Custom Team Wear Manufacturing
Team wear is the only custom apparel where the garment belongs to a named person and the order is almost never finished. Players join, sizes change, kit gets lost, and a squad that started at eighteen is at twenty-four by the second half of the season. What decides whether team wear works is not the first batch — it is whether the fourth batch, ordered eight months later for three new joiners, is visibly the same kit. Wearzo holds the approved shade and artwork on record so it is.
The Reorder Is the Whole Job
Any manufacturer can produce a first batch of team kit. The test is the batch after it.
A team kit that does not match across batches stops being a kit. Three players in a marginally different shade of the club colour is more conspicuous than three players in a completely different shirt, because the eye reads it as a mistake rather than a choice.
Two things cause the drift. The first is dye lot — fabric dyed at a different time to a shade that was only ever approved by eye. The second is outsourced branding: when the printing or embroidery is job-worked to whoever is available, the thread colour, stitch density and placement all move a little each time.
Wearzo controls both. Shade is approved on a physical lab dip or sample and the approved reference is held on record against your order. Embroidery, DTF and screen printing are done in the same unit as the cutting and stitching, on the same machines, to the same digitised file — so a name and number applied in March and one applied in November come from the same source rather than from two suppliers' interpretations.
Names, Numbers and Crests
Per-person marking is what separates team wear from every other page in this branch. Each method behaves differently under washing and on the pitch.
| Marking | Method | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Club or company crest | Embroidery | Most durable through repeated washing. Digitised once, then identical on every future batch. |
| Player numbers | DTF or screen print | Large, high-contrast and legible at distance. DTF suits one-off numbers; screen printing suits a full set produced together. |
| Player names | DTF print or embroidery | Print is the usual choice — a name is unique per garment, so there is no economy in screens. Embroidery reads more premium on a jacket or track top. |
| Sponsor artwork | Screen print or DTF | Placement and size should be agreed at sample stage; sponsor logos have their own clear-space rules and are the commonest source of a rejected sample. |
The trade-offs between embroidery, DTF and screen printing in general are set out in the uniform branding methods guide.
Order Against a Squad List, Not an Estimate
Team wear is the one custom apparel order where the exact wearers are known by name. That advantage is routinely wasted by ordering a generic size spread.
- Measure the squad once, keep the list. A squad measurement sheet used across every subsequent order removes almost all reorder guesswork.
- Order a small buffer in the middle sizes. New joiners mid-season are certain; the sizes they will need are not. A handful of spare M and L pieces is cheaper than a three-piece reorder.
- Account for youth and adult grading separately. Academies running age groups need graded sizing per group, not one range stretched across all of them.
- Decide fit before the first sample. A training top worn over a base layer and one worn on its own are different garments. Agree it at sample stage — changing it later means a mismatched batch.
- Full ranges are in the size charts.
Garments That Suit a Team
Track Suits
Training and travel kit — the garment a squad is seen in most often off the pitch. Graded for youth and adult age groups.
Specifications →Sports & PT Kits
Playing kit for schools, academies and clubs, built for repeated washing across a season.
Specifications →House T-Shirts
Colour-coded team tees — the school-house pattern applied to any team split by colour.
Specifications →Polo T-Shirts
Corporate teams, coaching staff and officials — smarter than a tee, and takes an embroidered crest.
Specifications →Hoodies & Sweatshirts
Bench, warm-up and travel wear. The piece squad members keep wearing long after the season ends.
Specifications →Jackets
Touchline and travel outerwear, usually with an embroidered crest rather than a print.
Specifications →Frequently Asked Questions
Can you add player names and numbers?
Will a reorder eight months later match the original kit?
What is the minimum for a team order?
Can we add new players to the kit mid-season?
Kitting out a squad or a club?
Send the squad list, the garments and your crest artwork. We will quote it itemised and set the shade and embroidery references up so every later batch matches this one.