Ask most merchandise suppliers for fifty branded items and they will quote you for five hundred. The minimum is not arbitrary β it exists because screen printing and embroidery need setup, and setup costs the same whether you make ten or a thousand.
So the supplier spreads that cost across a big order and the price per unit looks reasonable. What nobody mentions is the cupboard.
The cupboard problem
Every office has one. Four hundred hoodies in sizes nobody wanted, from a rebrand two years ago. A box of tote bags with the old logo. The order made sense on a spreadsheet and made no sense in reality.
The waste is not just money. It is the wrong sizes, the design you would change now, and the colour that looked better on screen.
Why we can do ten
We use processes with no setup cost.
- DTG (direct-to-garment) prints straight onto fabric like an inkjet onto paper. No screens to make, so ten costs ten times one.
- DTF (direct-to-film) transfers work on more materials and handle detailed artwork well.
- Laser engraving marks the material itself β wood, leather, steel, acrylic. Nothing to peel off later.
- 3D printing for anything three-dimensional: awards, desk objects, custom shapes.
Per unit you will pay more than a 500-run. In total you will pay far less, and you will use all of it.
What this is good for
Ordering small changes what merchandise is for.
- Ten engraved pieces for the people who actually closed the deal, rather than 500 pens
- A sample run before committing to a design
- Onboarding gifts printed one at a time as people join
- Client gifts personalised to each client by name
- Event merchandise where you genuinely do not know the numbers yet
How it works
Send us the artwork and tell us roughly what you want. We will tell you what process suits it, what it costs, and how long it takes β usually days, not weeks. If your artwork will not reproduce well at that size, we will say so before printing rather than after.
No minimum. No setup fee. No cupboard.
Email 3dprinting@uncreations.co.uk and we will come back to you the same day.