OK folks, here's the skinny on the t-shirts and silk-screening.
My wife's school is back in session and the ROP silk-screening class is ready to take on orders. They offer several different brands and quality levels in t-shirts, but I get the idea from this thread that you guys want a top quaility shirt, and aren't concerned with the extra couple bucks per shirt that it may cost. We are basically paying for the t-shirts at wholesale prices + maybe $1-$2. The shirts will probably be in the $6 to $8 range, but I'll get an accurate price when I submit the final order.
I've looked through their apparel catalog, and discussed this with the ROP teacher, and have concluded that the two best choices for t-shirts are the Hanes "Beefy-T" (100% preshrunk cotton), and the Jerzees 50/50 tee (50% preshrunk cotton/ 50% polyester).
Both shirts are of excellent quality with the Hanes shirt having a slight edge in comfort. The Jerzees shirt will resist shrinking and fading better. Here's a link to a t-shirt review site to help you guys decide.
http://www.logomygear.com/t_shirtreview.htm
Both come in more colors than you can imagine (see below), and the shop is going to make a 3-color screen anyway, because it just comes out better no matter what the shirt color, so we are not limited to black, dark gray, white and red, we can order any colors we like. Of course there are discounts for volume orders, but I'm not sure we have that kind of volume anyway.
Cost difference between the two is too close to matter, but the Jerzees shirt is slightly cheaper.
The Hanes shirt comes in youth, but not in ladies sizes, whereas the Jerzees shirt comes in both youth and ladies cuts. Toddler sizes are not available in either.
Here are pics of the shirts and the available colors:
Hanes
Jerzees
Sweatshirts are also available in both brands, but will probably run in the $15 to $18 range, unless we get a large order together.
I think our logo would look great on this sweatshirt by Jerzees.
One point I want to make about going through the ROP class is, that once our logo has been made into a screen, it's no big deal for them to order more t-shirts, actually ANY kind of shirts or even jackets and hats. It's basically limited to whatever apparel you guys are willing to pay for (at near wholesale prices).
So lets hear what you guys want.