Custom Apparel for Fire Departments: Fundraiser Tees, Station Gear & More

Custom apparel for fire departments is personal for me in a way that most of my work is not. My husband Cory is a firefighter and paramedic. I have spent years around stations, fundraisers, and the fire service community. I know what department apparel means to the people who wear it — it is not just a shirt. It is station pride, brotherhood, fundraiser support, and community identity in one garment. When I started producing custom fire department apparel in 2026, I brought that understanding to every order.

Fire department apparel has specific requirements that generic print shops do not always get right. Department crests are detailed, multi-color designs with fine text and intricate badge work. Fundraiser tees need to look professional enough to sell at community events. Station gear has to hold up through wear and wash cycles that would destroy cheap prints. And the person placing the order is usually a volunteer or line officer managing this on top of their actual job, so they need the process to be simple, reliable, and handled by someone who understands the fire service culture.

Why Fire Department Apparel Needs DTF Printing

The print method matters more for fire department designs than almost any other type of custom apparel. Department crests, Maltese crosses, IAFF logos, memorial designs, and fundraiser graphics typically include 6 to 12 colors with fine detail: intricate lettering, metallic-look elements, gradient shading, and small text like station numbers and charter dates. Traditional screen printing charges per color, which makes these complex designs prohibitively expensive. A full-color department crest that would require 8 or more screens can cost $200 or more in setup fees alone before a single shirt is printed.

DTF (Direct-to-Film) transfers solve this completely. DTF prints in full CMYK plus white, which means unlimited colors at no extra cost per color. Whether your department design has 2 colors or 20, the production cost stays the same. Every shade of red, gold, and black in your badge reproduces exactly as designed, at 1440 DPI resolution. Fine text, gradient shading, photographic elements. DTF handles it all.

The prints are also built to last. Our DTF transfers are rated for 50-plus washes when cared for properly. The thermoplastic adhesive bonds to the fabric fibers under heat and pressure, creating a flexible print that moves with the garment. It does not crack, peel, or fade the way cheap heat transfer vinyl does after a few washes. When your department's name is on the shirt, the print quality has to be bulletproof.

What I Print for Fire Departments

Fundraiser Tees

Fundraiser tees are the bread and butter of fire department apparel. Whether it is a chicken BBQ, a boot drive, a golf outing, or an annual fund drive, the tees need to look good enough that people want to wear them — not just buy them as a donation and stuff them in a drawer. I print fundraiser tees on Comfort Colors 1717 blanks, which have a garment-dyed softness that people actually reach for. The heavyweight cotton and relaxed fit make them a shirt people wear to the grocery store, to the gym, around the house. That is walking advertising for next year's fundraiser.

Station Pride Gear

Station pride hoodies and crewnecks are the gear firefighters actually wear on their own time. These need to feel premium because they are competing with whatever else is in someone's closet. I print station pride designs on Comfort Colors 1566 crewnecks and Gildan 18500 hooded sweatshirts — blanks that feel like something you would buy for yourself, not something handed out at a corporate event. The DTF prints reproduce department crests with full detail and color accuracy, so the finished product looks professional and represents the station with pride.

Event and Memorial Shirts

Memorial shirts and special event apparel carry extra weight. These are shirts that honor fallen brothers and sisters, commemorate department anniversaries, or mark significant events. The design and print quality need to match the gravity of what they represent. DTF's ability to reproduce photographic elements, detailed portraits, and full-color memorial graphics makes it the right method for this work. I treat every memorial order with the respect it deserves.

The Personal Connection

Being married to a firefighter means I understand things about fire department culture that a typical print shop would not. I know that the design process for department apparel usually involves a committee, which means revisions. I know that the person placing the order is doing it between calls and station duties, not sitting at a desk during business hours. I know that fire department budgets are tight and every dollar spent on apparel needs to deliver value — both as merchandise and as morale.

Cory's career has given me a front-row seat to what firefighters actually want in their gear. They want quality they can feel. They want designs that represent their station accurately. They want the ordering process to be simple because they have a hundred other things to worry about. And they want someone on the other end who gets it. Who does not need the Maltese cross explained or the significance of a department crest broken down.

Working with York County fire departments has been one of the most rewarding parts of growing Floorboard Findings. These are community organizations that do critical work, and producing apparel that helps them fundraise, build pride, and represent themselves well is meaningful work. It is the kind of project where the quality of what I produce directly impacts people I care about.

How the Process Works

Fire department apparel orders follow a simple process. You share your design or concept, and I review it and recommend the best approach: blank selection, print placement, sizing breakdown. If your design needs cleanup or optimization for print, that is included at no extra charge. I produce a digital mockup for committee approval, and for larger orders I can do a physical test print so you can see and feel the finished product before committing.

Once approved, production happens in my York, PA studio. Each piece is individually heat-pressed with settings calibrated for the specific blank. Temperature, pressure, and dwell time are all dialed in for consistent results. Every shirt gets inspected for print alignment, color accuracy, and adhesion quality before it ships.

Minimum order is 12 pieces, and you can mix sizes within an order. Typical turnaround is 1 to 2 weeks from design approval. For departments that need ongoing apparel (new member shirts, seasonal fundraiser tees, replacement station gear), reorders are simple because I keep your design files and press settings on record.

Ready to Get Started?

If your department needs custom apparel (fundraiser tees, station pride gear, memorial shirts, or event merchandise), I would love to help. You can browse examples in our fire department collection, learn more about our custom graphic tee services, or explore our DTF transfer printing capabilities.

Or just reach out directly. I am a firefighter's wife working out of a home studio in York, PA. I understand the culture, I respect the mission, and I take pride in producing apparel that your department will be proud to wear. Every piece that leaves my studio with a department crest on it carries a little extra care, because this one is personal.