Sports Club Kit: Ordering Around the Season Calendar
By The Velocity Wear Team
Order club kit during the close season, not pre-season. Sublimated match kit takes around 15–20 working days from artwork approval, plus 2–5 working days tracked UK delivery — and sponsor artwork, the usual bottleneck, needs collecting before any of that starts.
The Sponsor Problem
Almost every late club kit order traces back to the same cause. Sponsors confirm late, send low-resolution files, change their mind about placement after proofing, or add a second sponsor at the last minute — and each of those resets the artwork stage while the season start does not move. The clubs that receive kit on time treat sponsor collection as the first task of the process rather than a detail to resolve during production.
Building the Full Range
A club typically needs several distinct things, and ordering them together is both cheaper and simpler.
- Match kit — usually sublimated polyester, numbered, with sponsor placement fixed before approval.
- Training kit — ordered in greater quantity than match kit because it is worn far more often.
- Coaching and touchline wear — embroidered softshells or fleeces, specified for standing in weather rather than playing.
- Club leisurewear — embroidered polos and hoodies sold to members and supporters, which often funds the rest of the range.
Squad Sizing
Sports squads have unusually wide size ranges, and match kit is frequently cut closer than training wear. Collect sizes properly rather than estimating from last season, since squads change and players do too. Order a buffer above squad size — kit gets lost, damaged and outgrown mid-season, and a replacement ordered alone in November is disproportionately expensive because it pays its own setup.
Numbering and Names
Fix the specification once — font, size, position — and apply it consistently across the squad. Numbers and names are usually applied by vinyl because every piece differs, which no screen-based method handles economically. Confirm every name spelling in writing against a squad list before approval; personalised elements are the hardest thing to correct after production and the most conspicuous when wrong.
“"The sponsor who sends their logo in May is the reason the squad has kit in August."”
Consolidating for Cost
Bulk discounts reach up to around 40% as quantities rise, and a club ordering match kit, training wear, coaching kit and leisurewear separately lands far lower on the discount curve than the same total ordered as one run. For clubs with multiple teams or age groups, coordinating across the whole club rather than per team produces a substantially better per-piece cost — and has the additional benefit of keeping the kit consistent across sides.
Recording the Specification
Club committees change, and next year's kit officer will not remember this year's decisions. Record garment codes, colours, logo and sponsor dimensions, placements, numbering font and thread references, and hand them on. Clubs reorder the same kit for years, and a written specification is the difference between reproducing it and approximating it. Preview the full layout in the free Design Studio before approving and model quantities in the free instant price calculator.