Organising a funeral is a lot to hold at once, and shirts are usually the last thing added to the list. This page is here to make that part quick: what we need, how long it actually takes, and what to do if the service is only a few days away.
What most funeral and memorial shirts look like
There is no right way to do them, but most families ask for a version of the same thing:
- A photo on the front or back — usually one good portrait, sometimes two or three together
- Their name, and often a nickname the family actually used
- Dates, either full dates or just the years
- A short line — a saying of theirs, a verse, "forever in our hearts", a team or club they never shut up about
- Black or navy shirts, occasionally white, or the colour of a footy team
Some families do one design for everyone. Others do a plain version for the wider group and something different for immediate family. Both are easy enough.
How fast is the turnaround on funeral t-shirts?
Our standard turnaround is around 2–7 business days from the moment you approve the artwork, which covers most orders comfortably. Fast turnaround work is normal here — memorial orders are the jobs we are most used to moving quickly.
When the service is sooner than that, say so up front and call rather than email — (07) 3180 0610. Rush jobs are often possible, but they depend on the day you are calling, the size of the order and what stock we have in your sizes and colours. We would rather look at your specific job and tell you yes or no on the spot than publish a turnaround time that turns out to be wrong for you in the week that matters.
Three things make a quick job go quickly:
- Send everything in one go. Photo, wording, shirt colour, and a size breakdown. Going back and forth for one missing detail is what usually costs a day.
- Nominate one person to approve the proof. Waiting on a family group chat to reach agreement is the single biggest delay we see.
- Tell us the date of the service, not the date you want them. We work backwards from it and build in a buffer.
The photo matters more than anything else
This is the part worth two minutes of care, because a shirt can only ever be as good as the picture on it.
- Send the original file from the phone or camera, not a screenshot of it and not a copy saved from Facebook or Instagram. Those are heavily compressed and go blocky when printed large.
- Bigger is better. Send it at full size by email rather than through a messaging app, which shrinks images without telling you.
- Old printed photos are fine. Scan it if you can, or bring it in and we will scan it properly — that beats photographing it on a phone.
- We can tidy things up. Removing a background, cropping other people out, straightening or brightening an old photo is normal work, not an imposition.
If the only photo you have is a small one, send it anyway. We will tell you honestly how it will print and how large we can run it before it starts to soften.
How we print them
Memorial shirts are nearly always DTF printed. It handles full-colour photographs, prints cleanly on black and navy with a white underbase, and it does not carry the per-colour setup costs that make screen printing uneconomical for a one-off family order.
It is also why a quantity of six is worth doing. There is no minimum here, and no penalty for a small run. If you are ordering a hundred shirts for a large service or a club send-off, screen printing may work out better per shirt on a simpler design — send the numbers and we will price it both ways.
Sizes, and how many to order
Two things families consistently get caught by:
- Order a few spares. Someone always turns up who was not counted, and a second run later costs more per shirt than including them now.
- Do not guess adult sizes down. Memorial shirts are usually worn loose and over other clothing. When in doubt, size up.
We stock kids through to plus sizes, so grandchildren and adults can be in the same design. Give us a rough breakdown — "4 kids 8, 6 medium, 8 large, 3 XXL" is plenty to quote from.
What they cost
Price comes down to the shirt itself, how many you need, and whether you are printing one side or both. Small family orders sit at the higher end per shirt because there is design time in every job regardless of quantity; larger runs come down quickly. A back print with a longer message adds a little.
Send the photo, the wording and a rough count and you will get a real figure, not a range.
Ordering when you are short on time
- Call (07) 3180 0610 and tell us the date of the service.
- Email the photo at full size with the name, dates, any wording, and the shirt colour.
- We send a proof, usually the same day for urgent jobs.
- One person checks the spelling and dates carefully and approves it.
- We print, and you collect from Redbank or we send them out — whichever is faster for your date.
Check the spelling of the name and the dates twice at the proof stage. It is the one thing that cannot be fixed after printing.
Beyond shirts
The same artwork can go on hoodies for a winter service, caps, or polos if the family prefers something with a collar. Plenty of orders are a mix — tees for most people, a few hoodies for the immediate family. It is the same setup, so it costs less than doing them as separate jobs.