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Fabric & weight guide

Open-End Cotton

Tough & volume-ready

Last updated September 14, 2026

Shop all 328 100% cotton blanks →

Open-end (rotor-spun) carded cotton is the fastest way to turn cotton into a t-shirt and among the most hard-wearing once it's a garment, even though the yarn itself is weaker than ring-spun. It is rougher to the , but for bulk spot-color work it remains the volume standard.

Quick take

Best for
Bulk jobs where price per piece wins: events, giveaways, school and crew shirts, uniform programs.
Watch out
The fuzzy surface fights fine detail and DTG; save photorealistic art for ring-spun.
Anchor styles
Gildan 5000 Heavy Cotton, the category anchor and volume standard.

What it actually is

Open-end spinning skips the combing step and binds carded fibers together in a rotor with a wrapping fiber, rather than twisting them into alignment. The yarn comes out thicker, bulkier, and fuzzier (typically 18–20 versus 30+ for ring-spun), which knits into a coarser, sturdier fabric.

That coarseness is also toughness: the thicker yarn shrugs off industrial laundering and abuse, which is why workwear and uniform programs live here.

How it prints

The fuzzy, uneven surface fights fine detail. Loose fiber ends poke through thin ink films, so small and hairline art get lost, and DTG struggles against the lint. Plan on a heavier deposit, and an plus on darks, for clean coverage.

Bold spot-color designs, the bread and butter of event and team printing, look fine. Save the photorealistic art for ring-spun.

When to choose it

Choose open-end when price per piece wins the job: events, giveaways, school and crew shirts, uniform programs. Nobody inspects the of a 5K race tee.

The category anchor is the Gildan 5000 Heavy Cotton: , 100% cotton in the solids (heathers blend in a little poly), 20 , roughly 70 colors, and one of the most widely stocked blanks in the industry. Its boxy classic fit and color range are why it still moves more volume than any fashion tee.

Browse Open-End Cotton by category

Open-end shares the cotton filter with ring-spun, so this page lists the same cotton styles. Tees and fleece carry most of it. Each row leads with a category's best, and the Shop all link opens the rest.

T-Shirt 167

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96 colors

Bella + Canvas style number 3001

Jersey Tee

$6.93

Retail $9.25

84 colors

Bella + Canvas style number 3001CVC

CVC Jersey Tee

$7.59

Retail $9.45

Sweatshirt 72

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Bag 26

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1 color

Liberty Bags style number 8501

Katelyn Tote

$4.82

Retail $6.43

5 colors

Liberty Bags style number 8502

Branson Tote

$2.46

Retail $4.33

Tank Top 16

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20 colors

Bella + Canvas style number 3480

Jersey Tank

$8.03

Retail $10.69

Hat 16

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8 colors

Flexfit style number 6100NU

NU® Cap

$13.05

Retail $17.41

Pants 12

Polo Shirt 9

Jacket 6

Accessories 2

12 colors

Liberty Bags style number FT001

Can Holder

$1.25

Retail $1.67

Shorts 1

Other 1