Best Sweatshirts for Christmas POD: From $11.50

A Christmas sweatshirt is the highest-ticket item most POD shops sell all year, and it only sells for about ten weeks. The blank you choose decides whether that short season pays. Among the eight crewnecks below, all priced at three or more suppliers, the cheapest printed unit is $11.50 and the most expensive starting price is $25.40. That’s a $13.90 difference on a product that usually lists for $35–$45.

Crewneck	Cheapest verified	Where	Suppliers we price
Gildan 18000	$11.50	CustomCat	9
Jerzees 562MR	$16.90	Gooten	4
Champion S600	$18.28	CustomCat	4
Gildan SF000	$19.14	Gelato	3
SOL’S 03574	$20.51	Gelato	3
Lane Seven LS14004	$20.66	Gelato	4
Comfort Colors 1566	$21.00	CustomCat	6
Comfort Colors 1466	$25.40	Gooten	4

Quick picks

• Best for most Christmas shops: the Gildan 18000. It’s the cheapest crewneck at every supplier that carries it except Printful (where the Jerzees 562MR is 45 cents less), it’s carried by nine suppliers, and it comes in the colours that sell at Christmas: red, forest green, black and heathers.
• Best for vintage and “cozy” designs: the Comfort Colors 1566, but only at CustomCat’s $21.00. Everywhere else it costs $29.86 or more.
• Best premium feel for less: the Lane Seven LS14004 at $20.66. It’s an 80% cotton crew that costs less than any Comfort Colors outside CustomCat.

Gildan 18000: the default for a reason

The 18000 is an 8.0 oz, 50/50 cotton/polyester fleece crew. It isn’t exciting, and for a Christmas design that’s fine: the buyer is paying for the “Most Likely To…” joke or the family name, not the fabric.

It stays cheap at every supplier, not just the cheapest one:

Supplier	Gildan 18000
CustomCat	$11.50
Gelato	$15.99
Teelaunch	$16.00
Gooten	$16.40
merchOne	$16.49
Printify	$17.87
Printful	$19.17
SPOD	$22.34

With nine suppliers carrying it, you also have a backup if your main supplier runs low on a colour in December. That’s a real risk with Christmas red in size L.

We compared it head to head in Gildan 18000 vs Comfort Colors 1566 and Gildan 18000 vs Lane Seven LS14004. If you’re still deciding between a crewneck and a hoodie for the season, see Gildan 18500 vs 18000.

Comfort Colors 1566: only works at one supplier

The 1566 is a garment-dyed crewneck in an 80/20 ringspun cotton/polyester blend (Print Smith’s crewneck comparison covers the fabric in detail). The washed, faded colours suit “Christmas era”, retro Santa and cozy-cabin designs, and Etsy buyers search for it by brand name.

The pricing is unusually lopsided:

Supplier	Comfort Colors 1566
CustomCat	$21.00
Gelato	$29.86
Fourthwall	$30.44
Printful	$30.59
Printify	$30.64
Gooten	$30.90

Five of the six suppliers price it within about a dollar of $30. CustomCat is $8.86 below the next cheapest. So if you want Comfort Colors for Christmas and don’t fulfil through CustomCat, you need to charge around $45 or more to make a margin that’s worth the risk.

The Comfort Colors 1466 starts at $25.40 at Gooten. It only makes sense if your designs specifically need its cut.

Champion S600: a brand name for $18.28

The S600 is a 9 oz, 50/50 Powerblend fleece. The Champion logo on the sleeve does some of the selling for you, which suits college-town, sports-family and “Dad’s Christmas” gift designs.

It follows the same pattern as the 1566. CustomCat has it at $18.28, then Gelato at $26.65, Printify at $28.33 and Gooten at $31.40. We covered whether the brand is worth the extra in Champion S600 vs Gildan 18000.

Lane Seven LS14004: premium feel, reasonable price

The LS14004 is an 8.25 oz, 80% cotton crew with a 100% cotton face. It feels noticeably heavier than the 18000 even though the weights on paper are almost the same.

It’s also the most consistently priced premium crew we track: $20.66 at Gelato, $22.18 at Printful, $22.79 at merchOne and $25.13 at Printify. If you fulfil through Printful, it costs $8.41 less than a Comfort Colors 1566 there. That makes it the premium Christmas crewneck to choose when CustomCat isn’t an option.

The mid-priced options

• Jerzees 562MR, $16.90 at Gooten, $18.72 at Printful. A reasonable budget fallback if the 18000 sells out in your colour at your supplier.
• Gildan SF000, $19.14 at Gelato, with Printify and Gooten within $1.26. Gildan’s softer Softstyle fleece line, for when the 18000 feels too basic for your brand.
• SOL’S 03574, $20.51 at Gelato. Worth considering if a large share of your buyers are in Europe, where SOL’S is more common.

What you keep at a $40 listing

At $40, Etsy fees are about $4.25 (6.5% transaction, 3% + $0.25 processing, $0.20 listing). Before shipping:

Blank and supplier	Cost	You keep
Gildan 18000 at CustomCat	$11.50	$24.25
Gildan 18000 at Gelato	$15.99	$19.76
Jerzees 562MR at Gooten	$16.90	$18.85
Champion S600 at CustomCat	$18.28	$17.47
Gildan 18000 at Printful	$19.17	$16.58
Lane Seven LS14004 at Gelato	$20.66	$15.09
Comfort Colors 1566 at CustomCat	$21.00	$14.75
Comfort Colors 1566 at Gelato	$29.86	$5.89

The bottom row is the one to avoid. A Comfort Colors crewneck from a $30 supplier, listed at a Gildan price, leaves under $6. One return or reprint and that sale is a loss.

If you use Comfort Colors or Champion, price them like premium products ($45–$50). Keep the Gildan 18000 for the $35–$40 range. Try your own numbers in the profit calculator.

Christmas-specific things to check

1. Stock the colours, not just the blank. Red, forest green and heather colours carry most Christmas designs. Before you design a whole collection around one colour, confirm your supplier has it in S–2XL.
2. Watch size upcharges. Every price above is size L. 2XL and 3XL cost more at almost every supplier, and buyers ordering a size up for an oversized fit will push more of your orders into them. The price range on each model page shows how much more.
3. Give yourself time for samples. A sweatshirt sample is more expensive to get wrong than a tee sample. Order it by mid-October so you still have time to switch blanks.

Bottom line

For most Christmas sweatshirt shops, use the Gildan 18000. It’s $11.50 at CustomCat, under $17 at four other suppliers, and nine suppliers carry it. Choose Comfort Colors 1566 or Champion S600 only if you fulfil through CustomCat or can list at $45 or more. If you want a premium crewneck and CustomCat isn’t an option, the Lane Seven LS14004 at $20.66 is the better choice.

Compare every crewneck we price in the product catalog, or check a supplier’s full range in the supplier directory.

Prices are the cost of one printed unit in size L before shipping, pulled from each supplier’s own API between July and September 2026. See how we source prices.