B2B merch matrix for Portugal
559 pairings of product, decoration method and sector, each with the recommended technique, the MOQ, the production lead time and the reference price in EUR ex-VAT.
How to read this matrix
Every matrix page answers one concrete buying question: given this product and this situation, what do we actually make, with which technique, and from what minimum quantity. The answer changes with the substrate. A ceramic mug takes a pad print or a laser mark that a cotton tote will not take, and the pages separate those cases so that you are not holding four specifications in your head at once.
The 559 pages form two families. The first crosses the decoration method with the product type and answers the question of whether this technique survives this substrate. The second crosses the product type with the sector and answers the question of what merchandise makes sense for this buyer. They share one index because buying decisions never arrive alone: whoever picks the substrate also picks the sector that will wear the item.
Every page carries the same set of data, so that you can compare rows without hopping between documents: recommended technique, MOQ per tier, lead time in working days, reference price in EUR ex-VAT, and despatch terms from the Lisbon hub.
Read the substrate family first, to settle the technique, and then the sector family, to settle the item. Together the two readings close the brief that we turn into a quotation with tiered pricing.
The index is sorted alphabetically by the title of each article. The title carries the product type, the other half of the pairing and the country, so direct lookup works: type what you are looking for into the browser bar, or use your own browser search on this page.
Decoration method against product type
The method by product family is the one closest to the workshop. Each page sets one technique against one product type and describes what the technique does well in that material, where it fails, and what volume pays back the screen and plate preparation.
Screen printing is the technique of volume: from 25 to 50 pieces the unit cost falls and Pantone colours stay faithful on cotton and polyester. Computed embroidery answers from 25 to 50 pieces and is the natural choice for logos on the chest or the sleeve, because the digital machine keeps stitch and colour stable on heavy knits.
Sublimation pushes the ink into the inside of the fabric and only works on polyester and on coated surfaces, so it does not replace screen printing on a cotton t-shirt. Heat transfer works in a similar way but applies a film on top of the fabric, and it is useful in small quantities when the date is the critical factor.
DTG and DTF solve the small run. DTG prints straight onto the fabric and takes gradients and colours outside Pantone, with an MOQ from 10 to 25 pieces. DTF transfers an already printed film onto the substrate, works on cotton, polyester and blends, and is the fastest route when the deadline is tight.
Laser engraving enters when the order is small and numbered, with an MOQ from 100 to 500 pieces, because each unit needs individual preparation. UV printing cures the ink with light and serves rigid materials such as acrylic, metal and PVC. Pad printing remains the answer for curved surfaces and small quantities.
Embossing and debossing add no ink at all: they mark the material under pressure and give a tactile finish that survives many washes. An embossed logo reads by touch rather than by distance, and that difference decides the project when the item travels between customers.
Product type against sector
The type by sector family starts on the other side, the customer side. Each page crosses a merchandise item with the sector that buys it, and describes what that sector tends to order, at what volume, and with what commercial argument.
Many sectors buy on two scales at the same time. Retail and hospitality order a large, visible layer aimed at the end customer, and a small internal layer. The same t-shirt and sweatshirt page shows both readings with separate MOQs, because an order of 500 pieces for the shop floor and an order of 30 for the back office are not calculated the same way.
Human resources buys by event and by date. A new joiner, a company anniversary, a year-end gift and a conference kit arrive with fixed dates and predictable quantities, which lets the MOQ and the lead time be fixed six months ahead and the price negotiated per tier.
Industry and technology buy by project and by specification. A work vest, a safety kit or a spare fleet charger require compliance with the sector standard, and the sector page names the certifications to confirm and the approval lead times that precede production.
Events and congresses buy by date. The stand, the badge, the delegate kit and the crew shirt have to be finished before the doors open, which makes production lead time and artwork proofing the two points that decide the supplier.
Finance, technology and healthcare add a layer of compliance, and transport and logistics add tight delivery windows. In every case the sector page separates ordinary merchandise from items that need certification, so that the quotation does not hide a homologation cost.
MOQ, lead times and prices
The MOQ is where most quotations stall, and it varies by technique. Screen printing, embroidery, sublimation and DTG accept orders from 25 to 50 pieces; DTF and heat transfer from 10 to 25; laser engraving from 100 to 500, because the preparation time is individual.
Lead times count working days from artwork approval, not from the order. The working rule here is 5 to 8 working days for garments and accessories in printing techniques, plus transport. There is also a 48 to 72 hour rush at a surcharge, and it is marked as such.
Prices are in EUR ex-VAT, and the 23 percent VAT is invoiced through the Portuguese tax authority. Tiers are shown by volume, and the top tier is the one that matters to a customer who orders again. The reference price on each page is that tier, not an average.
Call-off, with permanent stock and replenishment on call, is the alternative when the volume is constant but the date moves. The gain is in lead time and flow rather than in unit price: the saving comes from an amortised setup and from no preparation on each replenishment.
Despatch leaves the Lisbon hub. Delivery inside mainland Portugal has its own windows, worth confirming at proposal stage, because a conference in the north or on an island is not the same operation as a delivery in Lisbon, and transport enters the final calculation.
A complete quotation carries three parts: item and quantity, technique and lead time, price and tier. Any proposal that leaves the MOQ out is not comparing the same thing you are, and that is the most common omission when suppliers are compared.
Artwork and files
We work with vector files, in AI, EPS, PDF or SVG, with the fonts included or converted to outlines. A PDF opened in the prepress application is the safest format, because it keeps scale and colour exactly as they were defined at source.
Pantone is the working standard: with a closed colour reference, screen printing and embroidery reproduce the requested tone consistently across batches. Gradients and photographs work better in DTG and DTF, where digital printing skips the separation of colours.
Fine detail, lines below half a millimetre and very small type are lost in a polyester transfer and in an embroidery stitch. Where the detail is what carries the brand, the number of colours and the size of the print area decide whether the logo survives the technique.
The artwork proof goes out before production, and production starts only after your approval. We send the proof with the artwork applied over the real fabric colour, because reading a logo on a white background misleads whoever will wear the item.
How to send a brief
A good brief answers three questions: which product, how many, and by when. With those three answers we can propose the technique, the substrate and the lead time, and return a quotation with tiered pricing.
If you have artwork, send the vector file with the fonts indicated and a colour reference. If you do not have artwork yet, describe the item and its use, and we will help you choose the substrate and the composition. In both cases what drives the deadline is the date of artwork approval.
For recurring orders, state the frequency and the estimated consumption. From that we can build an annual plan with permanent stock, call-off replenishment and the same artwork, which usually lowers the unit cost and removes the rush from every replenishment.
Also describe where the item will be used: outside, indoors, in contact with water, or in a setting with restrictions. That changes the choice of material and finish, and the answer takes one line in the brief but can save an entire production run.
If the order requires certification, name the standard and the body that requires it. We check the documentation before quoting, because an item that does not meet the standard has no price, only a waiting time until homologation is done.
Sustainability and certification
Sustainability turns up in more briefs every year, and the number of labels on an item does not replace verification. GOTS certifies cotton textile of biological origin, GRS certifies recycled polyester, and OEKO-TEX attests the absence of harmful substances in the finished textile, not the origin of the fibre.
They are three different things, and confusing them is common. A garment with GOTS may be dyed conventionally and with high water consumption, and a recycled item may carry no valid textile certificate at all. The useful question to a supplier is always the same: which certificate covers this exact item, and who issued it.
Recycled material changes the hand feel and the durability of the fabric, so a recycled blend does not replace a virgin fibre one for one. Where the use is heavy, such as a work vest or a bag carried every day, the choice of fabric matters more than the label.
For printed items, the ink matters as much as the substrate. Water-based inks on cotton and polyester meet the restrictions that apply to skin contact, and low-solvent inks are the usual choice for synthetic surfaces. On composite and coated substrates, ask which ink system was used, because adhesion failures appear months later, after the event, when replacement is no longer possible.
In public tenders, the documentation travels with the offer. We ask which certificate applies to this item, what the certifying body is, and until which date the certificate is valid. A certificate that expired last year is worth nothing in an audit, and it is cheaper to find that out before the order than during it.
Packaging deserves a note of its own. Plastic wrapping, tape and foam add to the volume of the shipment and to the cost of transport, and at an event with a large flow of visitors the packaging can weigh more than the item itself. A cardboard box and a paper bag solve the same problem for less money.
Mistakes that cost money
The first mistake is buying per piece rather than per tier, ignoring that the price of 50 pieces and the price of 500 are not the same price. The second is choosing the technique from the catalogue image rather than from the substrate, and finding out late that the colour does not hold on dark cotton. The third is leaving the artwork proof to the end, when the production lead time is already running.
There is a subtler mistake too: sending artwork at low resolution or as a screen image. Screen printing needs vector outlines, embroidery needs an image with firm contrast, and DTG accepts photography, but none of the three will enlarge a 300 by 300 pixel picture without showing it.
All of them are avoided by the same decision: settle the item, the quantity and the date before any quotation. That is the reverse of the usual order, and it is the one that produces proposals you can compare between suppliers.
The cost of a mistake shows up later, in stock that sits still, in a piece that can no longer be reused, and in a reaction date that has been missed. For a conference order, that cost is the stand space itself.
What to order together
Two articles ordered together cost less than two separate orders, because the preparation is shared. A shirt and a mug for the same conference share one colour separation, and screen printing starts to pay back from 25 to 50 pieces.
The welcome pack is the most common example. It brings together one everyday item, one keepsake item and one connecting item, and works both as an individual piece and as a set of welcome gifts. The pages for each product type explain the composition, and the type by sector family shows which sectors buy the most sets.
The delegate kit is the other extreme: the badge, the backpack, the shirt and the notebook leave in one consignment and arrive at the same address, which cuts the number of shipments and the risk of missing pieces. The point of attention is the date: every item has its own lead time, and the kit leaves only when the slowest one closes.
A combined order also simplifies the accounts: one invoice, one reference, one shipment. For recurring buying, it is worth fixing the complete set and treating replenishment as a block, rather than letting each item run on its own.
When permanent stock pays
Call-off only pays when the turnover is high. If a crew shirt stays in the cupboard for months, call-off costs more than a series of small orders, because the tied-up stock and the storage go into the calculation.
It pays when consumption is constant and predictable, when the number of colours and sizes is fixed, and when seasonality is low. It is the typical case for a retail chain uniform, where three new joiners arrive every week with the same size profile.
The balance point depends on how long stock stands. Stock that sits for four months already pays for a year of manufacturing over a short period of use, and in that case ordering on call is better.
The practical question for the supplier is simple: how many pieces do I need to hold to answer one week of demand, and how long would they stand before the first replenishment. The answer decides whether call-off is a saving or a hidden cost.
Every page in the matrix
559 pages, sorted alphabetically by the title of each article. Pick the row that matches your brief and open the page for the full specification.
Request a quote
Tell us the product, the quantity and the deadline. We reply within one working day with the technique we recommend, the applicable MOQ and the price in EUR ex-VAT.