The people behind Busted Tees and College Humor launched TEEPUBLIC as a t-shirt store back in 2013. It originally used a combination of crowdfunding and crowdsourcing. It didn’t take long for them to loosen up submission criteria and now there are over 1.2 million unique designs. In October 2018, Redbubble, a site with a very similar business model, purchased TeePublic. But as of today, the two businesses seem to be run fairly independently of each other. It is also no longer fair to call it a t-shirt store as it sells a large range of products featuring art by both independent artists and big brand names. Check out the TeePublic t-shirt review below.
TeePublic is the world’s largest marketplace for independent creators to sell their work on the highest-quality merchandise.
TeePublic
The TeePublic T-Shirt Review
The folk at TeePublic kindly sent out three t-shirts for me to review and they have been sitting on my desk for quite a while. That’s why I chose to feature the “Not Fast Not Furious” t-shirt first. I usually get to the reviews much faster than this but this is my first time posting a t-shirt review on the Shirt List rather than Tee Reviewer. Some other t-shirt reviews that you might see here soon, I originally posted on TeeReviewer.com.
The t-shirt you see above is a 100% cotton US Blanks t-shirt. It is TeePublic’s Premium Tee and it looks and feels premium. It’s soft and light without feeling flimsy. The sleeves and body are a nice length. I think the premium tee usually costs $24/$26 but I don’t see them on the site at the moment so I can’t confirm that pricing for you.
This second t-shirt is a vintage green tri-blend from Bella Canvas. I am partial to a tri-blend t-shirt and this one is no exception. It is very light and soft (50% polyester, 25% cotton, 25% rayon) and perfect for the humid weather of Okinawa, Japan.
The third (see below) is a teal Bella Canvas 100% cotton t-shirt. It is the “Classic” TeePublic t-shirt and while it is not quite as soft as the “Premium” t-shirt, it is still quite a nice tee.
T-Shirt Design
The Science ABC t-shirt seen just above was created by one of my favorite t-shirt designers, Anna-Maria Jung aka Queenmob.
I’m sure the design is high-quality and it is a great concept but it hasn’t printed well on this t-shirt. One thing is that this design was not optimized for printing on a t-shirt. The text under the alphabet/scientist is so small as to be almost illegible. Unfortunately, the print quality is inconsistent too. Under the letter T in dark ink, I can see “is for Tyson” printed (I need reading glasses to see it) but under U is just faded illegible text even if I take a photo and zoom in (see below).
The design has vivid colors but the t-shirt does not. So, while I’m sure this design is beautiful and would make a great poster or book cover for kids, this t-shirt is a fail.
“You’re irrelephant” by Louis Roskosch aka louisros is a simple, one-color design and it works well on this t-shirt. I’m not quite sure what the message is but it’s cute and I like it. Louis Roskosch has a unique style and a huge collection of designs that often put a smile on my face.
Michael Buxton aka DinoMike has a style not so different from Louis Roskosch. DinoMike utilizes a simple but flat technique to create images that are appealing and full of emotion. I often think that if Saul Bass was told to draw something cute that the results would have been similar to what DinoMike produces. Not only is the “Not Fast Not Furious” blank t-shirt the nicest of the three tees, but the design is also my favorite and probably describes me better than I’d like.
Branding and Extras
The t-shirts came in a blue plastic mailer with the Teepublic logo and lots of doodles on the back. The standard and tri-blend t-shirts still have Bella Canvas tags.
Website
With over 1.2 million designs and a huge selection of designs, TeePublic is a massive site. It’s easy to navigate and easy to find and purchase what you want. Well, with 1.2 million designs there are t-shirts that you will probably never get to see.
Pricing
The standard t-shirts are $20 and are only $14 for the first three days from when they are published on TeePublic. There are also regular sales where you can get a t-shirt for $14 or even $13 sometimes. I can’t complain about that.
Wrap-Up
Two of the three t-shirts I received were awesome. The print was soft and nice as were the t-shirts. The third t-shirt was a let down because of a design that is perhaps not suitable for a t-shirt as well as poor print quality. The pricing is fair and I would definitely recommend TeePublic but I would be wary of buying t-shirts with intricate designs. Thanks for reading the TeePublic t-shirt review. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment below!
14 thoughts on “TeePublic T-Shirt Review”
OOOOOOH I’ve ordered SEVERAL tee shirts from Teepublic! I LOVE EVERYTHING I’ve gotten to date. I have another tshirt I’m waiting on. The pricing and quality is always on point! Very cool site!
Favorite place to buy shirts!! Enjoy everything we have bought!!!! Sizes and products perfect!!
TeePublic is the worst! If I ever get what I ordered from July 25, I could review the tees. Right now going through a customer service nightmare. Multiple e-mails from them with conflicting info. You’re orders shipped, then 2 days later we’re working on getting your orders shipped, then 4 days later one of your orders was delivered (NOT – have received nothing), then 3 days later your orders shipped (really? again?) Messaged company multiple times but not getting any answers. If this ever ends, it will be the last for TeePublic.
I have never returned anything as quickly as I did the four shirts I bought from TeePublic. Ordered Aug 30, arrived Sept 21. They look like they’re homemade. Complete and total trash. I would urge anyone considering purchasing from them to keep away.
Never ordering from them again. I’ve ordered 6 shirts and the print quality on 4 of them was beyond poor. Blurry, faint, one even had a double image. As someone who works for a business that does DTG printing, I don’t know how it is possible to produce such sub-standard prints.
Very nice article!
I have a TeePublic store so it’s great to see a review of the quality from someone other than myself. If ever anyone is not satisfied with the quality of their print, TeePublic is usually pretty good about sending a replacement.
I made an order of a dozen shirts during a sale ($13 each). The next day, my girlfriend made an order so we’re in collectively at 25 shirts ($350) to the same address. Her order just arrived, mine has not and there’s no tracking/indication that it has nor will. = Dumb
Her package: the shirts smell awful. A lot. One of them is a joke at best with it’s tiny, blurry image. All of them are DTG printed and most scream pixelation like a low-res image was stolen off of the internet. Let’s face it, the bulk of their offerings are illegal/bootlegs but they could at least try to produce a better product.
Bella Canvas shirts are about 4″ longer than an average shirt brand (Hanes, FruitLoom, Etc…) so that’s annoying unless you like your shirt seam past your crotch.
Unless there’s an image that you absolutely MUST have and don’t care that it may be inferior to a certain degree, skip this company entirely.
Been waiting for my order for over 2 weeks. Supposed to be shipped but but sitting in one spot for over 2 weeks. Can not trace as I have no UPS number only a USPS that they say they have not received the shipment. Never again will I order from this company.
Nice prints but shirts shrink after washing. Order one size bigger next time.
TEEPUBLIC PRINT QUALITY IS JUNK. The prints are faded crap. Also they left out the blue ink in one of my shirts. so it doesnt look anything like the design.
I’ve been working on teepublic for 2 years, last november teepublic deactivated my store, and they didn’t send me my money (more than 600$), I contacted them several times but they don’t answer me.
They are thieves.
Their shirts are junk now. Prints falling off and faded. Im ready to throw them out after a year.
An XTRA LARGE is B.S. My 7 year old wears it, wait till it gets washed in cold, and hug to dry! Sizing is misleading. Very.