I’ve Tested and Reviewed Shirt Monkey: Pricing, Features, Product Quality and More

Print on Demand (POD) is a business model taking the world by storm. While North America is currently the region with the largest market share, the UK and Europe are starting to recognize the value of this low-risk, high-reward dropshipping strategy.

In this Shirt Monkey review, I’ll be looking at a specialist POD company, based in the United Kingdom, that offers state-of-the-art Direct to Garment (DTG) printing services, alongside embroidery, and “garment finishing” options.

Here’s everything you need to know.

Quick Verdict, Pros and Cons

Overall, Shirt Monkey seems to be a high-quality print on demand company, committed to delivering exceptional prints, using eco-friendly materials, and working hand-in-hand with retailers. The company can even source products for creators, offer bulk printing services, and provide access to garment finishing solutions.

Pros:

• Exceptional DTG printing with eco-friendly inks
• High quality printing and materials
• Excellent customer service and support
• Global order fulfillment
• Easy-to-use design tools
• Free setup for beginners
• Product sourcing services

Cons:

• Limited product collection
• Fewer customization options than some alternatives
• No free library of assets (like shapes and graphics)
• Fewer integrations than some alternatives

What is Shirt Monkey? Introduction and Services

Shirt Monkey is a family-run POD business, based in the United Kingdom. Though it specializes in DTG printing, using world-leading Avalanche HD6 and Kornit Atlas Max printers, the company has expanded in recent years to also offer embroidery and garment finishing services.

• DTG Printing: One of the most popular options for print on demand customization, DTG printing gives companies exceptional freedom to transform apparel with detailed, colorful designs. Shirt Monkey sets itself apart in the industry with eco-friendly, non-toxic inks. They also promise exceptional turnaround times, and support for complex designs.
• Embroidery: For more luxurious prints, Shirt Monkey offers an in-house embroidery services, using high-speed machinery. Although the price of producing products with embroidery is a little higher (and doesn’t include free digitization), this is relatively common throughout the print on demand space.
• Garment Finishing: Shirt Monkey’s garment finishing services mean you can rely on the POD vendor to add the finishing touches to your products. They can relabel your items with custom labels, cut and sew new components onto your products, and even offer heatpress transfer services.

Shirt Monkey's Top Features for Creators

Alongside a range of printing services (mentioned above), Shirt Monkey gives every creator a variety of features and solutions they can access to grow their business. Solutions include:

• Bulk printing: Bespoke bulk printing services specifically designed for companies who want to create batches of products for a lower price. This service is best suited to customers looking for extra support with relabeling, specific print placements, and more.
• Garment Supply: If you want use your own garments, rather than relying on Shirt Monkey’s product collection, you can send your apparel to the team for a “print only” service. The company can even source garments for you from a range of popular vendors.
• Order fulfillment: Like most POD companies, Shirt Monkey offers comprehensive fulfillment services, handling everything from printing your products, to packaging them according to your needs, and sending them to locations all over the world.
• Order tracking: Within your Shirt Monkey dashboard, you can track the progress of every order in real-time, and share tracking numbers with your customers. This is ideal for companies looking to give customers a transparent, consistent experience.
• Seller dashboard: From your seller dashboard, you can also access create wishlists (for products you might want to purchase in the future), the Shirt Monkey affiliate program (for extra potential earnings through affiliate promotion), and more.
• Product design tools: While Shirt Monkey’s design tools are a little basic compared to some alternatives, they do allow you to experiment with uploaded images, different fonts, colors for backgrounds, and more. You can also create mockups for your online store.

Shirt Monkey Pricing and Fees

Like many of the Print on Demand companies I’ve reviewed in the past, Shirt Monkey won’t charge you anything to sign up for an account. You can create an account, start designing products and mockups, and even integrate the platform with Shopify, WooCommerce, and Etsy for free.

However, you will still need to pay for the base price of your products. From what I can see, the prices are pretty reasonable, with simple unisex shirts starting at £5.24 for DTG printing.

Some products are a little more expensive, like eco-friendly sweatshirts (starting at £21.52) and embroidered items. Notably, embroidery prices vary based on the “number of stitches” required. Plus, all embroidery files require digitization, which costs you another £19.99 plus VAT for each design.

I couldn’t find much information about shipping costs on the platform. However, it’s likely that your fulfillment fees will be higher if you want to ship to anywhere outside of the UK. Although Shirt Monkey does offer global fulfillment, it’s production warehouses are located in the UK only.

Another point worth noting is that you can access discounts for Shirt Monkey’s products if you order them in bulk. Of course, the volume-based pricing does vary depending on your requirements.

Product Variety and Quality

Primarily, Shirt Monkey partners with Stanley/ Stella to create custom products for Print on Demand. This is good news for eco-conscious sellers, because this company specializes in high-quality, sustainable items. They’re even 100% GOTS certified.

However, the single primary partnership does mean you’ll have fewer products to choose from than you’d get from a POD company like Printful and Printify. Really, there are only a handful of products to explore directly on Shirt Monkey’s website:

• T-Shirts
• Hoodies
• Sweatshirts
• Vests

Although, it’s worth noting that Shirt Monkey can work with external vendors to source products for you. They have access to 100s of different brands, including well-known companies like Gildan, Fruit of the Loom, and Bella Canvas. So, if you don’t find the product you want to customize straight away, you can reach out to the team and ask them to source that item for you.

In terms of print quality, Shirt Monkey does have excellent reviews. The company has earned a 4/5 star rating on Trustpilot, thanks in large part to its commitment to using high-quality materials, and world-leading printing technology.

They’re also one of the few companies I’ve seen that share extensive details on their printing processes within their FAQ page. For instance, the FAQ section highlights that Shirt Monkey’s prints last longer than most screen printed products.

The company also provides creators with extensive guidelines and instructions to help ensure they upload the best possible files for print on demand clothing creation.

Ease of Use and Support

I found Shirt Monkey relatively easy to use overall. It only takes seconds to sign up for an account, and you can start customizing products straight from their product page.

However, compared to some of the mockup generators and design tools available from other POD vendors, Shirt Monkey’s options are a little lacking. There’s no library of free assets you can use on your clothing, for instance. Instead, you need to upload your own design files.

Additionally, you can experiment with different mockups to see what your products will look like from a range of different angles, or in various sizes.

The customization options are pretty basic too, giving you very little control over design placement, sizing, and other factors. That being said, if you’re new to the print on demand space, Shirt Monkey does give you all the resources you need to start creating basic products.

They also offer a ton of guidance to beginners on how to set up SKU codes, upload the right sized files, choose designs for different printing methods, and more.

One slight downside is that the company’s platform currently only integrates directly with WooCommerce, Shopify, and Etsy. This means you might be limited in the number of platforms you can use to sell your print-on-demand garments.

Customer Support

I was pretty impressed by Shirt Monkey’s approach to customer support. Alongside comprehensive design guides, instructions, and FAQ pages, the company offers direct support via email, and phone. Although I couldn’t find a live chat option, the organization is pretty active on social media, so you might be able to reach out to the team through channels like Facebook and Instagram too.

Plus, it’s worth noting that Shirt Monkey offers additional services that other POD vendors overlook, such as product sourcing options, garment supply, finishing services, and bulk printing.

Shirt Monkey Review: The Final Verdict

Shirt Monkey has a few down sides. It doesn’t offer companies a lot of products to choose from as standard (though sourcing options are available). Additionally, the design tools are pretty basic, and the ways you can customize your items are limited. Plus, you’ll struggle to integrate the platform with a range of different sales channels.

However, Shirt Monkey still seems like an excellent solution for UK-based print on demand companies for a few reasons. Their commitment to quality is excellent, as is the technology they use to create custom garments. They offer highly eco-friendly and sustainable solutions, which is great if you want to adapt to current customer purchasing trends.

Plus, the organization can deliver a range of other amazing services, from product sourcing and product finishing to embroidery. If you’re looking for an easy way to get started with print on demand in the UK, this could be the company for you.