Gildan 5000 Review: Size Chart, Colors, vs Comfort Colors

Key Takeaways

• The Gildan 5000 is 5.3 oz per square yard, and 56 of its 80 colors are 100% cotton.
• It runs true to size with a boxy cut, so order your usual size.
• A Comfort Colors 1717 is as wide but heavier, softer, shorter, and pricier.
• No minimum, and bulk pricing lowers the price per shirt as one design's quantity grows.

Table of Contents

• What Is the Gildan 5000?
• Is the Gildan 5000 100% Cotton? Which Colors Are Blends?
• Is the Gildan 5000 Good? How It Fits and Feels
• Gildan 5000 Size Chart in Inches and cm
• Does the Gildan 5000 Shrink?
• Gildan 5000 Color Chart: Every Color by Shade
• Gildan vs Comfort Colors: The 5000 or the 1717?
• Gildan 5000 vs Other Gildan T-Shirts
• How Big Can a Logo Be on a Gildan 5000?
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Order the Gildan 5000 With Your Logo

The Gildan 5000 is the tee to pick when people will work, volunteer, or play in the shirt. That covers crew uniforms, event shirts, giveaways, and team orders. It is a plain, roomy cotton shirt with a deep color range and sizes up to 5XL, and it costs less than softer shirts. For merch that people buy, a softer shirt such as the Comfort Colors 1717 is often the better pick.

What Is the Gildan 5000?

The Gildan 5000 is Gildan's Heavy Cotton T-Shirt, a classic-fit tee sized S to 5XL. Its fabric weighs 5.3 oz per square yard, about 180 grams per square meter (GSM). Most colors are 100% cotton, and the heathers, neons, safety colors, and a few others are blends. Everything in the table comes from the maker's spec sheet, except the color count, which comes from our live product page.

Despite the "Heavy Cotton" name, the 5000 is not Gildan's heaviest tee; the Gildan Ultra Cotton 2000 is heavier, at 6 oz. The 5000's yarn is listed as 20 singles, a count based on how many 840-yard lengths of it weigh one pound. A higher count means a finer yarn, as Cotton Incorporated's CottonWorks guide to yarn counts explains.

A 20-singles yarn is thicker than the 30-singles yarn in a Gildan Softstyle or the 32-singles yarn in a Bella + Canvas 3001.

You can shop custom t-shirts to compare the 5000 with every other tee we print.

Is the Gildan 5000 100% Cotton? Which Colors Are Blends?

Most Gildan 5000 colors are 100% cotton, but 24 of the 80 are cotton and polyester blends. The maker lists the exceptions by color name or color group, and the table below matches that list to the colors on our product page.

The blend matters when a group asks for "all cotton." Every heather, neon, and safety color comes as a 50/50 shirt. T-Shirt Elephant, a Canadian print shop, recommends a heather color to anyone who wants a softer 5000. That is the shop's view rather than a maker claim, but it gives a group a softer option without changing shirts.

Is the Gildan 5000 Good? How It Fits and Feels

The Gildan 5000 is a good shirt for work, events, and teams, and a weaker pick for retail merch that has to feel soft. It runs true to size in a classic fit, so order your usual size. BlueCotton, a U.S. print shop, agrees, while Shirt School's Kerry Egeler found it roomier than most unisex tees.

The cut is straight through the body and sleeves, and fans and critics alike call it boxy. Egeler, wearing a large, found it "a little more... boxy" and loose in the sleeves. One wearer in a Reddit thread about a sale on the 5000 said it fit well, "other than being a bit short."

The 5000 has a firm feel, though the maker says the Heavy Cotton family "has been remastered for improved printability, quality and comfort." In November 2024, a printer on r/SCREENPRINTING said a Gildan email announced "the new softer Gildan 5000." The printer disliked it: "It's like a totally different shirt now."

The printer's customers are mostly "plumbers, electricians, landscapers," and people "trashing their shirts working in them" want the 5000, not triblends. A crew used to the old 5000 should expect a softer shirt.

Wearers who use plain cotton Gildan tees as work shirts report long lives. One Reddit commenter's work uniforms are pure cotton Gildans with a pressed-on logo. The commenter has "only had to throw out 2 in the past 4 years, due to small tears in the neck hole." In the same thread, another commenter who buys plain Gildan 5000s said they "last for years."

Softness is where the 5000 loses. In a blind test by Tshirt Help Desk, most gym-goers picked a Bella + Canvas 3001 by feel. One tester still called the heavier 5000 "more comfy."

Gildan 5000 Size Chart in Inches and cm

A Gildan 5000 small measures 18 inches across the chest, and a 5XL measures 32 inches. Chest is measured with the shirt laid flat, armpit to armpit. Length runs from the top of the shoulder at the collar to the bottom hem.

The maker allows 1 inch either way on both chest and length, so two shirts of the same size can differ slightly.

Not every color comes in every size: 45 of the 80 colors run to 5XL, 9 stop at 4XL, and 26 stop at 3XL. These counts are from October 2026, so a group that needs 4XL or 5XL should check those sizes in its color first. On our product page, 2XL costs more per shirt and 3XL to 5XL cost more again; the size grid shows the extra before you order. Kids can join the same order in the Gildan 5000B youth tee, which runs youth XS to XL.

Our t-shirt sizing chart turns a chest measurement into a size and sets the 5000 beside a Bella + Canvas and a Comfort Colors tee.

Does the Gildan 5000 Shrink?

A Gildan 5000 can shrink in hot water and a hot dryer, and the maker publishes no shrink figure for it. Its spec sheet does not call the shirt pre-shrunk either. The Bella + Canvas 3001's sheet does, for comparison.

Cotton knits in general carry some shrinkage. Cotton Incorporated's technical bulletin on wet processing cotton knits says knits of every construction are "inherently more prone to shrinkage" than woven fabric. It also says no knitter can make a knit that will not shrink at all. BlueCotton, which describes Gildan's cotton tees as preshrunk, said in a video that cotton still shrinks "their entire lifetime," though not by a lot.

Wearers disagree about how much. In a Reddit thread where a fan asked concert merch sellers to stop printing on Gildan, one wearer pushed back. This wearer prefers the 5000 and said Gildan's Softstyle tees "are the ones that run small and shrink more." The fan who started the thread described shirts "shrunken beyond belief," without naming which Gildan style.

We have not found a measured shrink percentage for the 5000, so we do not give one. Order your usual size from the chart above. To keep the fit, wash cold and tumble dry on low, or hang the shirt to dry. The Comfort Colors 1717 behaves differently, because most of its shrinking happens before it ships; our Comfort Colors 1717 guide explains why.

Gildan 5000 Color Chart: Every Color by Shade

We carry the Gildan 5000 in 80 colors (October 2026), and no color or size we list was sold out when we checked. The charts below show each color on its own product photo. We grouped them by how they look, because several names point to a different color than you might expect.

On our photos, Violet reads as a periwinkle blue and Lilac as a deep blue-violet. Midnight is a dark teal, and Blackberry is nearly navy. Aquatic is a muted sage green, and Charcoal has a slight green cast next to Dark Heather.

Size runs differ by color. All four Fan colors, both neons, Safety Pink, Lilac, and Midnight stop at 3XL. Black, White, Navy, Royal, Red, Sport Grey, and Safety Green all run to 5XL. Screens shift color, so treat any photo as a close guide to the shade you will receive.

Gildan vs Comfort Colors: The 5000 or the 1717?

Order the Gildan 5000 when price, color range, and big sizes matter most. Order the Comfort Colors 1717 when the shirt is merch people will pay for, or you want a faded, worn-in look. The two shirts are about the same width at every size. The 1717 is heavier, softer from the first wear, shorter, and costs more per shirt.

The 5000 and the 1717 both list 20-singles yarn, so the 1717's softer feel does not come from a finer thread. Its sheet describes ring-spun cotton, garment dyed "for a lived-in feel with minimal shrinkage," and the 5000's sheet mentions neither.

The two brands share an owner. Gildan's 2024 annual information form, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, lists Comfort Colors among its company brands.

On sizing, the chests match within a quarter inch, and most wearers take the same size in either shirt. Tall wearers may want one size up in the 1717, which is shorter. It runs about 1 1/2 inches shorter at small, 1 inch at medium, 5/8 inch at large, and half an inch or less above that. The 1717 also stops at 4XL, so a group that needs 5XL stays with the 5000.

For merch, a Reddit thread titled "PLEASE no Gildan shirts this year (except Comfort Colors)!!" made the case plainly. Its author argued that concert sellers who had "spent a couple of extra bucks on a slightly better quality shirt" would have "sold more shirts."

Gildan 5000 vs Other Gildan T-Shirts

Pick the 2000 for a heavier shirt, the 64000 Softstyle for a lighter, softer one, and the 8000 DryBlend for a 50/50 blend. We carry five close relatives of the 5000, and each can take your design on the same order. The youth 5000B takes a smaller chest logo, up to 3 x 3 inches.

Shirt School's Kerry Egeler wore a 5000 and a 2000 in a large and found they fit the same; the 2000 felt heavier.

The 64000 Softstyle is the soft option inside the Gildan family. BlueCotton picked it as the shirt a club or group will keep "putting back on." The DryBlend's sheet credits high-twist yarns that "help reduce pilling." Prices across the short-sleeve adult tees sit close together, and the 5000 costs the least.

How Big Can a Logo Be on a Gildan 5000?

Every customization method we offer works on the Gildan 5000. A full-color print can run up to 13 x 17 inches on the full front or full back. Embroidery and patches go up to 4 x 4 inches at the left or right chest, upper back, or back neck. These are production limits, and your emailed design proof confirms the exact size before we make anything.

Ordering Gildan 5000 Shirts in Bulk

There is no minimum, and when you order Gildan shirts in bulk, the price per shirt drops as one design's quantity grows. Shirts that carry the same design at the same logo size, with the same method and placement, count together across colors, styles, and shirt sizes. A Navy 5000, a Safety Green 5000, and a 5400 long sleeve can all count toward one quantity. Every bulk order carries your design; we do not sell undecorated shirts in bulk.

To price your order, shop the Gildan 5000 and open the Design Studio from its page. After you save a design, the page prices the order as you enter quantities.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Gildan 5000 see-through in white?

Usually not, though printers disagree. In a Reddit thread on the white 5000, one printer called it "more sheer" than the 2000, and another replied it is "about standard thickness." Printify, a print-on-demand company, says the 5000 may show "a bit of potential show through on whiter tees." If that worries you, the Gildan 2000 is a heavier white shirt at 6 oz.

What is the tag on a Gildan 5000?

The Gildan 5000 has a tear-away label, and if you resell the shirts without it, the FTC's textile labeling rules call for a replacement label. It must show the fiber content, the country of origin, and your company's name or RN number. Care instructions fall under the FTC's separate care labeling rule. We can make custom inside labels on request.

Is the Gildan 5000 a heavyweight t-shirt?

It is a midweight shirt by the numbers. At 5.3 oz per square yard, about 180 GSM, it is heavier than a Bella + Canvas 3001 or a Gildan Softstyle. It is lighter than the Gildan Ultra Cotton 2000 at 6 oz and the Comfort Colors 1717 at 6.1 oz.

Is the Gildan 5000 unisex?

Yes. The 5000 is one adult cut for everyone, sized on a men's body, with a classic fit from small to 5XL. For a women's cut, we carry the Gildan Women's Softstyle, a semi-fitted shirt from S to 3XL. It can carry the same design on the same order.

Is Comfort Colors made by Gildan?

Yes. Comfort Colors is one of Gildan's company brands, according to Gildan's 2024 annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Within that family, the Comfort Colors 1717 is the heavier, garment-dyed tee, and the Gildan 5000 is the lower-priced classic tee.

Order the Gildan 5000 With Your Logo

The Gildan 5000 suits orders where cost, color choice, and a full size run matter more than a soft feel. Choose a color that comes in every size your group needs, and order your usual size from the chart.

To design one, open the Gildan 5000 from our t-shirt collection and press "Start designing". Choose a side, a customization method, and a placement, then upload a PNG or JPEG of your logo. You see it on the shirt before you order. There is no minimum, we charge no setup or artwork fee, and the price is the shirt plus each decorated spot.

After you order, we email a design proof within 1 to 2 business days, with unlimited revisions. Standard production is 2 to 3 weeks for printing and embroidery and 4 to 6 weeks for patches, from proof approval. If you need it sooner, ask us about rush before you order. We offer free U.S. shipping.

Browse custom t-shirts →

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