Performance Vs. Cotton - The Better Option For Athletic Custom T-Shirts

Entripy employees wearing yellow athletic custom printed t-shirts for MLSE Team Up Challenge.

Keeping You Cool & Comfortable During Your Fitness Activities

Clothing science is constantly evolving. Fitness enthusiasts now have a wide array of fabric options to help keep them cool and dry during their workouts. Whether called dry-fit, moisture wicking or simply performance apparel, these garments are all designed do the same thing: to keep you dry as you sweat.

What Makes Performance Clothing Special?

The main function of performance apparel is to move moisture away from your skin as you sweat. Performance clothing is light in weight and is woven to allow sweat to move through the fabric and evaporate, keeping you dry during your workout. Unlike cotton, which soaks up perspiration and gets heavier when wet, performance apparel allows moisture to move to the outer layer of the garment and evaporate. The 100% polyester fabric stays light and dry against your skin even as you’re running and working out, decreasing the chances of chafing, something that occurs when wet material rubs against your skin.

Printing Simply Designed Performance Shirts

Performance apparel can be screen printed or embroidered, but there are a few special considerations to make when choosing your designs for performance custom apparel.

Because performance fabric is light, screen-printing plastisol ink on these custom shirts can take away their moisture wicking abilities. Printing large logos all over the shirt will diminish its performance value. Entripy recommends printing logos smaller than 8” and using a maximum of three colours, although one colour prints will deliver the best performance. In other words, the simpler the logo, the better the custom apparel will perform.

Two teams competing in basketball wearing custom t-shirts with personalized names and numbers.

Embroidery can be done on performance apparel but because these customized shirts are lighter weight than cotton shirts, the main concern is puckering around the design. To avoid this, Entripy recommends small designs for embroidery rather than a full-front.

Is Performance Apparel Worth The Extra?

Printed custom t-shirts with Entripy logo on performance t-shirts.

Yes, performance apparel is more expensive than cotton, but it also really works! Entripy made these ATC Pro Team custom t-shirts when we competed in the MLSE Foundation’s Team Up Challenge. The 100% polyester jersey knit fabric kept us cool and dry, ensuring we were just as comfortable running around the soccer field as we were sitting in the shade.

What Entripy Offers

Entripy offers several performance apparel options to meet every budget. On the lower end, the Jerzees Sport Adult T-Shirt has advanced moisture management performance with odor control.

For a mid-range performance shirt, the New Balance NDurance Athletic T-Shirt has a birdseye pique knit mesh providing comfort with moisture-wicking qualities. On the higher end, the Russell Athletic Adult Core Performance Tee or the OGIO Endurance Pulse Crew will keep even the most hard-core athletes dry on the hottest summer days.