Comfort Colors vs Bella Canvas: Which Blank to Sell?

Comfort Colors vs Bella Canvas comes down to what your buyer wants to hold. The Comfort Colors 1717 is a 6.1 oz garment-dyed, boxy tee at $15.60 on Printful. The Bella+Canvas 3001 is a softer 4.2 oz tee at $11.92. Pick the 1717 for weight and a washed look; pick the 3001 for detailed art, XS to 5XL, and margin.¹

Here's the part most comparisons skip. In July 2026, Gildan named Comfort Colors as one of three brands generating double-digit sales growth year over year, even as its wholesale sales overall slipped 1.5%.² Shoppers notice the name too. Google gets about 60,500 searches a month for "comfort colors t shirts" against 9,900 for "bella canvas t shirts." Comfort Colors demand rose about 50% in a year while comparable industry terms stayed flat.³

So the Bella+Canvas 3001 is the shirt sellers default to, and the Comfort Colors 1717 is the shirt buyers ask for by name. Both can be the right call. This guide puts the two blanks side by side using the real Printful size charts, measured shrinkage, print behavior and the per-sale margin on Etsy. One of the most repeated pieces of sizing advice doesn't survive the charts.

Key Takeaways

• On Printful, the Comfort Colors 1717 costs $15.60 and the Bella+Canvas 3001 costs $11.92 in sizes S to XL, a flat $3.68 gap at every shared size. On Etsy, a 1717 has to sell for about $34 to earn what a 3001 earns at $30.¹⁴
• Current size charts give both blanks the same chest width to within a quarter inch at every size, and the 1717 is shorter at every size. It looks roomy because of its cut and heavier fabric, not because it's a size bigger.⁵
• An older Comfort Colors spec sheet lists the 1717 three quarters of an inch to an inch narrower than today's chart, so check which chart your listing copied.⁶
• Size range limits your listing: Printful stocks the 1717 in S to 4XL only and the 3001 in XS to 5XL.¹
• In one measured test, a Bella+Canvas 3001 lost 5.8% to 6.3% of its length after two washes despite being sold as pre-shrunk. Garment dyeing pre-shrinks the 1717, so wash-test one of each before you write a size note.⁷

Comfort Colors 1717 vs Bella Canvas 3001 at a Glance

Here are the two blanks on the specs that change what you can sell. Prices are Printful's US base prices with one front print included, without membership discounts, read October 31, 2026.¹

The label row matters more than it looks. A tear-away label lets you add your own printed neck label, which is how a POD tee starts to feel like your brand instead of a blank. On the 1717, the Comfort Colors label stays in.⁸

Want to see the shape difference before you read about it? Each blank's page in Vaybel's blank library shows a 3D model you can switch between sizes. Open the 1717 and the 3001 at size M and compare the length. They're renders, not photos, but the proportions come from each shirt's measurements.

Fabric, Feel, and Print Quality

What Garment Dyeing Does to the Comfort Colors 1717

Most tees are cut from fabric that was dyed on the roll. Comfort Colors sews the shirt first, then dyes and washes the finished garment. That's where the soft, broken-in feel and the slightly faded, uneven color come from.⁹

It also explains the brand's quirks. Some 1717 colors use pigment dyes, which fade a little with every wash by design, while others use reactive dyes that hold their color longer.¹⁰ Shade can vary from one shirt to the next. If a customer reorders a shirt they love, the new one may not match the old one exactly, and that's the look working as intended.

The weight is the other half of the appeal. At 206.8 g/m² against 142 g/m², the 1717 is about 45% heavier than the 3001, and buyers feel it the moment they pick it up.¹

Why the Bella+Canvas 3001 Feels Softer, and Where It Falls Short

Bella+Canvas spins the 3001 from combed, ring-spun Airlume cotton at 32 singles, which gives it a smooth, fine surface and a light drape.¹¹ That smooth face is why so many POD sellers treat it as the go-to blank for detailed, full-color art.

The tradeoff is weight. Printful's own product description warns that the fabric "is slightly sheer and may appear see-through." It adds that this shows most "in lighter colors or under certain lighting conditions."⁸ Heather colors also aren't 100% cotton, so switching from Black to Black Heather changes the fabric and can change how the print looks.¹²

How Each One Prints

Both blanks print by direct-to-garment (DTG) by default on Printful, and both also take DTF and embroidery.¹ If you're still choosing a print method, our breakdown of DTG vs DTF printing covers when each one wins.

The Comfort Colors 1717 has three print quirks worth planning around:

• White ink on dark colors. RVA Threads, a Virginia screen printer, notes that leftover garment dye can reactivate under curing heat. White ink on a dark Comfort Colors shirt "can come out slightly dingy or with a color cast."⁹
• Neon colors and heat. Comfort Colors' own spec sheet says its neon dyes react to heat and recommends keeping fabric below 320°F during curing.⁶ That matters for DTF transfers and heat presses.
• Shade variation. Each shirt takes up dye on its own. RVA Threads sees shade "vary subtly from shirt to shirt, especially around seams and folds."⁹ Expect a reorder to drift slightly from your sample.

The Bella+Canvas 3001's main print risk is the opposite problem: a light, thin shirt can show what's underneath. For fine linework, gradients, and photo-style art, its smoother surface is the safer choice.

Here's Printify's own side-by-side of its bestselling blanks, including both of these shirts:

Video: Bella Canvas 3001 vs Gildan 5000 vs Comfort Colors 1717 - Bestseller Comparison by Printify.

Comfort Colors vs Bella Canvas Sizing: Same Width, Different Shape

"Comfort Colors runs big, size down" is the most repeated piece of Comfort Colors sizing advice in every Bella Canvas vs Comfort Colors debate. The current size charts don't back it up. Here are Printful's product measurements for both shirts, in inches, laid flat.⁵

The chest widths match to within a quarter inch at every size, which is well inside the two-inch tolerance Printful states for both.⁵ The 1717 is shorter at every size, by about an inch and a third at S and an inch at M.

Even reviews that repeat the myth contradict it. T-Shirt Elephant, a Canadian print shop, says in its 1717 review that the shirt "runs approximately 1-2 inches wider in the chest" than the Bella+Canvas 3001. The same review then gives a men's Large chest width of about 22 inches.¹³ That's the same 22 inches as a Bella+Canvas 3001 Large.⁵

Why the Comfort Colors Tee Feels Bigger When It Isn't

Three things make the Comfort Colors shirt read as roomy without measuring wider:

1. A shorter body on the same width. A shirt that's equally wide but shorter looks boxier. At size M, the 1717's width-to-length ratio is about 0.72 against 0.69 for the 3001.⁵
2. No side seams. The 1717 has a tubular body with no side seams, while the 3001 is side-seamed.¹
3. Heavier fabric. Heavier cotton drapes away from the body instead of clinging, so the same width looks looser.

So when a customer says the Comfort Colors 1717 "runs big," what they usually mean is that it fits differently. For a size note, "relaxed, boxy fit; chest width matches our other tees, body is slightly shorter" is accurate. "Size down" isn't.

The Comfort Colors Size Chart Changed, So Check Yours

A distributor still hosts an older official Comfort Colors spec sheet, uploaded in October 2019. It lists 1717 chest widths of 17.5, 19.5, 21.25 and 23 inches for S through XL.⁶ Printful's current chart lists 18.25, 20.25, 22 and 24.⁵ The body lengths on both charts match.

Both charts carry the same two-inch tolerance, so a single gap could be noise. This one isn't: every size moved the same way, by three quarters of an inch to an inch. That points to a re-grade or a change in how the shirt is measured.⁵⁶ Either way, a chart copied from the old sheet understates every size, and shop size charts built from it are still out there. If your listing's size chart came from anywhere but your provider's current product page, replace it.

Size Range: XS to 5XL vs S to 4XL

On Printful, the 1717 has no XS and no 5XL; the 3001 has both.¹ If your audience includes petite buyers or plus-size buyers who need a 5XL, the 3001 can take orders the 1717 can't.

Buyers also report that the 1717's collar runs tight, especially in larger sizes, which is worth a line in your listing.⁸ RVA Threads adds that darker Comfort Colors shades absorb more dye and "can come out running a touch smaller" than lighter ones in the same size.⁹ A dark-color 2XL is the sample to order if you want to check the collar, the fit, and the print at once.

How Much Each Shirt Shrinks in the Wash

Comfort Colors shirts shrink very little. Garment dyeing washes and dries the finished shirt before it ships, so most of the shrinkage happens at the factory. RVA Threads calls it "almost no shrinkage at home," and T-Shirt Elephant puts it at 2% to 3% even with a hot wash and a high-heat dryer.⁹¹³

The Bella+Canvas 3001 is sold as pre-shrunk. Yet Quirky Neighbor, an independent reviewer who measured shirts before and after washing, found an XL lost 6.3% of its length in black and 5.8% in white. That was after two washes on the label's own care instructions, and chest width shrank 2.7%.⁷

Those aren't equivalent tests. One is a measured two-shirt trial and the others are shop claims, so don't promise that one shrinks "twice as much." The practical point holds anyway: the 3001's extra length on paper may not survive the laundry. Take the XL as an illustration. At 6% shrink, a 31-inch 3001 ends near 29.1 inches, while a 30.75-inch 1717 at the 3% worst case ends near 29.8.⁵⁷

Before you publish a size chart, order a sample of each, wash it twice the way your customers will, and measure it again.

Price and Margin: What the Gap Costs You

The 1717 costs $3.68 more than the 3001 at every size Printful stocks for both, about 31% more at S to XL.¹ Whether that's worth it depends on what your buyer will pay.

Here's the net per sale for an Etsy print-on-demand shop selling a single front-print tee in sizes S to XL. It uses Printful's base price and Etsy's standard US fees: a 6.5% transaction fee, 3% plus $0.25 payment processing, and a $0.20 listing fee. Shipping, Offsite Ads, and sales tax aren't included.¹⁴

To match the per-sale profit of a 3001 at $30, a 1717 has to sell for about $34.07.¹⁴ So the real question is whether your buyer pays about $4 more for a heavier, garment-dyed shirt with a name they recognize.

The search data says a lot of them will. Comfort Colors is one of the few blank brands shoppers search for by name, at about six times the volume of Bella+Canvas, and that demand is growing.³ If your listing can honestly say "printed on a Comfort Colors tee," the brand name does some of your selling for you. Check your marketplace's rules on naming third-party brands in titles before you lean on it.

Plus sizes cost more on both shirts, but the gap stays the same: $17.60 against $13.92 at 2XL, for example.¹ Run the math on the sizes you actually sell, not just M.

Not sure which one your design looks better on? Use Vaybel's AI Mockup Generator to put the same design on both blanks, then test both listings before you order stock you can't return.

Which One Should Your Brand Sell?

Choose the Comfort Colors 1717 If

• Your brand sells a vintage, washed, or lived-in look.
• Your designs are bold and simple, the kind that look better slightly faded.
• Your buyers search for Comfort Colors by name, and you sell hardest from late spring through summer, when those searches peak.³
• You can price it a few dollars above a Bella+Canvas 3001 without losing sales.
• A boxy, heavier shirt suits your audience and nobody needs an XS or 5XL.

Choose the Bella+Canvas 3001 If

• Your art has fine lines, gradients, or photo detail.
• You need the full range from XS to 5XL.
• You want the lowest base cost and the most color options.
• You want a tear-away label so you can add your own branded neck print.
• Your buyers prefer a closer, retail fit.

Or Sell Both

You don't have to pick one for the whole store. Both shirts are on Printful and Printify. The same design can sit on a Bella+Canvas 3001 at your standard price and on a Comfort Colors 1717 as a heavier "premium" option. Your sales data will tell you which buyers pay for weight.

Still comparing more than these two? Start with our guide to choosing blanks for your clothing brand. Then see our ranking of the best blank t-shirts for a clothing brand.

Comfort Colors vs Bella Canvas FAQ

Is Comfort Colors better than Bella Canvas?

Neither is better overall; they're built for different products. The Comfort Colors 1717 is heavier, garment-dyed, and recognized by shoppers. The Bella+Canvas 3001 is softer, cheaper on Printful, comes in more sizes and colors, and prints detailed art more cleanly.¹

Is Comfort Colors a high-quality brand?

Yes, for what it's built to be: a 6.1 oz, 100% ring-spun cotton tee that's garment-dyed and soft-washed.¹ Its tradeoff is consistency. Shade varies from shirt to shirt, and pigment-dyed colors fade a little with every wash by design, which is part of the look.⁹¹⁰

Does Comfort Colors run bigger than Bella Canvas?

Not in chest width. On Printful's current charts, both shirts measure the same across the chest to within a quarter inch at every size, and the Comfort Colors 1717 is slightly shorter. It feels bigger because it's boxier and heavier.⁵

Do Comfort Colors shirts shrink?

Only a little. Garment dyeing pre-shrinks the finished shirt, and one print shop puts home shrinkage at 2% to 3% even on hot settings. In one measured test, a Bella+Canvas 3001 shrank about 6% in length after two washes.⁷¹³

Is Bella Canvas 3001 see-through?

It can be, in light colors. Printful's description calls the fabric "slightly sheer," especially in lighter colors or certain lighting. For white or pale tees, order a sample, or consider a heavier blank like the Comfort Colors 1717.⁸

What brand is comparable to Bella Canvas?

For the Bella Canvas 3001's soft, fitted feel, sellers most often weigh it against the Next Level 3600 and the Gildan 64000 Softstyle. Our Gildan vs Bella Canvas comparison covers that matchup. The Comfort Colors 1717 is a different kind of shirt: heavier and boxier.

Comfort Colors vs Bella Canvas: The Short Version

Bella Canvas vs Comfort Colors isn't a quality contest. The 1717 sells weight, washed color, and a name buyers already search for. The 3001 sells softness, detail, range, and a margin about $3.68 better on every shirt.¹

Before you list either one, do three things. Take your size chart from Printful's current measurements, not an old spec sheet. Wash-test a sample of each. And price the Comfort Colors 1717 about $4 above the Bella+Canvas 3001 so the heavier shirt earns its place.⁴

Start your free trial to mock up one design on both blanks and publish both listings from one workflow.

Footnotes