Brands That Print on Comfort Colors

Comfort Colors was founded in the late 1970s in Florence, Alabama, as one of the first blank apparel companies to specialize exclusively in garment-dyed fabrics. The core idea was simple: dye the shirt after it’s been cut and sewn, not before. This reversed the standard manufacturing process and produced a finish that conventional blanks couldn’t replicate — softer, more textured, with the kind of natural color variation that makes each garment feel slightly unique.

The technique caught on slowly. For years, Comfort Colors remained a niche player, popular among college bookstores, Greek organizations, and screen printers who wanted something heavier and more distinctive than a standard Gildan 5000. The turning point came when Gildan Activewear acquired Comfort Colors, bringing industrial-scale production and national distribution to a product that had previously been hard to source in volume.

The Indie Brand Adoption Wave

The explosion of independent apparel brands on platforms like Etsy and Shopify in the mid-2010s created a new kind of demand. Small-batch brand owners needed a blank that could differentiate their product from the flood of thin, disposable print-on-demand shirts. Comfort Colors fit perfectly. The heavyweight construction made prints look and feel premium. The garment-dyed wash gave every design a cohesive, branded aesthetic without requiring custom dyeing. And the relaxed fit matched the casual, community-first identity that these brands were building.

This was especially true in the Christian and faith-based apparel space, where the Comfort Colors aesthetic became so closely associated with the niche that customers began to expect it. A worn-in, garment-dyed tee carrying a scripture reference or worship lyric just felt right in a way that a stiff, brightly dyed tee didn’t. The blank became part of the message.

The 1717: The Model That Built a Category

If Comfort Colors is the brand, the 1717 is the product. This single model — a 6.1 oz, 100% ring-spun cotton, relaxed-fit heavyweight tee with 65+ garment-dyed colorways — accounts for the majority of independent brand orders on Comfort Colors. It’s the blank that most Christian apparel brands, lifestyle brands, and vintage-inspired labels are printing on, and it’s the first model most new brand owners learn about when they enter the garment-dyed space.

The 1717’s popularity has created a self-reinforcing cycle: customers recognize the feel, brands know it sells, and the ecosystem keeps growing. BlankScout’s Comfort Colors brand directory exists precisely because this ecosystem has reached the scale where discovery infrastructure is needed. With dozens of independent brands now printing on the same blank, buyers need a way to find them — and that’s what this page does.

Why BlankScout Organizes by Blank Manufacturer

Most apparel directories organize by category — men’s, women’s, streetwear, fitness. That’s useful, but it misses a dimension that a growing number of buyers care about: the blank itself. BlankScout is a blank-first apparel brand directory. You start with the manufacturer you trust — Comfort Colors, Bella+Canvas, Next Level Apparel, or AS Colour — and discover every independent brand in the directory that prints on it.

This approach works because blank preference is a real consumer behavior. People who love the Comfort Colors feel want to find more brands that use it. People who’ve discovered one faith-based brand on CC want to see what else is out there. BlankScout makes that discovery possible by organizing the growing ecosystem of independent brands around the blank, not just the niche.