am i looking at the wrong thing?
could someone please help me with the price and let me know if i have to buy a package from the postal service to mail it in or if i can use my own?
It depends on the weight - but probably no more than $20 for a fairly lightweight T-shirt. to the UK. Wrap it, address it and take it to the post office - they will weight it and tell you how much it will cost.
That is correct. It is amazingly high. Most people just buy a t-shirt from England to ship within the same country, for this very reason. There are tariffs to prevent imports of clothing. It does not matter what you ship it in, it still costs that much, for shirts.
I found a comment helpful from a shipper who often sent packages from the USA to England. He recommends using Canada Post and maintains that UPS and FedEx are much more expensive:
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index...
But you found the quote in the 100s?
Look at this page. It seems a t-shirt as a gift send to England should be duty-free with certain value. That's good. You must declare the value to avoid the duty.
http://www.canadapost.ca/tools/pg/manual...
Here is the contact page to contact Canada Post with any of your questions including your question about packaging. Ask them please to get the right answers.
As Christopher says. You can use your own packaging. Take it to the Post Office for weighing. They will also give you a Customs Form which must be attached to the package
Actually finding a UK shirt seller who can direct ship to your friend may be the way to go if possible. (some are touchy about billing and shipping addresses not matching)
a couple examples from google where you can upload artwork.
https://uktshirtprinting.com/
http://www.garmentprinting.co.uk/service...
