What does a shirt bar rental start at?

A staffed local shirt bar package starts around $5,000 for a Southern California event. That base includes one station, an operator crew, equipment, blanks, artwork prep, and setup and teardown, plus a set allotment of finished shirts.

Do you charge per shirt or a flat package?

Most events book a flat package with a shirt allotment built in, which is easier to budget than counting each tee. If you need a very high volume we can quote an incremental per-shirt rate on top of the base.

Is there a travel fee?

Events inside Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Diego have no travel fee. Anywhere beyond that footprint — including Las Vegas — adds a flat $900 to cover crew and equipment transport.

Home / Pricing

No mystery quotes

Shirt bar rental pricing, in plain numbers.

We'd rather show you the starting point than make you chase a "request pricing" button. Here's how a shirt bar rental is built and what moves the total.

Element	Details	Investment
Local station package	One staffed shirt bar for a Southern California event — station, crew, equipment, blanks, artwork prep, setup & teardown, and a set shirt allotment	from ~$5,000
Additional stations	More stations for higher guest counts so the line never backs up	quoted per station
Extended crew hours	Runtime or extra operators beyond the base window	$250 / hour
Travel fee	Any event outside OC, LA, and San Diego (including Las Vegas)	$900 flat
Premium garments & add-ons	Upgraded blanks, hoodies, hat bar, embroidery, or UV DTF hard goods	added to package

What moves the number

Five things that shape your quote.

Guest count

More guests means more stations and more shirts. A 100-person party runs one bar; a 400-person launch runs three or four.

Event hours

A two-hour cocktail activation costs less than an all-day festival. Setup and teardown are always included in the window.

Garment quality

A basic Gildan tee prices differently than a soft Bella+Canvas 3001 or a heavyweight hoodie.

Design complexity

A single logo is simple; a build-your-own menu of ten graphics takes more artwork prep and staging.

Location

Local is fee-free. Travel outside the OC/LA/SD footprint adds the flat $900.

Add-on stations

Hat bars, embroidery, and sticker stations layer onto the base for a bigger merch moment.

A sample budget

What a typical booking looks like.

A 200-guest company party in Orange County running four hours with two shirt bar stations, soft Bella+Canvas blanks, and a five-design menu typically lands in the low five figures — well under the cost of ordering, warehousing, and shipping pre-printed shirts nobody's sure will fit. Everyone leaves in a shirt they chose, and you have zero leftover inventory. Send your specifics and we'll turn a real number around fast.

Reserve a date

Tell us about your event once.

Give us the date, city, guest count, and hours and we'll build a package with a firm number — no runaround.

(562) 614-4800 · contact@merchtroop.com