Gear a roster actually wears
Team orders are their own animal. You are not buying one item for one person — you are buying a size run for a roster that changes, plus fan gear for parents, plus something the coaches can wear in November when the wind comes off the river. Get the mix right and the gear shows up at every practice and every away game. Get it wrong and half of it sits in a bin in somebody's garage.
We have been outfitting Louisville and Southern Indiana teams for 35 years — youth leagues, high school programs, church groups, campus orgs, 5K committees, volunteer crews, and college athletics through work like our University of Kentucky and UofL projects. These are the five things that stay in rotation all season.
1. The everyday tee that isn't the game jersey
Separate your on-field uniform from your spirit wear. The uniform is a spec item. The spirit tee is what the roster actually lives in — school, practice, the ride home.
For that piece, the blank matters more than the print. A Bella+Canvas 3001 or Next Level 3600 in a 4.2 oz ringspun cotton has a soft hand and a fitted drape that teenagers will wear. Comfort Colors 1717 is a heavier 6.1 oz garment-dyed tee with a broken-in feel that works well for booster and alumni gear. Gildan heavyweight is the budget end — fine for a one-day tournament giveaway, not what you want as the shirt someone wears twice a week.
Screen printing is the right method here. Past 24 pieces the cost per piece drops hard, and a properly cured plastisol print survives a season of washing. Published range on printed tees is roughly $8–$15 depending on garment and color count. See how much custom apparel costs for the full breakdown.
2. Names and numbers on something people keep
Numbers on the jersey are expected. Numbers on the hoodie are what players actually treasure.
Two ways to do it. Screen-printed numbers are cheapest at volume but require a separate screen per number, so they only pencil out on large uniform runs. Heat-applied twill or vinyl numbers are the practical choice for a 15–40 person roster: no per-number screen charge, clean edges, and you can add a last name across the shoulders without redoing setup.
A tip that saves money every year: put the year, not the roster, on the front. If you print "2026 Ridgeview Baseball" instead of listing every name, the shirt still works when three kids move away in March.
3. Sideline layers built for Kentucky weather
Spring ball here means 40 degrees and drizzle in March and 88 with full humidity by May. One layer does not cover that.
The reliable set is a quarter-zip and a hooded sweatshirt. Look at Port Authority for value-priced fleece and soft shells, and step up to The North Face or Patagonia for coaches, board members, and anyone whose layer needs to look good at a school function. Embroidery is the right call on fleece and soft shell — the stitch reads clean on textured fabric and it will not crack the way a print can on a heavy nap. Our screen print vs embroidery post covers when to use which.
Add a structured cap. Embroidered, not printed, so it holds up through a season of sweat and rain. Caps run roughly $12–$22 depending on the profile and stitch count.
4. Fan and parent gear that funds the season
The team is 20 people. The families, grandparents, and neighbors are ten times that, and they will happily pay retail for something with the logo on it.
This is where spirit wear becomes fundraising instead of an expense. The approach that works: pick three or four items — a tee, a hoodie, a cap, maybe a stadium blanket or tumbler — set a price with your margin built in, and run one order window. Fans get gear, the program gets money, and nobody is holding inventory.
If you want to skip the order window entirely, a company store works just as well for a booster club. It stays open, families order and pay directly, and we fulfill. No treasurer chasing checks in a group text.
5. A bag with an actual job
Skip the flimsy giveaway drawstring. A team bag people keep is a real duffel or a cinch pack in a heavier denier — 600D polyester at minimum, and canvas or 1680D if it is going to hold cleats and bats.
Bags decorate well with embroidery on the front panel or a large screen print on canvas. Add the player number to a side pocket and it stops being a generic bag and starts being their bag, which is exactly why it survives the season.
Running the order without losing your mind
The gear choices are the easy part. Here is what actually derails team orders.
- Size the roster before you price it. Youth sizing runs different from adult, and adult 2XL and up usually carries an upcharge. Collect sizes on a form, not by text. Order a couple of extra mediums and larges — you will need them.
- Offer both cuts. Unisex is the default, but a women's cut and tall sizes matter for coaches, parents, and older rosters. Same design, better fit, more shirts worn.
- Send good art once. Vector .AI, .EPS, or .PDF is ideal; 300 DPI raster works. If all you have is a JPG of the logo off a flyer, we will clean it up or redraw it at no charge. See the artwork guidelines.
- Plan for the mid-season add. Kids join. Someone loses a hoodie. We keep your art and thread colors on file, so a reorder in October matches the batch from August exactly — same PMS ink, same thread.
- Build in lead time, but know rush exists. Two weeks is comfortable. When a tournament gets added to the schedule, rush turnaround is available.
Every order gets a free digital proof, usually within one business day, and nothing goes on press until you approve it. That matters most on team gear, where a misspelled last name is not a small problem.
Ready to outfit your roster? Start an order or get in touch — tell us the sport, the headcount, and the season start date, and we will build a mix that fits the budget.
