Custom Team Sport Apparel: The Three Tiers Every Club Needs

Clubs usually start by ordering playing shirts and stop there. Three months later the coach is in a plain polo, the parents have nothing to wear at away games, and the team photo shows eleven matching shirts standing next to five people who look unconnected to the club.

This guide covers the whole programme: which garments each group actually needs, why sublimation suits sport better than print, how to handle names and numbers, and how to budget for a club that grows every season.

The Three Tiers of Team Apparel

Split the club into competition wear, team wear, and supporter wear. Each tier has a different budget, a different fabric, and a different number of pieces.

The tiers do not have to launch together. Most clubs order competition wear first, add team wear at the start of the next season, and open supporter wear once there is enough demand to justify it. Our guide to spirit wear and online team stores covers that third tier in detail.

Budget splits unevenly across the three. Competition wear carries the highest cost per piece because it needs performance fabric and individual layout for names and numbers. Team wear costs less because it is usually one design repeated. Supporter wear can be close to cost, since the point is visibility on the touchline rather than margin.

One thing worth settling at the start: whether all three tiers share a single palette. They should. A club whose playing shirt is navy and gold but whose supporter tee is black and white has three separate identities instead of one, and the photos from a match day show it.

Why Sublimation Suits Sport

Sublimation dyes the design into polyester fibre rather than layering it on top, so the shirt stays as breathable as a plain one and nothing cracks or peels after repeated washing.

This matters more in sport than in any other category. A printed graphic sits on the surface as a layer, which blocks airflow exactly where a player sweats most. After twenty washes at a club that trains twice a week, the edges of that layer start to lift.

Sublimation has no layer. The 92% polyester, 8% spandex knit we use wicks moisture, stretches with movement, and carries the design edge to edge, including across seams and around sleeve caps. Sponsor logos, club crests, stripes, and player numbers all live in the same dyed surface.

The tradeoff is fabric. Sublimation needs polyester, so a cotton-feel shirt is not an option in this route. For supporter wear where comfort beats performance, a DTF-printed cotton tee is the better choice. Browse sublimated polos for competition and team wear.

Handling Names and Numbers

Individual names and numbers make every shirt a unique piece, which affects both the artwork stage and the reorder. Decide early whether you need them.

A shirt with a name on the back cannot be passed to the next player. That is fine for a senior squad with a stable roster and expensive for a junior club where half the team changes every year. Many clubs put numbers on without names for exactly this reason: numbers can be reassigned, names cannot.

If you do want names, collect the full roster with correct spelling before artwork begins. A late addition is not a small change in sublimation, because each shirt is laid out individually before printing. Submitting nineteen names and adding the twentieth a week later means a separate production item.

Also agree the number range up front. A squad of fifteen that might grow to twenty should order numbers one through twenty-two now rather than adding three shirts in two months at a different dye batch.

How Many Pieces Does a Club Need?

Count the playing squad, then add the bench, the coaching staff, and two or three spares in your most common sizes. That number is usually a third higher than clubs first estimate.

Sublimated and printed team apparel orders from a single piece, so nothing forces you to over-buy. Embroidery becomes available from twenty pieces, which suits team polos for a club of that size or larger.

Size spread is where clubs get caught. A neat curve of small through extra large looks sensible on paper and rarely matches a real adult recreational squad, which tends to skew larger than youth sport. Collect actual sizes rather than estimating, even if it takes a week of chasing people.

For volume, ordering all tiers in one go lowers the cost per piece more than three separate seasonal orders. If the budget allows it, that is the less expensive route. If it does not, start with competition wear and build from there.

Clubs with junior and senior squads should count them separately rather than as one order. The size ranges barely overlap, and a junior squad grows out of its shirts within a season while a senior squad keeps them for years. Treating them as one number leads to a box of unused mediums.

Keep a written record of what you ordered: garment style, colour names, thread colours, crest dimensions, and the number range used. When the club committee changes hands two years from now, that file is what lets the next person reorder the same kit instead of starting the specification again.

Fitting Sponsor Logos In

Sponsors pay for visibility, so agree the position and size in writing before artwork starts. Sublimation can place a logo anywhere on the garment, which makes the conversation easier than it used to be.

A typical layout gives the main sponsor the front chest, a secondary sponsor the upper back or a sleeve, and the club crest the left chest. With sublimation you are not limited to flat panels, so a sponsor can run along a shoulder or down a side seam if the design calls for it.

Ask sponsors for their logo as a vector file if they have one. If all they can send is a small image from a website, our team rebuilds it as decoration-ready artwork at no charge, but the result depends on what we start with. A logo pulled from a low-resolution web page will look softer than one supplied properly.

One practical warning: sponsors change. A shirt with a two-year sponsor printed into the fabric cannot be updated when that sponsor leaves. Clubs with rotating sponsors sometimes keep the playing shirt clean and put sponsor logos on training wear instead, which is less expensive to replace.

Which Sports Does This Suit?

Sports where the shirt is the kit suit us best. Sports that need a full uniform with matching shorts, socks, and protective gear are better served by a specialist supplier.

We produce shirts, polos, and printed apparel. That covers golf, bowling, softball, cycling, volleyball, running, darts, pickleball, fishing tournaments, and every club sport where players supply their own lower half.

Browse the collections directly: bowling shirts, softball jerseys, cycling jerseys, volleyball jerseys, or the full team apparel range.

We are straightforward about the limit. If your basketball or football programme needs shirts, shorts, socks, and numbered practice reversibles as one matched set, a full-kit supplier will serve you better than we will.

How to Order Team Sport Apparel

Step 1: Send your crest and colors

Send the club crest in any format, plus your colors and any sponsor logos. Tell us the sport, the squad size, and the date of your first fixture.

Step 2: Review the free mockup

You get a digital mockup within 24 hours showing crest, sponsors, and numbering on the actual garment. Check the sponsor sizes against whatever you agreed with them.

Step 3: Lock the roster and sizes

Submit the final name list with spellings confirmed, the number range including spares, and actual sizes collected from players rather than estimated.

Step 4: Approve and produce

Production runs 12 to 18 business days from approval, shipping worldwide. Teams ordering for a season opener should start 45 to 60 days ahead to leave room for changes.

Team Sport Apparel FAQ

What is the minimum order for team sport apparel?

Sublimated and printed team apparel orders from a single piece. Embroidery is available from twenty pieces, which suits team polos for a club of that size or larger.

Can you add player names and numbers?

Yes. Each shirt is laid out individually, so names and numbers are dyed into the fabric rather than applied afterwards. Submit the full roster with confirmed spellings before artwork begins, because late additions become separate production items.

Why choose sublimation over printing for sport?

Sublimation dyes the design into the fibre, so nothing sits on the surface to block airflow or peel after washing. A printed graphic is a layer on top, which reduces breathability exactly where players sweat most.

Which fabric do you use for team shirts?

A 92% polyester, 8% spandex knit for sublimated team and competition wear, which wicks moisture and stretches with movement. Cotton is available for supporter wear through DTF print instead.

Can you place sponsor logos anywhere?

Yes. Sublimation is not limited to flat panels, so a sponsor logo can run across a shoulder, down a side seam, or across the upper back. Agree the position and size with the sponsor before artwork begins.

How far ahead should a club order?

Production runs 12 to 18 business days from approved mockup. Teams ordering for a season opener should start 45 to 60 days ahead, which leaves room for a color change, a late roster addition, or a size that comes up short.

Do you supply full kits with shorts and socks?

No. We produce shirts, polos, and printed apparel. Sports where players supply their own lower half are a good fit. Programmes needing a fully matched uniform set are better served by a specialist full-kit supplier.

Fortera Apparel Team
forteraapparel.com | support@forteraapparel.com