Specs at a glance
- Brand
- Gildan
- Style
- 5000
- Fabric
- Solid colors 100% cotton (US-grown); Ash 99/1, Sport Grey and the Antique colors 90/10, heathers and safety colors 50/50 cotton/polyester
- Weight
- 5.3 oz/yd²
- Fit
- Classic fit
- Sizes
- S–5XL
- Colors
- Gildan's wholesale page lists 80 colors
- Construction
- Classic-width rib collar; Taped neck and shoulders; Tubular body with no side seams; Tear-away neck label; Natural is undyed and shows small cotton specks
- Care
- Gildan's general care page: wash at up to 30 °C inside out with like colors, non-chlorine bleach only, tumble dry low, no ironing or dry cleaning
Specs per Gildan 5000 Adult T-Shirt product page (gildan.com), checked 2026-10-04. Makers change colors and details; check the current spec before ordering.
Decorating it
| Method | What to know |
|---|---|
| Screen Printing | The cotton solids take plastisol and water-based ink easily. On the 50/50 heathers and safety colors, ask for low-bleed ink and a lower cure, because polyester dye can creep into light ink in the dryer. |
| DTG Printing | Choose the 100% cotton colors for DTG. Dark shirts need pretreatment and a white base, and a test print shows how much loose fiber the knit pushes up through the ink. |
| Embroidery | A small left-chest logo works with a cut-away or no-show mesh backing. Dense fills pull and pucker a 5.3 oz jersey, so keep stitch counts modest and shapes open. |
| Retail Finishing | The tear-away label strips out cleanly, which leaves room for a printed or woven neck label if the shirt should carry your brand instead of Gildan's. |
Gildan's 5000 is the shirt most people picture when they hear "blank tee": a midweight cotton crew in a long list of colors, widely stocked by apparel distributors. Gildan's wholesale site now files it as the 5000 Adult T-Shirt inside its Heavy Cotton family, and says that family was reworked for a softer hand and better printability. The style number stayed the same, so older spec sheets and new stock refer to the same shirt.
Who the 5000 suits
It fits orders where cost per piece, color choice and size range matter more than a fashion cut. Think race and festival shirts, volunteer and staff tees, school and club runs, trade-show giveaways and band merch sold at a friendly price. The range runs from S to 5XL, so one style can dress a whole crew without a second blank for bigger sizes.
Safety Green is a common pick for work crews. Gildan states that this color meets the ANSI/ISEA 107 requirement for background color; that is a claim about the fabric color, not a rating of the finished shirt as safety apparel.
For a streetwear label or a premium retail drop, a heavier or boxier blank usually fits the brief better. The Comfort Colors 1717 and the Shaka Wear Max Heavyweight are the usual step up in weight.
Fabric, weight and feel
The solid colors are 100% cotton grown in the US. A handful of colors change the fiber mix: Ash adds a single percent of polyester, Sport Grey and the Antique shades are 90/10, and the heathers, neons and safety colors are 50/50 cotton/polyester. Natural is undyed, so it shows small flecks of seed and fiber that some buyers love and others read as a flaw.
At 5.3 oz/yd² (roughly 180 GSM by conversion), the 5000 sits in the midweight band explained in heavyweight vs midweight vs lightweight T-shirts. It feels sturdier than a 4.2–4.5 oz retail tee and lighter than the 6 oz garment-dyed shirts. Gildan does not publish the yarn spin for this style. If surface smoothness matters for your art, compare a sample against a ring-spun shirt such as the Gildan 64000; ring-spun vs open-end cotton explains what to look and feel for.
The body is knit as a tube, so there are no side seams. Tubular tees can twist a little toward one side after laundering, which barely matters for a center-front print but shows on wide designs that wrap toward the sides. The collar is a classic-width rib, and tape covers the neck and shoulder seams.
Decorating the 5000
Screen printing
The cotton solids make an easy base for plastisol and water-based inks. Bright colors on dark shirts need a white underbase, which adds a screen and a flash to the job. On the 50/50 heathers and safety colors, polyester dye can move into light inks during curing, a problem called dye migration. Low-bleed inks and a cooler cure help, and a strike-off on the exact color settles the question.
DTG
DTG suits the 100% cotton colors. Dark shirts need pretreatment, which can leave a faint rectangle on some colors until the first wash. The blends will print, but the result looks softer and more faded than on cotton.
Discharge
Discharge ink removes dye, so it only works where the dye responds to it. On cotton tees, results swing by color and even by dye lot, and the polyester share of any blend will not discharge at all. Order a test on the color you plan to buy before committing a run.
Embroidery
A small left-chest mark sews fine on this weight with a stabilizing backing. Big filled areas on a T-shirt pull the jersey and leave puckers, so keep designs light and open. How machine embroidery works covers backing choices.
Sizing notes
Gildan's size table gives a flat chest of 18 inches on a Small, growing two inches per size to 32 inches on the 5XL, while body length rises an inch per size from 28 to 35 inches. The cut is straight and generous, so most people take their usual size. Gildan lists companion styles for the rest of a family or school order: the 5000L women's tee, the 5000B youth tee and the 5100P toddler tee. T-shirt size charts explains how to read and publish these numbers.
Alternatives
- Softer and lighter from the same maker: the Gildan 64000 Softstyle.
- Heavier, garment-dyed and washed-looking: the Comfort Colors 1717, weighed against this shirt in Comfort Colors 1717 vs Gildan 5000.
- A retail cut with side seams: the Bella+Canvas 3001 or the Next Level 3600.
- A thick, boxy streetwear tee: the Shaka Wear Max Heavyweight.
How to choose a blank T-shirt walks through the wider decision.
Sources
- Gildan 5000 Adult T-Shirt product page, checked 2026-10-04
- Gildan Heavy Cotton 5000 spec sheet (copy hosted by BlankStyle), checked 2026-10-04
- Gildan care instructions, checked 2026-10-04
Useful for: events, companies, bands, schools and clubs.