Sublimation Print on demand Selling Guide

Less competitive and more profitable

Obviously, sublimated products are not as ubiquitous as other traditional DTG products. Not many printing companies have the facilities and human resources to make all-over print products. That’s why there are fewer all-over print products available in the market. It also means less competition and more opportunities to gain profits.

Combined with unique designs, you can totally put your sublimated products at premium pricing and increase the profit margin. This way, you can earn more from each product sold.

At Merchize, we have early adopted sublimation techniques into manufacture. At the moment, we have developed a professional procedure for making all-over print and sublimated products that meet the high standards of customers.

• High quality: Our print-on-demand sublimated products are made with advanced technology and skilled employees. Each product is printed, cut, and sew carefully and goes through quality scrutiny so that products are delivered to customers with the best quality.
• Various materials: At Merchize, we select various materials for our all-over print products. Depending on the preference for each product, we will choose the materials that fit it most.

For example, we use nylon fabric for bomber jackets to ensure the best durability and resilience against the weather. While for products that require comfort like pajamas, we use the polyester blend for better comfort, softness, and breathability. With sportswear, we make use of bird eye pique fabric/mesh fabric to ensure the highest level of comfort and stretchability to fit physical activity.

• Affordable pricing: After years of research and improvement, our facility is optimized to cut down the cost of manufacturing. We can deliver the best quality products at an affordable price. With a good base cost, you can get better profit margins, and save more for other marketing activities.
• Wide range of sublimation products: Merchize put a strong emphasis on finding new opportunities for print-on-demand sellers. We have released a wide range of all-over print products in different categories. Our all-over print catalog covers from basic items like t-shirts, hoodies, sweaters, and pillows to unique items like bomber jackets, leggings, pajamas, polo, Hawaii, baseball jersey, and bucket hats.

How All-over Print Products are made at Merchize’s factory

Sublimation vs other printing methods: which should you sell?

One of the most common questions sellers ask when building a print-on-demand store is not “what is sublimation?" but “should I be selling sublimation products instead of — or alongside — what I’m already doing?" That’s the question this section answers.

Understanding how sublimation compares to other printing methods helps you make smarter product decisions, choose the right fulfillment partner, and position your store correctly for the customers you’re trying to reach.

Sublimation vs DTG printing

Direct-to-garment (DTG) printing is the most common method used in print-on-demand. If you’ve ever ordered a custom t-shirt from any major POD platform, it was almost certainly made with DTG. It’s the default — which is exactly why sublimation represents an opportunity.

Here’s how the two methods compare across the dimensions that matter most to sellers:

The most important practical difference for sellers is the print area. DTG is constrained by the size of the printer’s platen — typically a rectangle covering the chest or back of a garment. Sublimation, using the cut-and-sew method, can cover the entire surface of a garment seam to seam. If your design concept only works at full-coverage scale — a Hawaiian shirt with an all-over floral pattern, a pair of leggings with a full-leg graphic, a bomber jacket with a wraparound print — sublimation is the only viable route.

The second key difference is fabric. DTG’s natural home is cotton — the fiber type that most buyers associate with comfortable everyday wear. Sublimation’s natural home is polyester — associated with sportswear, swimwear, and performance apparel. These aren’t competing for exactly the same customer, which means the smarter move for most sellers is running both in parallel rather than choosing one exclusively.

The seller’s verdict: Use DTG for single-placement designs on cotton basics — t-shirts, hoodies, sweatshirts in any color. Use sublimation for all-over print designs on polyester products and for home décor and accessories. A store that runs both has a much wider addressable market than one that runs either alone.

Sublimation vs screen printing

Screen printing is the oldest and most established method in the industry. It’s what’s used for band merch, branded workwear, and high-volume promotional products. For most print-on-demand sellers, it’s not a direct alternative — but understanding the difference helps when you’re explaining your products to customers or evaluating bulk order options.

The defining constraint of screen printing is color. Each color in a design requires a separate physical screen, and each screen adds setup time and cost. A photographic image or a gradient that sublimation handles trivially would require dozens of screens to approximate in screen printing — making it economically unworkable for anything complex.

For POD sellers, screen printing is rarely the right tool. The minimum order requirements and per-color setup costs make it unsuitable for the one-at-a-time fulfillment model. Where it does make sense is for sellers who’ve validated a design through POD, know it sells consistently, and want to lower their unit cost by switching to bulk production for that specific product.

The seller’s verdict: Screen printing isn’t a realistic option for most POD sellers at the start. If you ever reach the volume where it makes sense for a proven bestseller, the economics change — but until then, sublimation and DTG cover the full range of what you need.

When to choose sublimation for your store

Rather than thinking of sublimation as universally better or worse than other methods, think of it as the right tool for a specific set of situations. The following checklist makes the decision straightforward.

Choose sublimation if:

• Your design concept requires full-garment coverage — the design wraps around sleeves, legs, the full front and back, or across seams
• You’re selling into activewear, swimwear, sportswear, or outdoor apparel niches, where polyester is the expected fabric
• Your designs are photographic, gradient-heavy, or use a large number of colors — sublimation handles these better than any other method
• You’re selling home décor and accessories alongside apparel, and you want consistent print quality across all product types
• You want to position your products at a premium price point — all-over print products command higher retail prices than single-placement DTG equivalents
• You’re looking for a less saturated product category — the all-over print market has fewer sellers than standard DTG, which means less direct price competition

Stick with DTG (or add DTG alongside) if:

• Your designs are single-placement — a logo, a graphic, a text design meant for the chest or back of a shirt
• Your customers specifically want cotton fabric
• You want to offer the same design on both light and dark base colors
• Your niche is everyday casual wear rather than activewear, swimwear, or statement pieces

Consider running both if:

• You have a winning DTG design that could be adapted into an all-over print version — this is one of the fastest ways to expand a product line without starting from scratch on design
• You want to offer a full range within a niche — for example, a fitness brand that sells cotton gym tees (DTG) and polyester performance leggings and sports bras (sublimation)
• You’re testing which product type your audience responds to before committing more heavily to one

At Merchize, both sublimation all-over print and other printing methods are available under one roof, so there’s no need to manage multiple suppliers as your product line grows. You can test both, compare performance, and scale whatever works — without the operational complexity of splitting your fulfillment.

How to start selling all-over print products

Selling print-on-demand all-over print products is no different than selling regular print-on-demand products. The process goes down to the same five stages:

Product and niche research

The goal is to find potential niches and products. At this stage, you will want to ask:

• What niches have high demand and low competition?
• What products fit the niches best?
• What keywords people are using to search for products in this niche?
• What design styles and ideas are popular in this niche?
• What quality do customers expect when buying the products?

Find suppliers

After finding the right products and niches, you are set to find the suppliers that fit your expectations. Here, you will have to consider some factors

• Base cost
• Production time
• Product quality
• Other additional services (Do you want to build a brand? Or what platforms are you selling on?)

Create eye-catching designs

What makes all-over print products edge over other regular items out in the market is obviously the designs.

With sublimation printing, you can create products with visually stunning designs that spread all over the fabric. You have more space to add details and visual elements to create impactful designs.

Order product samples

To avoid unwanted customer complaints, you should order product samples to check if the products are up to your requirements before bringing the products into the market. When it comes to all-over print, there might be a few solid concerns regarding the material and printing quality.

At Merchize, to make it convenient for print-on-demand sellers to check product quality, we offer special discounts for sample items. These sample discounts are available for all products in our catalog!

Sublimation Print on Demand Recommendatins: Pricing, margins, and production timelines

This is the section most POD guides skip, and it’s the one sellers actually need before they commit to a product category. Understanding the numbers behind sublimation — what it costs to produce, what the market will bear at retail, and how long it takes to get to a customer — is what separates sellers who launch confidently from sellers who guess and get burned.

None of the figures below are guarantees. Pricing varies by supplier, product spec, and shipping destination. But the ranges here give you a realistic working model to build your store’s economics around before your first sale.

Base cost ranges by product type

Base cost is what you pay your fulfillment supplier per unit — before shipping, before your margin, before any platform fees. For sublimation all-over print products, base costs are generally higher than equivalent DTG products because of the additional production steps involved in cut-and-sew manufacturing.

Here’s a realistic range across the most common sublimation product categories at Merchize:

These figures reflect base production cost only. Always check the current pricing in Merchize’s catalog for live figures, as costs are updated periodically to reflect material and production changes.

Suggested retail pricing and margin examples

Knowing your base cost is only half the picture. The other half is understanding what the market will actually pay — and how much room there is between those two numbers.

All-over print sublimation products consistently command higher retail prices than comparable DTG single-placement products. There are two reasons for this. First, the visual impact of a full-coverage design signals premium quality to buyers at a glance — it looks like more work went into it, because more work did. Second, the all-over print category has fewer sellers than standard DTG, which reduces direct price competition and gives you more pricing power.

Here’s how that plays out across a few representative products:

Example 1: All-over print t-shirt

• Base cost: $13
• Recommended retail price: $32 – $38
• Gross margin: approximately 59–66%
• Platform fee (Etsy example, ~6.5%): $2.10 – $2.47
• Net margin after platform fee: approximately 52–60%

Example 2: All-over print hoodie

• Base cost: $27
• Recommended retail price: $65 – $75
• Gross margin: approximately 58–64%
• Platform fee (Etsy example, ~6.5%): $4.23 – $4.88
• Net margin after platform fee: approximately 51–58%

Example 3: All-over print bomber jacket

• Base cost: $34
• Recommended retail price: $85 – $100
• Gross margin: approximately 60–66%
• Platform fee (Etsy example, ~6.5%): $5.53 – $6.50
• Net margin after platform fee: approximately 53–59%

Example 4: Sublimation mug

• Base cost: $9
• Recommended retail price: $22 – $28
• Gross margin: approximately 59–68%
• Platform fee (Etsy example, ~6.5%): $1.43 – $1.82
• Net margin after platform fee: approximately 52–61%

A few things to notice in these numbers. First, gross margins are broadly consistent across product types — sublimation products at different price points tend to hold similar margin percentages. Second, higher-ticket items like bomber jackets earn more absolute dollars per sale even at similar margin percentages, which matters for sellers who want to build revenue without high order volume. Third, platform fees are calculated on the retail price, not your profit — so they take a larger absolute bite on higher-priced items, which is worth factoring into your pricing model.

These are working examples, not prescriptions. Your actual retail price should be informed by competitor research on your specific platform and niche — search for comparable all-over print products in your category, find the price band where quality sellers are clustering, and price within that range rather than below it. Undercutting on price in the all-over print category is rarely the right strategy; buyers here are shopping on design and quality, not looking for the cheapest option.

Shipping costs and their effect on margin

Shipping is the line item most new sellers underestimate, and it has a meaningful effect on net margin. There are two ways to handle it: charge shipping separately at checkout, or build it into the retail price and offer free shipping.

Free shipping consistently outperforms paid shipping in conversion rate across most POD platforms — particularly on Etsy, where the algorithm actively favors free shipping listings and buyers have been conditioned to expect it. The tradeoff is that absorbing shipping cost compresses your margin.

Here’s how to think about it:

• For lower-ticket items like mugs and phone cases, absorbing a $4–$6 domestic shipping cost into a $25–$30 retail price is manageable and keeps the price competitive.
• For mid-ticket items like t-shirts and leggings, a $5–$8 shipping cost absorbed into a $35–$45 retail price still leaves healthy margin.
• For higher-ticket items like hoodies and bomber jackets, free shipping is easier to absorb because the absolute margin in dollars is larger — a $70 hoodie with $8 shipping absorbed still leaves $31+ after base cost and platform fee.

For international orders, shipping costs rise significantly — sometimes to $15–$25 or more depending on destination. Most sellers either charge shipping separately for international orders or set international retail prices higher than domestic prices to compensate. Merchize ships globally, so factor destination-specific shipping rates into your pricing before listing internationally.

Production and shipping timelines

Timeline transparency is one of the most underrated trust signals in e-commerce. Buyers who know exactly when to expect their order are far less likely to file disputes or leave negative reviews — and sellers who set accurate expectations upfront spend far less time on customer service.

Here’s a realistic timeline breakdown for sublimation all-over print orders at Merchize:

Standard production time: 3–7 business days

All-over print products require more production steps than standard DTG — design printing, fabric cutting, and sewing are all done in sequence — so production time is slightly longer than a simple DTG order. Most orders are completed within 3–5 business days under normal conditions; allow up to 7 during peak periods like Q4 or around major holidays.

1-day production option

For select products in Merchize’s catalog, a 1-day production upgrade is available. This is particularly useful for sellers running time-sensitive promotions, fulfilling last-minute gift orders, or testing a new product without waiting a full week for the sample. Check the product page for availability — not all sublimation products qualify.

Shipping timelines by region (after production)

Total order-to-delivery estimate

Adding production and shipping together gives you the realistic window to communicate to buyers. For a standard US domestic order: 3–7 days production plus 5–10 days shipping equals roughly 8–17 business days from order to delivery. For a customer placing an order on a Monday, that’s typically 2–3.5 calendar weeks.

Be transparent about this in your store policies and product listings. Phrases like “made to order — please allow 2–3 weeks for delivery" set accurate expectations without alarming buyers. Most customers shopping for custom all-over print products understand and accept this timeframe when it’s communicated clearly upfront.

Peak season planning

Production and shipping timelines extend during peak periods. For Q4 specifically — the highest-volume period for POD sellers — plan for production times to run at the upper end of the range from mid-November onward, and communicate earlier cutoff dates for Christmas delivery. A clear “order by [date] for Christmas delivery" notice in your shop banner and listings reduces last-minute disputes significantly.

Putting the numbers together: a simple store model

To make this concrete, here’s what a basic sublimation store’s economics might look like at modest scale:

Assumptions:

• 30 orders per month
• Average order value: $45 (mix of t-shirts, mugs, and one or two higher-ticket items)
• Average base cost per order: $18
• Average shipping absorbed: $6
• Average platform fee (6.5%): $2.93

Monthly revenue: $1,350 Monthly costs (production + shipping): $720 Platform fees: $87.90 Monthly gross profit: approximately $542

At 60 orders per month with the same averages, gross profit approximately doubles to $1,084. These are conservative figures that don’t account for advertising costs or returns, but they illustrate that even at modest volume, the margin structure of sublimation all-over print is genuinely workable — and that scaling order volume is the primary lever for growing absolute profit, since the margin percentage stays relatively stable.

How to create stunning designs with sublimation

Create strong and vibrant designs

With a full canvas in your hand, you can create the most mind-blowing designs without minding the limit of a small printing area box.

All-over print products with strong visuals and vibrant designs always sell like hot cake. Unleash your creativity, make the most stunning products, and skyrocket your sales!

Make full use of all the printing areas

To take full advantage of sublimation printing, you should make your designs cover the entire printing area.

Don’t just waste all potential by making some simple designs that cover a part of the whole printing area. You can do better than that!

Use your winning DTG designs

If you are already gained success with traditional DTG products, you can extend your winning streak by transferring these successful designs into all-over print ones.

You can create a pattern using your DTG designs, or add striking backgrounds that enhance the designs and easily capture customers’ eyes. This way, you can ensure a chance of gaining similar success, or even more.

Some great niche ideas for all-over print designs:

If you have no clue where to start making impressive all-over print designs, here are some popular design styles that have earned tremendous success in the market.

• Painting
• Spiritual
• Space

Conclusion

In conclusion, sublimation printing can be a great way to make more money with an all-over print print-on-demand business. It provides many advantages, like being highly customizable and applicable for many products, making it less competitive and more profitable. While this method of printing does have a few drawbacks as well, these are usually more than compensated for by the long-term financial gains of using sublimation.

To get started with selling all-over print products with sublimation, you’ll need to make sure you do thorough product and niche research, find reliable suppliers and create eye-catching designs derived from your existing DTG designs. When it comes to creating stunning designs with sublimation though, having strong and vibrant mockup images is key! You’ll also want to make full use of the available printing area when creating your designs as well.

So contact Merchize now to start selling Sublimation Print on demand products, Merchize helps businesses stay ahead of the competition by providing them with resources on trends, advice for optimizing strategies and more so be sure to visit us at Merchize today!