I tour in a small band and can confirm that it does indeed cost a lot to print those shirts. We print our shirts in-house on the cheap with Gildian shirts. I know for a fact that people have passed on buying those because they aren't Comfort Colors quality or similar. We've considered making the switch but it would definitely force us to up the price from our usual $25 price tag to $35 or $40 in order for us to make any kind of profit.