Pricing guide
What branded merch really costs, from the people who decorate it
Promo pricing feels opaque because much of the industry brokers your order to a decorator you never meet. We decorate in-house in Montreal, so we can explain exactly what moves a merch quote up or down, and what to send us for a real number within one business day.
What moves the price
1.The item tier: economy to retail brand
The blank item sets the floor. An economy pen, a mid-range insulated bottle, and a retail-brand jacket are different purchases before a logo ever touches them. The right tier depends on who receives it: a giveaway for a thousand strangers and a gift for ten key clients should not be the same item, or the same price.
2.The decoration method
Screen printing, embroidery, laser engraving, and full-colour digital each have their own setup and run economics. Screen printing is economical at volume but pays setup per colour; embroidery is priced by stitch count and shrugs off washing; laser engraving gives metal a permanent mark; full-colour digital handles gradients and photos without per-colour setup. The method is often a bigger price lever than the item itself.
3.Colour count and stitch count
In screen printing, every colour is a separate screen and a separate pass, so a three-colour logo costs more to set up and run than a one-colour version. In embroidery, price follows stitch count, so a large, dense logo costs more than a clean, compact one. Simplifying the artwork for the method is the closest thing to free money in promo.
4.Decoration locations
Each location (front, back, sleeve, the second side of a mug) is its own setup and its own run through the equipment, even if the second logo is small. Two locations roughly doubles the decoration work. One well-placed location usually does the brand work of three.
5.Quantity
Setup is fixed per design and per location, so it dilutes as quantity climbs, and blank items themselves get cheaper in larger batches from the supply chain. That is why per-item prices fall in steps rather than smoothly. Ask us to quote two or three quantities so you can see your break points before you commit.
6.Rush timelines
A hard event date is a real cost driver: rushed blanks may need faster freight, and rushed decoration bumps other jobs on the schedule. The earlier you order, the more choices you keep on item, method, and price. Deadlines don't have to be expensive, but last-minute ones usually are.
7.Who does the decorating
Much of the promo industry is brokers: they take your order, send it to a decorator you will never meet, and add a margin for the handoff. We decorate in-house at our Montreal plant, so you pay for the decoration once and talk directly to the people running the work. It is the one cost driver that has nothing to do with your merch.
How to pay less, honestly
Fewer locations, done well
One strong, well-placed decoration usually outperforms a logo on every surface, and it cuts a full setup and run from the job. Put the budget into a better item or a higher quantity instead of a third logo nobody notices.
Consolidate quantities across teams and events
Three separate orders of the same item pay three setups and miss the quantity breaks. Pool the year's needs (onboarding kits, trade shows, client gifts) into fewer, larger orders and every department pays less per item.
Pick the method that fits the artwork
An embroidered gradient or a screen-printed photo fights the method and costs more for a worse result. Send us the artwork before choosing: we'll tell you which method reproduces it faithfully at the best run economics, and when a small artwork tweak unlocks a cheaper one.
Buy where the decoration happens
In-house decoration means no broker margin on the part of the job that carries your brand. It also means the proof, the schedule, and the fix if something needs adjusting all live under one Montreal roof, in English or in French.
The bottom line
Promotional product pricing comes down to the item tier, the decoration method, colour and stitch count, the number of locations, quantity, and the deadline. Working with a shop like Accent Promo that decorates in-house in Montreal removes the broker margin, and a complete spec gets you a real, itemized price within one business day.
For an accurate quote in one business day
Include these in your request and we'll come back with a real number, not a vague range.
- The item or category you have in mind, or the occasion and audience and we'll suggest options
- Quantity, plus the size breakdown if it's apparel
- Your logo or artwork file, the number of colours, and where it goes on the item
- How many decoration locations you're considering
- Your event date or deadline, and where the order ships (one office, a venue, many addresses)
Frequently asked questions
- How much do promotional products cost per item?
- It depends on the item tier, the decoration method, colour or stitch count, the number of locations, quantity, and your timeline, which is why honest suppliers quote per project. What we can promise: the decoration is done in-house with no broker margin, and you get a real number within one business day of sending your specs.
- Which decoration method is cheapest?
- There is no single answer: it depends on the artwork and the quantity. Screen printing wins on simple logos at volume, full-colour digital wins on complex artwork at smaller runs, embroidery earns its cost on garments that get washed hard, and laser suits metal. Send the artwork and quantity and we'll match the method honestly.
- Why is there a setup charge per colour and per location?
- Because each one is physical work before the first item runs: a screen burned per colour, a digitized stitch file per embroidery design, a fixture per position. Reorders of the same design usually skip most of it, which is why the second order of the same merch costs less than the first.
- Is it cheaper to order for the whole year at once?
- Usually yes. One consolidated order pays setup once and reaches better quantity breaks than three scattered ones. If storage is the worry, tell us: the math on a consolidated run versus repeated small runs is exactly the kind of thing we lay out in the quote.
- Can US companies order in US dollars?
- Yes. We price in Canadian dollars, which a favourable exchange rate makes attractive for a US budget, and we accept payment in USD. Our Montreal plant is about an hour from the US border, and many products cross duty-free or at low duty under CUSMA.
Start your project
Send your specs and get a manufacturer-direct price, itemized line by line, within one business day.