Ordering patterned shirts in bulk goes wrong in predictable ways, and almost all of them trace back to one decision made early and never revisited: whether the shirt is being made for you or merely decorated for you.

This guide walks the four decisions in the order they actually matter, and flags the details — repeat scale, size mix, collar type — that quietly determine whether the finished run looks deliberate.

Decision one: cut-and-sew or decorated blank

A decorated blank starts as a finished shirt. Whatever you put on it lands inside the boundaries of the panel, which is why the pattern stops before the seam and why the back and the sleeves usually go plain.

Cut-and-sew prints the fabric on the roll first, then cuts and stitches the shirt from it. The pattern runs off every edge, over the shoulder and around the side. It costs more per shirt and it is the only route to a shirt that reads as a Hawaiian shirt rather than a tee with flowers on it.

Decision two: the fabric

Rayon has the drape the originals had. It falls softly, breathes, and takes a floral with a slight softness that suits it. It is the right answer for anything worn socially, sold at retail, or photographed at a wedding.

Poly microfibre is the value option for all-over print and holds color brilliantly. Wicking stretch polyester is for people working outdoors in it — dries fast, sheds wrinkles, carries a UPF finish, and survives daily commercial laundry that would finish rayon in a season.

Decision three: print or embroidery

On a patterned shirt, a printed logo competes with the print behind it and usually loses. Embroidery sits proud of the fabric, catches light, and stays legible over a busy background, which is why nearly every uniform aloha shirt uses it.

The exception is when the logo is the pattern — a repeat built from your own icons, printed across the whole garment. That is a different and often better idea than a chest logo, and it costs the same.

Decision four: how the repeat is scaled

This is the one nobody asks about and everybody notices. A repeat that looks balanced on a size medium can be overwhelming on a 5XL and unreadable on a 4T, because the same tile is being cut from a bigger or smaller piece of the same printed roll.

Ask for the repeat to be checked at your largest and smallest size before approval. We do it as standard and show both on the mockup, which is usually the moment somebody changes their mind about scale.

Sizing a group order

Order the size list you actually have, not a bell curve. Groups skew larger than people expect and the two shirts nobody ordered are always the 4XL and the 5XL, which are the two that ruin the photograph.

Mixed size runs carry no surcharge here and youth sizes count toward the same minimum, so there is no reason to round anything.

Details that matter more than they sound

A camp collar that sits flat when open is what makes the shirt look right unbuttoned. A chest pocket cut so the pattern matches the panel behind it is the single clearest signal that the shirt was made rather than assembled. Coconut-look buttons and a straight hem finish it.

None of these cost extra. They are just decisions somebody has to make on purpose.

What to send us

Your artwork or a description of what you want, the fabric you are leaning toward, a size list, and your date if you have one. If names go on individual shirts, send a spreadsheet with a name and a size per row.