· 4 min read · By the DesignFix team
You pay for a gang sheet as a whole, but you sell shirts one at a time. To price a shirt properly you need to know what its print cost, and that's different for a pocket logo and a full back on the same sheet.
Step 1: what the sheet costs
Printers charge for gang sheets in one of two ways:
- Per sheet: a fixed price for a fixed size, such as a 22″ × 60″ sheet.
- By length: a price per inch or per foot (or per metre) of film, for exactly the length the job uses.
Use your own printer's price. The examples below use $25 for a 22″ × 60″ sheet, and $0.40 per inch, purely as examples to show the maths.
Step 2: how many prints fit
On a 22″ × 60″ sheet, with a 0.1″ gap and ¼″ margins (full table here):
- Left chest, 4″ × 4″: 70 prints
- Sleeve, 3″ × 3″: 114 prints
- Youth front, 9″ × 10″: 12 prints
- Adult front, 10.5″ × 12″: 9 prints
- Adult front, 11″ × 12″: 5 prints
- Back, 12″ × 14″: 4 prints
Step 3: divide
If the whole sheet is one design, it's simple: sheet price ÷ prints. At $25 a sheet:
- Left chest: $25 ÷ 70 = $0.36 a print
- Sleeve: $25 ÷ 114 = $0.22
- Youth front: $25 ÷ 12 = $2.08
- Adult front at 10.5″: $25 ÷ 9 = $2.78
- Adult front at 11″: $25 ÷ 5 = $5.00
- Back: $25 ÷ 4 = $6.25
Look at the two adult fronts again. Half an inch narrower nearly halves the cost of every front print, because two fit across the sheet instead of one.
Mixed sheets: share the cost by area
Most sheets mix designs. The fair way to split the price is by how much of the film each design covers: a front covers far more film than a pocket logo, so it carries more of the cost.
Example: one 22″ × 60″ sheet with 6 adult fronts (10.5″ × 12″), 12 left-chest logos (4″ × 4″) and 12 sleeve prints (3″ × 3″). They all fit, using about 54″ of the sheet.
At $25 per sheet:
- Each front: $2.98
- Each left chest: $0.38
- Each sleeve: $0.21
Priced by length at $0.40 per inch, the same job uses 54.2″ and costs $21.68:
- Each front: $2.59
- Each left chest: $0.33
- Each sleeve: $0.18
Do it automatically
Our free gang sheet builder now does this for you. Drop in your designs, set sizes and quantities, then enter your printer's price, per sheet or per inch, foot, cm or metre. It shows the total, the average cost per print, and each design's own cost, worked out by the film it covers. Change a size or a quantity and the costs update as the sheet repacks.
From cost per print to your price
The print is only part of the cost of a finished shirt. Add:
- the blank garment,
- your time to press it (and any misprints),
- packaging and shipping supplies,
- marketplace or payment fees.
Then add your margin on top. Knowing the real cost of each print is what stops a full-back design quietly eating the profit that the pocket logos made.
Ways to bring the cost down
- Pick widths that fit the film: 10.5″ fronts instead of 11″ on a 22″ sheet.
- Fill the gaps: add small prints (sleeves, neck tags, pocket logos) around big ones. They cost very little on space that's already paid for.
- Trim empty space: transparent padding around a design takes up film and prints nothing. The builder's Fix all trims it.
- Don't oversize: a left chest at 4″ instead of 5″ fits far more to a sheet.
Questions
How do I work out the cost of one DTF print?
Divide the sheet price by the number of prints on it. On a mixed sheet, share the price by the area each design covers.
Is per-inch or per-sheet pricing cheaper?
It depends on how full your sheets are. By-the-inch pricing is usually better for small or awkward jobs, since you only pay for the film you use. Fixed sheets work out well when you can fill them.
Does the gap between designs change the cost?
A little. A bigger gap means fewer designs per sheet. About 0.1″ is enough for cutting.
Why does my full-back print cost so much more than the logos?
Because it covers far more film. On a mixed sheet a 12″ × 14″ back uses about ten times the film of a 4″ logo, so it should carry about ten times the cost.
Does the calculator include the garment and shipping?
No, just the transfer. Add your garment, labour, packaging and fees on top.
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