Custom shirts, hats, and gear for Essex crews, printed by a shop that lives for this work and delivered anywhere in Illinois in 5 to 7 business days.
Crews in Essex order from us the same way the big-city ones do: published pack pricing, free design help, and a written proof before a single shirt prints.
Census numbers put Essex at a community of 854 on 2.3 square miles of Illinois, all of it covered by the same tracked shipping. If your people are spread out, that is fine: East Brooklyn, IL (4 mi), South Wilmington, IL (5 mi), Braceville, IL (5 mi) sit close enough that one order can outfit all of them. The closest major installation is Naval Station Great Lakes, roughly 80 miles out, and unit orders from there run through this same process daily.
The Illinois military community orders here too: unit and family gear for Naval Station Great Lakes and Rock Island Arsenal, plus every recruiter, Guard unit, and veteran org chapter around Essex.
The workhorse method: thick ink, bulk pricing, hundreds of washes.
Digitized in-house so small text stays sharp on caps and chest logos.
Photograph-grade prints from a 10 piece run up.
Edge-to-edge jerseys and performance gear with print in the fibers.
13oz vinyl banners and signs sized to be read at distance.
From napkin sketch to print-ready vectors, free with any order.
Shop shirts and stitched caps that make a small crew read like an established company. The second order takes two minutes because the first one is archived down to the thread color.
Festival tees, cleanup-day shirts, and volunteer gear for the events that hold a town together. A real designer, not an upload widget, checks every file before it goes near production.
Mission trip tees and congregation gear at pack rates a committee can approve. Packs mix garment colors freely, so squads, shifts, or grade levels can each get their own.
5K tees, tournament shirts, and memorial fundraiser runs delivered before event day. Deadlines get treated like formation times, not suggestions.
Team shirts, fan tees, and booster fundraisers with youth and adult sizes mixed in one pack. Every price is published before you talk to a person, so the budget math happens on your terms.
Spirit gear for schools where the PTA sees the proof and the price before any form goes home. Every price is published before you talk to a person, so the budget math happens on your terms.
The shop runs on habits borrowed from the people we serve: accountability by name, honest reporting, and deadlines that do not slide. Essex customers feel the difference on the first order.
It also means we say no when we should. If a design will not print well at the size you want, or a date cannot be hit, you hear it before you spend money, not after.
Upload art or add text in the Design Lab, set sizes and quantities, and the full estimate, shipping included, is on screen before you give anyone your email.
Garment choice makes or breaks the order. These are the blanks Essex customers pick most, all designable online on real product photos.
The budget workhorse for big runs. 4.5oz light ringspun cotton that keeps a 100 piece order affordable, from $12 a shirt at volume with the front print included. A real designer, not an upload widget, checks every file before it goes near production.
The standard. 5.3oz heavy cotton in more than 80 colors including military green, sand, and every heather. Holds shape wash after wash. Deadlines get treated like formation times, not suggestions.
For big front art, nothing beats this 8.0oz crew with its uninterrupted printing field. What you approve in writing is what ships. That rule has no exceptions.
Finished files are welcome but never required. A faded photo, a hand sketch, or three sentences of description all become professional vector art at no charge, proofed back to you within a day. The revision count is unlimited, the approval is in writing, and production does not move an inch until that approval exists.
Hands-on types can skip the wait entirely: the Design Lab puts your art on the actual garment with the price updating live.
Start the budget from the real numbers: published light cotton tee packs, front print built into every figure Essex customers see.
| Quantity | Pack price | Per shirt | Shipping | Add back print |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pack of 10 | $180 | $18 ea | $18 | $4 ea |
| Pack of 15 | $250 | $16.67 ea | $18 | $4 ea |
| Pack of 20 | $320 | $16 ea | $20.99 | $4 ea |
| Pack of 25 | $375 | $15 ea | $20.99 | $3 ea |
| Pack of 50 | $700 | $14 ea | $22.99 | $2 ea |
| Pack of 100 | $1200 | $12 ea | FREE | $2 ea |
Beyond the table, the only extras are per-piece and public: back prints at the listed rate stepping down to $3 then $2, oversized fronts at $3 dropping to $2, and 2XL-plus at $6 dropping to $4. The Design Lab does this arithmetic for you in real time.
Send the idea through the quote form or build it yourself in the Design Lab. A napkin sketch photographed on a phone counts, our designers have built full unit runs from less.
One day later the proof is in your inbox: your art, your garment, your colors, at true print scale. Revisions never cost a cent.
The press does not move without your written yes. It is the single checkpoint that makes the no-returns policy fair.
Standard turnaround is 5 to 7 business days from approval to doorstep, with rush available when the calendar demands it.
Your art and specs stay on file, so reorders match the first run exactly, down to the ink.
Delivery to Essex addresses follows one simple clock: 5 to 7 business days including production, with tracking from the moment it leaves. Hit 100 pieces and the shipping line drops to zero.
Orders ship boxed and counted against your size roster, with tracking sent the day they leave. If anything arrives short or damaged, photograph it and send it over, and we correct it at our cost.
Yes, and without giving up your email: the Design Lab keeps the complete total, packs to shipping, on screen while you design.
Five to seven business days, all in, from approval to arrival. Rush exists for real deadlines and gets an honest yes or no up front.
Design help is included free. Whatever you have, a napkin sketch, a faded shirt photo, a sentence, becomes a print-ready proof from a real designer within 24 hours.
Yes. Runs in the hundreds of pieces with mixed sizes and colors are our normal work, managed by one point of contact from proof to delivery.
Sizes 2XL and up add $6 per piece under 25 total pieces, or $4 per piece at 25 or more. The Design Lab includes it in your estimate automatically.
There are no returns on custom orders; once printed, the work is final. That is exactly why production never starts without your written approval of a free proof, and why the size roster deserves a second look before you submit.
Order ten, order fifty, order five hundred: 10 pieces is our floor, and for your Essex group, bigger packs simply pull the per-piece price down.
More answers on the full FAQ page.
Nearby: we also serve East Brooklyn (4 mi), South Wilmington (5 mi), Braceville (5 mi). See everything we ship across Illinois, find every Illinois town we serve, or price your idea live in the Design Lab.
You will see the proof before you pay and the price before you talk to anyone. That is the whole pitch.