Startup merch: which first kit, and at what price?

Startup merch: which first kit, and at what price?

A startup's first merch comes down to three garments the team actually wants to wear: t-shirt, hoodie, cap. On tknp.io, the Creator 2.0, Cruiser 2.0 and Pro-Style cap kit, embroidered (8 x 10 cm), costs €54.67 excluding VAT per person for 10, €51.60 for 25.

Indicative prices from our product pages, checked on 20 October 2026, excluding VAT and delivery, for an 8 x 10 cm embroidered mark on each garment, in the most affordable colour, in standard sizes and at the standard lead time. A few colours and the larger sizes are priced slightly higher.

Key points:

• For the whole team, the kit of a Creator 2.0 t-shirt, a Cruiser 2.0 hoodie and a Pro-Style cap, embroidered at 8 x 10 cm (one mark per garment), comes to €546.70 excluding VAT for 10 people on tknp.io and €1,290.00 excluding VAT for 25, excluding delivery, in the most affordable colour, as of 20 October 2026, for guidance only.
• For a team of 10, printing the Creator 2.0 t-shirt and Cruiser 2.0 hoodie with an A6 DTF transfer instead of embroidering them saves only 2 cents per person on tknp.io as of 20 October 2026, for guidance only; for a team of 25, the gap grows to €2.58 excluding VAT per person.
• On the tknp.io Store, your users reserve and pay for their merch on pre-order: the startup buys no stock, and the price difference fills its pot.

In a startup, the first merch often lands in the week when everything happens at once: the launch, a first trade show, two new hires. Chosen well, this custom merch makes the brand exist before it has many customers: the team wears it at the office and on Saturdays, the first users ask for it, and the name shows up wherever the team goes.

This guide prices that first kit for a team of 10 and of 25, explains who to give it to and how to offer it to your community. The pack given to each new hire, wave after wave, has its own guide: the company welcome pack.

Which merch should a startup choose?

For a startup, the most useful first merch boils down to three garments carrying the brand name: t-shirt, hoodie and cap. On tknp.io, this trio comes together in the Companies collection around Stanley/Stella's Creator 2.0 t-shirt, its Cruiser 2.0 hoodie and the Beechfield Pro-Style Heavy Brushed Cotton Cap.

Each one has its job:

• The Creator 2.0 t-shirt: combed organic cotton jersey, 180 g/m², unisex fit, XXS to 5XL, in 58 colours. It is the garment for trade show days, team photos and warm weather.
• The Cruiser 2.0 hoodie: 350 g/m² organic cotton fleece, lined hood, kangaroo pocket, XXS to 5XL. The most expensive item in the kit, the one that leaves the office with the team.
• The Pro-Style cap: heavy brushed cotton, 360 g/m², six panels, one adjustable size, in 11 colours. With no size to ask for, it is the easiest to give to people outside the team.

For a kit that stands out from a distance, a simple combination: a navy hoodie (French Navy colour), an ecru t-shirt (Natural Raw) and a navy cap (French Navy), three colours listed on the tknp.io product pages. Both Stanley/Stella models are GOTS and OEKO-TEX certified.

How much does a t-shirt, hoodie and cap kit cost for 10 or 25 people?

On tknp.io, for a 10-person team, the embroidered kit (Creator 2.0 t-shirt, Cruiser 2.0 hoodie, Pro-Style cap) costs €54.67 excluding VAT a head, €546.70 excluding VAT in total; for a 25-person team, €51.60 excluding VAT a head, €1,290.00 excluding VAT. Each garment gets one embroidered mark of 8 x 10 cm, placed on the chest of the t-shirt and the hoodie.

Unit prices excluding VAT on tknp.io (the three models' product pages, consulted on 20 October 2026), indicative only: one embroidered mark per garment, most affordable colour, standard sizes, standard lead time, delivery not included, with a modest surcharge on larger sizes and on a few colours.

The three models do not add up to reach a price tier: 10 t-shirts, 10 hoodies and 10 caps each stay at the rate for 10 units. The kit costs €3.07 excluding VAT less per person when the team grows from 10 to 25 people, and the hoodie takes the biggest share of the budget: €34.74 excluding VAT out of €54.67 for a team of 10. The price grids for these two Stanley/Stella models from 10 to 250 units, blank, DTF transfer, screen print and embroidery, are in our guide to custom company clothing. Each model is ordered from 10 units, with sizes and colours mixed: if the startup has fewer than ten people, our article on textile MOQ shows how to reach that minimum without leaving anything unused.

Which lighter kit should you give your first customers?

Without the hoodie, the Creator 2.0 t-shirt and Pro-Style cap pair, both embroidered at 8 x 10 cm, comes to €19.93 excluding VAT per person for 10 on tknp.io (€199.30 excluding VAT in total) and €18.58 excluding VAT for 25 (€464.50 excluding VAT), as of 20 October 2026, for guidance only, one mark per garment, excluding delivery, in the most affordable colour, in standard sizes, at the standard lead time. It is the format to give out more widely: to first customers, beta testers and the partners who helped the startup get going.

Who should get the startup's merch?

A startup's merch serves four audiences, and each calls for part of the kit put together on tknp.io: the team, first customers and the community, events, and recruitment.

• The team gets the full kit. The team is what spreads the name: at the office, on video calls as at the weekend, every appearance in the startup's hoodie shows the brand to people who do not know it yet.
• First customers and the community get the light kit, handed over when a contract is signed or sent to the first users. A first customer who wears your cap becomes, in their own way, an ambassador.
• Events: at a trade show or a startup fair, a team in identical t-shirts can be spotted from the aisle; the outfit for the stand team, like when to order it before the show date, has its own guide.
• Recruitment and brand photos: the careers page, the founders' professional profiles, a press article all show a team dressed in the startup's colours. A candidate sees people, not a logo on a slide.

Embroidery or print: which decoration for the first kit?

For a team of 10, embroidering the Creator 2.0 t-shirt and Cruiser 2.0 hoodie costs the same, to within 2 cents, as printing them with a DTF transfer: on tknp.io, the embroidered kit comes to €54.67 excluding VAT per person and the A6 DTF transfer kit to €54.65 excluding VAT. For a team of 25, the gap grows to €2.58 excluding VAT per person in favour of DTF transfer, €64.50 excluding VAT across the whole order.

Our prices excluding VAT per person on tknp.io as of 20 October 2026, for guidance only: one mark per garment, delivery not included, most affordable colour, standard sizes, standard lead time. The cap stays embroidered in all three cases: its product page offers only that technique online.

At 10 units, one-colour screen printing is the most expensive of the three: €15.28 excluding VAT more per person than embroidery. So the choice comes down mainly to the look: embroidery gives the startup's name a raised finish that lasts, while DTF transfer renders a colourful logo faithfully, gradients included. On any one garment, stick to a single technique. For a t-shirt on its own, the gap between embroidery and print at 10, 25 and 50 units is priced in our guide to the embroidered t-shirt for an association.

What logo should go on a startup's merch?

On a startup's first merch, put the brand name on its own, in a single colour, on the chest: it is the version people still wear once the startup has changed its pitch. Leave out the launch date, the slogan of the moment or the name of the offer: a young company often adjusts its message in its first months, and a garment that carries only the name outlasts those changes.

The back can take a large design the day an event deserves it. It then counts as a second decoration, in the same technique as the first, and is added to the price displayed on tknp.io, which covers a single position. For the recommended dimensions on the chest and on the back, see our guide to logo placement.

How can you offer merch to your community without buying stock?

A startup that already has loyal users can sell them its merch before even making it, through a pre-order campaign on the tknp.io Store: each member picks a size and pays for it online, and the startup advances neither stock nor cash. Opening the Store and publishing a campaign is free, with a verified business account.

The campaign runs for 7 to 21 days. You share it with a link, a WhatsApp message or a QR code, wherever your community already follows you. Once the campaign closes, tknp.io makes everything in one go, at the rate for the volume reserved, and everyone receives their hoodie or t-shirt about three weeks later. Each garment has its own production threshold: if it falls short, tknp.io makes it with another technique where possible, without changing the price, or refunds everyone who reserved it in full. Reserved sizes cannot be exchanged.

The gap between what your community pays and our price for the volume reached ends up in the startup's pot, which is paid by bank transfer after delivery. The "Launch my first campaign" button is waiting on our pre-order selling page.

What lead time to get the merch before the launch?

On tknp.io, the startup's merch leaves, decorated, within 10 working days at the standard lead time; the rush option brings this down to 5 working days, and the expected delivery date appears as soon as you reach the basket. For a launch on a fixed date, count back from that day, adding the time needed to collect sizes and approve the logo.

Each product page also lets you choose the production time, which changes the price: 10% more for one week, the grid price for two weeks, 5% less for four weeks. For a pre-order, allow more time: the campaign alone lasts one to three weeks, and delivery arrives about three weeks after it closes.