Every successful streetwear Wholesale brand starts with the same thing: a blank canvas. Whether you’re screen printing graphics, embroidering designs, or heat pressing transfers, the quality of that blank determines how your final product looks, feels, and lasts. You can have the most incredible design in the world, but if you print it on a cheap blank, you end up with a cheap product.
Streetwear culture values authenticity and quality. Customers in this space know the difference between a heavyweight, well-constructed blank and a thin, poorly made one. They can feel it when they pick up a garment. They notice how it fits and how it holds up over time. Your choice of blanks either builds your brand reputation or undermines it.
The blank you choose also affects your production process. Some fabrics take screen printing better than others. Embroidery requires blanks with enough substance to support the stitching. Heat transfers work differently on various fabric compositions. Understanding these relationships helps you choose blanks that not only look good but also work well with your decoration methods.
Essential Blank Types for Streetwear Brands
T-Shirts and Long Sleeves
The t-shirt remains the most fundamental piece in streetwear. It’s where most brands start and what most customers buy regularly. But not all tees work for streetwear applications.
Look for blanks in the heavyweight category, typically 5.5 to 7 ounces. This weight feels substantial in hand and signals quality to customers. Lightweight tees might be cheaper, but they feel cheap too. They also don’t hold up well to the heavy inks often used in streetwear designs.
The cut matters as much as the weight. Modern streetwear leans toward slightly oversized silhouettes with dropped shoulders and longer body lengths. This doesn’t mean baggy or poorly fitted. It means intentionally relaxed cuts that reflect contemporary streetwear aesthetics.
Long sleeve tees deserve attention in your blank selection. They work year-round in many climates, offer more print area for designs, and serve as layering pieces. Look for styles where the sleeves are proportional to the body length and the cuffs maintain their shape.
Hoodies and Crewnecks
Hoodies are streetwear staples and often become signature pieces for brands. The blank you choose for hoodies significantly impacts customer perception of your brand.
Fabric weight is crucial here. Heavyweight fleece (8 to 12 ounces) creates that substantial feel customers expect from quality streetwear hoodies. The fleece should have body and structure, not feel thin or flimsy.
Hood construction matters more than you might think. The hood should have a good shape that actually stays up when worn. Cheap blanks often have hoods that collapse or sit awkwardly. Drawstrings should be thick enough to feel premium and be functional, not thin cords that snap easily.
Crewneck sweatshirts appeal to customers who want the warmth and style of a hoodie without the hood. They also provide a clean canvas for chest prints or embroidery that might get lost in a hood’s shadow.
Pants and Bottoms
Sweatpants and joggers complete streetwear outfits and represent significant profit opportunities. These items typically carry higher price points than tops, which means higher margins for you.
Tapered joggers with cuffed ankles remain popular. They offer a modern silhouette that works with sneaker culture. Look for blanks with functional drawstrings, deep pockets that don’t sag when filled, and quality elastic in the cuffs that maintains tension over time.
Wider-leg sweatpants are making a comeback in streetwear. They offer a different aesthetic and appeal to customers looking for that vintage or relaxed streetwear vibe. Stock both styles to serve different preferences within your market.
Understanding Fabric Composition
Cotton dominates streetwear blanks because it feels natural, breathes well, and takes printing and embroidery beautifully. But the type of cotton matters tremendously.
Combed and ring-spun cotton represents a significant upgrade over standard cotton. The combing process removes shorter fibers, leaving longer, softer, more durable ones. Ring-spinning creates a smoother, stronger yarn. The result is fabric that feels better, lasts longer, and looks more premium. The wholesale cost is slightly higher, but the quality difference justifies it.
Cotton-polyester blends offer practical advantages. A typical 60/40 or 80/20 cotton-poly blend reduces shrinking, increases durability, and helps garments maintain their shape. The cotton provides that natural feel customers prefer while the polyester adds performance benefits. For streetwear brands selling pieces meant to last, these blends make sense.
Pre-shrunk fabrics save you from one of the worst possible scenarios: customers buying your finished product and having it shrink dramatically after the first wash. Always verify that your wholesale blanks are pre-shrunk or understand exactly how much shrinkage to expect so you can plan accordingly.
Construction Details That Signal Quality
The difference between cheap blanks and quality ones often comes down to construction details that customers might not consciously notice but definitely feel.
Seam construction affects durability and comfort. Double-needle stitching at stress points like shoulders, sleeves, and hems increases longevity. These seams hold up better to repeated wear and washing. Side seams should be straight and even, not twisted or puckered.
Shoulder taping reinforces the shoulder seams and prevents stretching. This small detail keeps the garment’s shape over time. Cheap blanks skip this step, and it shows after a few washes when the shoulders start to stretch out.
Ribbing at collars, cuffs, and waistbands needs to be substantial enough to maintain its shape. Poor quality ribbing loses elasticity quickly, leading to stretched-out collars and loose cuffs. Quality blanks use ribbing that keeps its tension through hundreds of wears.
Color Selection for Streetwear Blanks
Black and white are non-negotiable. They’re the most versatile bases for designs and what designers reach for most often. Stock these colors deep because they move constantly.
Beyond the basics, earth tones work exceptionally well in streetwear. Olive, sand, brown, and rust appeal to the aesthetic sensibilities of streetwear culture. These colors coordinate well with most designs and offer alternatives to standard neutrals.
Heather colors and vintage washes add character to blanks even before you add any decoration. These lived-in looks align with streetwear’s appreciation for garments that develop personality over time. They also tend to hide small imperfections in printing or embroidery better than solid colors.
Bold colors have their place but require more careful consideration. Red, royal blue, and purple can look incredible with the right designs but won’t move as quickly as neutrals. Buy these in smaller quantities unless you have specific designs that demand them.
Pay attention to color consistency across orders. Dye lots vary, and “black” from one batch might not match “black” from another. This matters when customers want matching tops and bottoms or when you’re creating coordinated collections.
Choosing Between Major Blank Suppliers
The streetwear blank market has established players and smaller specialists. Each offers different advantages.
Major brands like Gildan, Bella+Canvas, and Next Level dominate because they offer consistency, wide availability, and reasonable pricing. Their products are tested by thousands of brands, so you know what you’re getting. The downside is that many other brands use the same blanks, making it harder to differentiate purely on the garment itself.
Smaller, specialized suppliers sometimes offer better quality or unique cuts that help your brand stand out. The tradeoff is often higher prices, larger minimums, or less consistent availability. These suppliers work well when you’ve established your brand and want to elevate your products.
Some brands eventually move to custom blanks manufactured to their specifications. This requires significant volume and capital but allows complete control over fit, fabric, and construction. It’s typically a long-term goal rather than a starting point.
Minimum Orders and Cash Flow Management
Minimum order quantities can be a major obstacle when you’re starting out or testing new blank styles. Large minimums tie up cash in inventory that might not sell quickly.
Look for suppliers with reasonable MOQs or who allow mixed orders. Being able to order different styles, colors, and sizes in a single order gives you flexibility to build inventory without overcommitting to any single item.
Some suppliers offer lower minimums on their most popular items while requiring larger orders for less common styles or colors. This can work in your favor if you focus on staple items in standard colors.
Consider your production schedule when ordering blanks. Ordering more than you’ll use in the next month or two ties up cash unnecessarily. But ordering too little might leave you unable to fulfill orders if demand spikes or delivery delays occur.
Testing Blanks Before Committing
Never commit to large orders without testing first. Order samples of any blank you’re considering and put them through their paces.
Wash the blanks multiple times to check for shrinkage, color fading, and how the fabric holds up. Try your decoration methods on them. Screen print, embroider, or heat press samples to see how the fabric takes your specific processes.
Wear the blanks yourself or have team members wear them. How do they feel after a full day? How do they look after multiple wears and washes? Does the fit stay consistent or do they stretch out?
Get feedback from others before ordering in bulk. What feels fine to you might not work for your target customers. A few dollars spent on samples can save you from investing hundreds or thousands in blanks that don’t work.
Pricing Your Finished Products
The blank cost is just one component of your final product price, but it’s a significant one. You need to leave room in your pricing for the blank, decoration costs, labor, overhead, and profit.
A good rule of thumb is that your blank should represent 15 to 25 percent of your final retail price. If you’re selling finished tees for forty dollars, your blank cost should be roughly six to ten dollars. This leaves appropriate room for all your other costs and a healthy margin.
Premium blanks justify premium pricing, but only if customers can perceive the quality difference. Be prepared to communicate what makes your products worth the price. The weight of the fabric, the cut, the construction details all contribute to value that customers can understand.
Partnering with Moshi Wear
For streetwear brands looking to source quality blanks wholesale without breaking the bank, Moshi Wear offers a compelling option. Their blank collection includes the heavyweight tees, substantial hoodies, and well-constructed bottoms that streetwear demands, with cuts that reflect contemporary aesthetics rather than generic fits. The fabric quality holds up to intensive decoration methods, from heavy ink loads to dense embroidery, and the construction details show attention to what actually matters for pieces meant to last. With wholesale pricing that works for brands at different stages and minimums that don’t require massive upfront investment, Moshi Wear makes it easier to source the foundation your streetwear brand needs to succeed.
