ssactivewear.com, reviewed 2026-04-21.
SanMar Bella+Canvas catalog, sanmar.com, reviewed 2026-04-21.
Jiffy Shirts retail 3001 pricing, jiffyshirts.com, reviewed 2026-04-21.
Siser EasyWeed pricing, heattransferwarehouse.com, reviewed 2026-04-21.
Bella+Canvas product specs, bellacanvas.com, reviewed 2026-04-21.

Need the full sublimation pricing tool? The main calculator covers every blank with full preset options. For fee math on the final retail price, use the Etsy fee calculator.