Custom Tees in Australia: Cotton or Sorona, and When Each Wins

If you are ordering custom tees in Australia, the blank matters more than the print. An AS Colour cotton body is the right pick when the tee has to carry a logo, a crest or a sponsor name and survive three seasons of club washing. A Sorona blend is the right pick when the tee has to deal with heat, sweat and a long day outdoors. Two different jobs, two different fabrics, and choosing on price alone is how people end up with the wrong one.

Empulse stocks both. The difference is not marketing language, it is how the fibre behaves against your skin, in the wash and under a screen print. Here is how to work out which one you are actually buying.

Cotton or Sorona: the quick comparison

	AS Colour cotton blanks	Sorona quick-dry tees
What it is	Combed cotton jersey, 160 to 240 GSM depending on style	Knit built around Sorona, a partially bio-based PTT fibre
Hand feel	Dry, matte, structured. Softens with wear	Smooth and light, with natural stretch recovery
Best for	Club merch, uniforms, staff and event tees, anything printed	Summer wear, travel, gym, days you know you will sweat
Sweat handling	Absorbs and holds moisture, stays heavy once wet	Moves moisture off the skin and dries noticeably faster
Personalisation	Screen print, DTG and embroidery all sit well on it	Runs Empulse in-house artwork
Listed from	$49	$39

What you actually get with the AS Colour blanks

Empulse carries genuine AS Colour bodies supplied through accredited vendors, then applies its own logo, name and number work as a separate service. The range covers most of what a club or business needs, and the real difference between the styles is weight and cut, not quality.

• Custom Stone Wash Tee 5040, 160 GSM, regular fit, stone washed so it arrives already broken in
• Custom Classic Minus Tee 5079, 220 GSM, regular fit with a body 5cm shorter than standard
• Custom Oversized Tee 5069, 220 GSM, dropped shoulder
• Custom Box T-Shirt 5030, 240 GSM, boxy oversized cut
• Custom Women's Heavy Faded Tee 4082, 240 GSM garment dyed, relaxed boxy fit, listed at $59

GSM is a description of behaviour, not a score. A 240 GSM box tee holds its shape, hides what is underneath and reads as premium on a merch table. It is also warm, which matters if the order is for a Queensland pre-season rather than a Melbourne winter. A 160 GSM stone wash drapes beautifully and feels great in February, but it will show sweat sooner and it is less forgiving on fit.

One thing worth knowing before you commit: garment dyed and stone washed finishes shift slightly from batch to batch. That is the nature of dyeing a finished garment rather than the fabric. If your club colour has to match exactly across an order placed now and a top-up order six months later, choose a standard piece dyed body instead. It is a small detail that saves an awkward conversation with a committee.

What Sorona actually is, and why it is not just polyester

Sorona is a partially bio-based polymer developed by Covation Biomaterials. Around 37 per cent of its content comes from renewable plant-based ingredients rather than petrochemicals, and chemically it is PTT, not the PET that standard polyester is made from. That structural difference is why Sorona knits have a softer hand, better stretch recovery and less of the plastic feel people associate with cheap performance fabric. The material has been in commercial production for more than two decades and is now positioned around bio-based blends for performance apparel.

In practice, a Sorona tee stays lighter on the body when you sweat, recovers its shape instead of stretching out at the neck and collar, and resists the creasing that makes cotton look rough after a few hours in a car. The Sorona quick-dry range at Empulse runs graphic designs rather than blank bodies, with most styles listed at $45, including the Empulse Signature Tee and the Avocado Tee.

Does a quick-dry tee actually make you perform better?

This is where the category oversells itself. A randomised trial published in Wilderness and Environmental Medicine put trained runners through 30 minutes of running plus a ramp test to exhaustion in a hot room, comparing polyester tees against 100 per cent cotton. The polyester shirts produced a measurably drier microclimate at the chest and back, and lower sweating sensations during recovery. Time to exhaustion, heart rate and oxygen uptake showed no meaningful difference between the fabrics.

So the honest position is this. A quick-dry tee will not make anyone faster. It will make the hour after the session considerably more pleasant, and it stops that heavy, cold, clinging feeling that soaked cotton gives you on a sideline. That is a comfort argument, and comfort is a perfectly good reason to spend the money. It is just not a performance one, and anyone telling you otherwise is selling.

How to choose for a club, gym, school or business

• Supporter merch or a club shop item. Go heavier. The 5030 Box Tee or the 4082 Heavy Faded Tee feel like something people would buy at full price rather than accept for free.
• Volunteer, canteen or event day shirts. Go mid weight and standard fit. The 5079 Classic Minus prints cleanly and suits a wide range of body shapes.
• Training tops for summer sessions. This is the one case where cotton is the wrong answer. Look at the Sorona range or a performance blend.
• Junior sizing. Mid weight beats heavyweight. Kids overheat faster and a 240 GSM body is a lot of fabric on a small frame.
• Anything with a large front print. Heavier bodies hold ink better and show less through the back of the garment.

Fabric safety is worth asking about too, particularly for junior and school orders. The OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100 system is the usual reference point, with Product Class II covering garments worn in direct skin contact. If you are comparing suppliers, ask what testing sits behind the blank rather than accepting a general sustainability claim.

What can and cannot be customised

Customisation covers logos, crests, player names, numbers, initials and sponsor marks, applied to tees, jerseys, shorts, jackets, backpacks and duffel bags. Screen print suits high volume single colour work, DTG handles detailed multi-colour artwork on smaller runs, and embroidery is the durable option for left chest logos and staff wear.

Two things to keep in mind. Socks and towels are supplied as they come and are not part of the customisation service, so plan those as separate line items rather than branded pieces. And there is no flat rate for printing. Cost moves with the size of the artwork, the number of colours, the finish and whether names and numbers are involved, so send through your logo and squad list and Empulse will quote it properly.

If you are pricing a broader order, the full guide to the AS Colour tee range covers style by style detail, and the custom hoodies and crews range pairs naturally with a tee order for winter. For the sustainability side of the conversation, our breakdown of organic cotton versus conventional cotton is worth ten minutes before you make a claim on your club website. If the order is a thank you rather than a uniform, end of season gifting ideas will save you from another drawer full of unworn kit.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best fabric for custom tees in Australia?

For printed club and business tees, combed cotton between 180 and 240 GSM is the standard choice because it holds ink well and washes reliably. For training and hot weather wear, a performance knit such as Sorona is better because it moves moisture away from the skin and dries faster.

Is Sorona the same as polyester?

No. Sorona is PTT rather than PET, and roughly 37 per cent of the polymer comes from renewable plant-based ingredients. In wear, that shows up as a softer hand, better stretch recovery and less static than conventional polyester.

What GSM should I choose for club merch?

Around 220 to 240 GSM if you want the tee to feel substantial and hold its shape, which suits supporter merch and gifts. Around 160 to 180 GSM if you want a lighter, softer tee for summer wear or a relaxed fit.

How much does it cost to print custom tees?

There is no fixed price. It depends on artwork size, colour count, print or embroidery finish and whether you are adding names and numbers. Custom tee bodies at Empulse are listed from $49, and printing is quoted on top once the artwork is confirmed.

Can I mix men's and women's cuts in one order?

Yes, and for most clubs you should. The women's bodies are cut differently rather than simply sized down, and mixing them into a single order does not change how the artwork is set up.

Ready to order

Start with the custom apparel collection if you want your logo on the garment, or browse the wider t-shirt range if you are still deciding on fabric. Send through your artwork and squad numbers and you will get a quote back with print method recommendations rather than a generic price list.

Empulse supplies custom teamwear and apparel to clubs, gyms, schools and businesses across Australia, including genuine Nike and Adidas teamwear sourced through accredited vendors, with logo, name and number personalisation applied in house.