Is the cheapest supplier ever the right choice?

Only when their production site is near your buyers. A cheaper unit price on the wrong continent is paid back in postage, delivery time and refunds — usually with interest.

How many suppliers should I use?

One per production region you sell into, and no more than you can actually check. Two suppliers you have tested beat six you have read about.

What resolution should my design files be?

Whatever the supplier's own template specifies, and keep the original at higher resolution than that. You will change suppliers at some point; the day you do, the file you kept is what makes it painless.

Blog · September 15, 2026 · 3 min read

How to choose a print-on-demand supplier: seven checks, and the one that decides it

You searched for a ranking. A ranking cannot help you, because the right supplier depends on where your buyers live, and no list knows that. Here are the seven things to check yourself, in the order that matters — and the first one eliminates most candidates immediately.

1. Where do they print, relative to your buyers?

This is the check that decides it, and it is almost never at the top of a comparison article. A supplier who prints in one country and ships worldwide will give buyers on the other side of the planet a long, expensive, customs-exposed delivery — for a printed t-shirt.

A supplier with production in or near your main market beats a cheaper one every time, because shipping and delivery time are part of the price whether or not they appear on the invoice. If your audience is spread across continents, favour suppliers with several production sites and automatic routing to the nearest.

2–4. The three numbers behind the unit price

Production time, stated in working days. "Fast" is not a number. Two to five working days is common; anything unstated will surprise you in December.
Shipping cost to your real destinations. Price one shirt to your three biggest buyer countries. A low unit price with high postage is a high price.
The second-item cost. Many suppliers charge nearly full price per additional item in the same parcel. If yours does, bundles will not work for you, and that changes your whole pricing plan.

5. Who answers when a print is wrong?

Printing goes wrong at a small but non-zero rate: colours off, placement shifted, the wrong size in the bag. The question is not whether it happens but who pays.

Ask before you commit: does the supplier reprint at their cost on a verifiable print defect, and how fast? A supplier who reprints without argument is worth a higher unit price than one who does not, and the difference shows up in your refund rate — which is a cost you were going to pay anyway.

6–7. Integration and exit

Does it connect to your store automatically? Orders forwarded by hand are fine for ten a month and a disaster at a hundred. You want orders routed, tracking numbers returned, and stock or availability reflected without you copying anything.
Can you leave? Your design files must be yours, downloadable, in the resolution you uploaded. A supplier who holds your artwork holds your catalogue.

Why we do not publish a ranking

We could list five names and put ours first. It would be a claim we have not earned: a fair ranking means ordering the same garment from every supplier, to several countries, and measuring what arrives. We have not done that across the whole market, so we are not going to imply we have.

What we will say plainly: Creavela runs print-on-demand production and warehouse dropshipping behind one storefront, routes each order to the appropriate supplier, and quotes each item's delivery window separately rather than averaging them into a number that is wrong for both.

Questions

Is the cheapest supplier ever the right choice?: Only when their production site is near your buyers. A cheaper unit price on the wrong continent is paid back in postage, delivery time and refunds — usually with interest.
How many suppliers should I use?: One per production region you sell into, and no more than you can actually check. Two suppliers you have tested beat six you have read about.
What resolution should my design files be?: Whatever the supplier's own template specifies, and keep the original at higher resolution than that. You will change suppliers at some point; the day you do, the file you kept is what makes it painless.

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Creavela builds the storefront, composes the catalogue for your niche and runs fulfilment. You keep the brand and the audience.

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