Festival Merch Printing / Answers / How much does festival merch printing cost
Answer
How much does festival merch printing cost
How much does festival merch printing cost?
A live festival merch tent is quoted by the day, not the piece, because you're booking a staffed operation — presses, operators, and blanks for the length of the show — not a stack of finished shirts. As a real anchor, a single staffed station at a local Southern California festival starts around $5,000 for a single day. Additional on-site staffing runs about $250 per hour, and travel beyond the Orange County, LA, and San Diego radius is a flat $900 fee. Multi-day weekends and heavy gates that need several presses scale up from there.
The biggest levers on the final number are show hours and days, how many presses and operators you need to keep the line moving through peak sets, the blanks you want on the wall (a tee, a heavyweight hoodie, and a Richardson 112 cap all cost differently), artwork prep, and travel or load-in requirements. The fastest way to a firm number is to send the dates, city, expected daily gate, tent footprint and power, and the artwork you want live — we'll return a station plan and a real quote instead of a generic price table.
Related questions
Do you charge per shirt at a festival?
No. A live tent is priced as a staffed day rate covering presses, operators, and blanks. That's why we quote from show details rather than a per-piece list — the day rate is what keeps the line running whether the crowd is light or slammed.
Is travel included in the price?
Local Southern California festivals in the LA, OC, and San Diego area have no travel fee. Events beyond that radius, including Las Vegas and touring dates, carry a $900 flat travel fee. Multi-city runs are quoted together.
What's the minimum to book a tent?
A single staffed station for a local single-day festival starts around $5,000. Smaller private events may fit a lighter setup — send the details and we'll tell you honestly what makes sense.
Book the tent
Get a festival number.
Send dates, city, gate size, and artwork and we'll return a station plan with a firm quote.
Prefer to talk it through? Call (562) 614-4800 or email contact@merchtroop.com.