Screen Printing & Embroidery in Fort Myers, FL

Fort Myers is home for Dad Bod Screen Printing. Our shop sits on Sacra Place, a few minutes from Southwest Florida International Airport, and most of what we print goes out the door to businesses, teams and families within a short drive of here. When someone in Fort Myers calls us, there is a good chance we already know the road their business is on, the league their kids play in, or the restaurant they are opening. That local familiarity is the whole point of using a shop in your own city instead of a website three states away.

This page is a practical guide to getting custom apparel made in Fort Myers: who orders what, which garments make sense for this climate, how ordering and pickup work from our shop, and the questions Fort Myers customers ask us most.

A city that runs on trades, tourism and teams

Fort Myers has a working economy. Drive down Colonial Boulevard, Metro Parkway or Palm Beach Boulevard and you pass roofing companies, HVAC contractors, pool service outfits, landscapers, auto shops and marine businesses one after another. Most of them need the same thing from us: shirts their crews can wear in the heat that still look decent at a customer’s front door, plus a few embroidered polos for the people who sell the jobs. A typical Fort Myers contractor order is a run of tees with a small logo on the left chest and a large logo and phone number across the back, because every truck stop and supply house visit becomes free advertising.

Then there is the tourism side. The River District downtown, with First Street, the Caloosahatchee waterfront and the restaurants and bars around Bay Street, keeps a steady stream of staff shirts, aprons and merch coming through the shop. Restaurants here usually want two things: something comfortable for the kitchen and floor staff, and something a little nicer that regulars will actually buy.

And then there are the teams. Fort Myers is a spring-training town, with the Boston Red Sox at JetBlue Park and the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium, and that baseball culture shows up year-round in rec leagues, travel ball, softball and a very active youth soccer scene. Team orders are some of our favorites because they come with real deadlines and real excitement.

What Fort Myers customers order most

• Crew tees for contractors and service companies. Usually a one or two color print, light-colored shirts for job sites, and a back print with the company name and number.
• Embroidered polos for offices and sales teams. Real estate offices, insurance agencies, medical practices and property managers along the US-41 corridor want a clean left-chest logo.
• Restaurant and bar staff gear. Tees, aprons, hats and the occasional run of retail shirts for customers.
• League and school spirit wear. Jerseys, practice shirts, coach shirts and parent shirts, often with names and numbers added.
• Event shirts. Charity walks, church events, family reunions and spring-training trips with friends.

None of that is unusual for a print shop. What changes in Fort Myers is the timing and the conditions. Summer is long and humid, so the garment choice matters more here than in most places, and the season brings a crush of events from January through April when part-time residents are in town.

Picking garments for Fort Myers weather

A heavy black cotton tee is a great retail shirt in October in Ohio. It is a punishment on a roof in Fort Myers in August. When a local crew asks us for work shirts, we usually steer them toward lighter colors (ash, light gray, sand, safety green and the like), lighter-weight fabric, and blends that dry faster than straight cotton. For crews that are outside all day, performance polyester and long-sleeve sun shirts are worth the extra cost. A long sleeve with a UPF rating can actually feel cooler than a short sleeve because it keeps the sun off your arms.

For restaurant and front-of-house staff who are mostly indoors, cotton and cotton blends are fine and look more relaxed. For retail merch that people will wear to the beach or the ballpark, softer blends and tri-blends sell better than heavyweight basics. If you are not sure, tell us where the shirt will be worn and we will put a few options in front of you at different price points.

Deadlines around season, spring training and the holidays

Fort Myers has a calendar that print shops feel. From roughly January through April, the population swells with seasonal residents and visitors, spring training games fill up, charity golf tournaments and 5Ks stack up on weekends, and a lot of businesses want fresh uniforms for their busiest months. Late summer is back-to-school season for teams and booster clubs. November and December bring company holiday gifts and end-of-year events.

Our standard turnaround is about 7 business days after you approve the proof, and rush options are available. During the busy stretches, the earlier you call, the more garment choices you have, because popular colors and sizes from suppliers can run low. If your date is fixed, tell us up front and we will tell you honestly whether it works.

How ordering works when you are local

Being in Fort Myers means you get the easiest version of our process. You can call us at (786) 525-6496, email sales@dadbodscreenprinting.com, or fill out the quote form with your logo attached. We will recommend a garment and decoration method, send a free estimate, then send a digital proof. Once you approve it, we produce the order in our shop. When it is ready you can pick it up, or take advantage of free local delivery in the Fort Myers area.

New clients pay a 50% deposit to start production, and we invoice through QuickBooks. We accept cash, card, Venmo and check. Minimums are 24 pieces for screen printing and 6 pieces for embroidery, and DTF transfers work for smaller runs or full-color designs.

An example Fort Myers order

Here is how a common local job might look. A pool service company with eight technicians wants new shirts before summer. We suggest a light gray performance tee because the techs are outside all day, with a one-color logo on the left chest and a two-color back print with the company name, website and phone number. They also want four embroidered polos for the owner and office staff, plus a dozen trucker hats. The tees are screen printed, the polos and hats are embroidered, and everything is ready for pickup together. One estimate, one proof round, one invoice.

Neighborhoods and nearby areas we cover

We print for customers all over Fort Myers, from downtown and the McGregor corridor to Whiskey Creek, Iona, Gateway, the Daniels Parkway area and out toward Buckingham. Because the shop is near the airport, the Gateway and San Carlos Park areas are just minutes away, and Lehigh Acres, Estero and Cape Coral are all easy trips. If you are across the river in North Fort Myers or out on the islands, delivery or a quick pickup still works.

Screen printing, embroidery or DTF for a Fort Myers business?

The method depends on what you are making and how many. For a run of 24 or more tees or hoodies, screen printing gives you the best price per shirt and the most durable print, which is why most Fort Myers crews and teams go that route. For polos, button-downs, jackets and hats, embroidery looks more professional and outlasts the garment, and our minimum is just 6 pieces, which works well for a small office. For a handful of shirts, a full-color design, or individual names on every jersey, DTF transfers are the right tool. A lot of orders mix all three, and we will tell you which piece should get which method instead of forcing everything into one.

Downtown, the River District and local events

Downtown Fort Myers hosts a lot of community events through the year, from art walks and music nights along First Street to parades, festivals and holiday events on the riverfront. Event organizers, nonprofits and the businesses that sponsor them order volunteer shirts, staff shirts and commemorative tees. For events, the classic setup is a one or two color design on the front with sponsor logos on the back. We print the sponsor block from the files the sponsors send, line everything up on the proof, and make sure the event date and name are spelled right before anything goes on a shirt.

Why local beats ordering online

You can order shirts from a national website and hope for the best. But a Fort Myers shop can do things a website cannot: tell you which blank actually holds up in July, show you a sample, sort out a mixed order of tees, polos and hats in one conversation, and fix a problem in person if something is off. When you need shirts before a Saturday tournament or a Monday grand opening, being twenty minutes away matters.

What we make in Fort Myers

• Custom Screen Printing. Bold, durable ink on tees, hoodies, tanks and more. The go-to for team, crew and event orders.
• DTF & Heat Transfers. Full-color designs, small runs, and names and numbers on jerseys.
• Custom Embroidery. Stitched logos on polos, jackets, work shirts and bags for a sharp, professional look.
• Custom Hats. Embroidered and printed caps, trucker hats, beanies and visors with your logo.
• Promotional Products. Logo’d koozies, bags, drinkware, towels and giveaways. Everything imprinting.

Fort Myers questions

Nearby

We also have pages for Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Gateway, San Carlos Park, Lehigh Acres and the rest of Lee County.