Strong, confident girls play sports and they want what they wear to look and perform the same way. If team dealers don’t know exactly what that it, they need to ask for the details on style, fabric and fit. Then seal the deal with fresh, original decorating and serve it up with hassle-free, fun-to-shop online team stores.

A winning game plan starts with trending styles. Don’t trust us? Well, then we refer you to the fashion experts, who all seem to have team sports in mind with their 2019-20 projections.

• This year expect requests for more relaxed fits with pockets for phones and other stuff. Jogger pants and hoodies stay relevant and crewneck sweatshirts may be coming back. Vintage looks are everywhere, from tracksuits in fitted styles to retro graphics and tie-dye. (wmagazine.com)

• Girls want comfortable and durable fabrics, including mesh panels on tops and sports bras. (theedgefitnessclubs.com)

• Complete the look with savvy decorating. Inspired designs result in happy teams with personality. Colorful logos, saturated colors, metallic shades and color blocking liven up the grays and blacks of athletic basics. (staytrendy.com)

• Screenprinting reigns on the fashion runway. (Teen Vogue)

Fashion Equals Decorating

“The team business is mostly a decorating business now,” says Chuck Ross, owner of Hobbs Sporting Goods, Dublin, GA. “Teams and their fans want something new every year, so we do things such as change up the base color and the decoration to keep things fresh.”

Creativity and attention to detail sells the team look to female athletes.

“For the girls you need to deliver a feminine look that still screams TEAM,” says Jeffrey Schaefer, owner of E.I. Sports & Apparel, Evansville, IN. “Artwork needs to stay fresh and creative for women’s design. We service that need by a full-time graphic artist on staff.”

Shopping in online team stores is fun for girls, who tend to buy more, and keeps screenprinting and embroidery operations busy and profitable.

“The way I see it, our team stores provide a service that takes all the headaches out for the team coach or team parent. Our in-house embroidery, tackle twill and screenprinting capability are a must-have for us to deliver the decorated apparel on time,” says Josh Miller, VP–sales for Scholastic Sports Sales, Manlius, NY. “Many of our team stores double as fundraisers. Everyone gets what they want and our margins are good. It’s a win/win.”

The market for female athletes has never been stronger. “Girls are a dominating demographic in the sports market, as participation has seen a steady increase over the last few years. In fact, girls’ participation at the high school level in 2017/2018 reached an all-time high,” points out Stephanie Briske, content writer for Stahls’. “This market will continue to grow, so it’s important to be aware of evolving fabrics and successful ways to decorate this new apparel.”

Seeing is Selling

Design mockups are essential sales tools because seeing is selling, especially for the discerning female athlete.

“The artwork created by our full-time graphic artist often closes the sale for us,” says Schaefer. “When our sales rep pitches a warm-up for the girls’ softball team, for example, our designer mocks up two or three custom looks. Nine times out of 10 times they like what they see and we get the sale.”

Inspired designs keep customers, attract new ones and sell more product. “Our designer can quickly alter the logo design to keep fanwear fresh and distinctive,” says Miller. “By modifying the hoodies from the year before, you sell more because everyone wants the new thing. Even the mom who already has three sweatshirts is more apt to buy another.”

Tricks of the trade boost creativity and sales as well. “Screenprinting is volume driven, but price is based on the number of colors,” says Miller. “We can take a dark green sweatshirt and make the logo black and green with a white outline, so the customer pays for two colors because the green sweatshirt color shows through.”

Miller gets requests for heathered looks, metallics and gradients, while tie dye and digital camo have dwindled. “Full and partial heathers are very popular, something Under Armour popularized with a quarter-zip,” he says. “We sell some metallic colors, including a lot of Under Armour Fly-by shorts with metallic trim.”

Certain retro looks are making a comeback. “We’ve seen some tracksuits with the ‘Run DMC’ look in old-school fabric and the checkered Umbro soccer shorts,” say Miller. “We sell a good number of bucket hats in our team stores for baseball, lacrosse and girls’ golf, and crew neck sweatshirts are selling again.”

Screenprinting and embroidery are the choice for decorated team wear that isn’t game apparel. “Most team store apparel is screenprinted, with embroidery for polo shirts, some left chest logos on hoodies and half-zips,” says Ross. “It’s mostly team colors, but every so often a team adds a new color for a special event or other reason.”

The use of custom fonts adds a new twist. “We’re seeing more requests for custom fonts. A team will see a font they like, different from the typical athletic fonts we use for screenprinting and embroidery, and we find it for them,” says Ross. “It’s a small trend so far but it adds a new look.”

Right-sized artwork can also make or break the look. “The design of the garment determines the size of the graphic,” says Ross. “Maybe you can’t accommodate an eight-inch number on a sweatshirt because of the seaming, so full front graphic isn’t an option due to limitations of the garment itself.”

Practical expertise and technical know-how contributes to the quality of the end product. “The biggest change in the industry in the last five to10 years is the proliferation of performance fabrics. The cloths are all very technical, with multiple blends including spandex, Lycra, stretch and so on,” says Schaefer. “It’s a learning curve to deal with bleed or fade-through inks and there are a lot of slippery slopes. Because of that, when we find a vendor cloth that doesn’t present those issues of bleeding and fading, we stick with them.”

Miller steers customers to brands backed by his buying group. “We stick with Sports Inc. brands to avoid screenprinting pitfalls. Some performance fabrics are better than others and those treated with a cationic dye are less likely to bleed,” he says. “Everyone has their own branded version, whether it’s Alleson’s Extreme Mesh, Augusta/Holloway’s True Hue or SportTek’s PosiCharge.”

Feeling the Heat

Vinyl heat transfers are vital to the decorating arsenal. They are often used to add names and numbers, to create custom looks or to problem solve decorating challenges.

“Heat applied materials are perfect for today’s more flexible, stretchable and breathable fabrics because they won’t scorch heat-sensitive garments,” says Stahls’ Briske. “A wide range of materials in vibrant colors, reflective accents, new patterns and tone-on-tone looks provide creative flexibility beyond any other decorating method.”

Texture and dimension are popular choices, whether it’s an emblem on the jersey a team logo, she adds. “Adding texture can also elevate your brand recognition by creating names and numbers in materials like distressed, suede, and faux appliqué.”

Schaefer uses a Rolland VersaCam printer/cutter for vinyl heat transfers. “It’s very versatile. We use it to print, cut and heat press names, numbers and logos, decals for cars windows and baseball helmets. We also offer full color print/cut heat press logos for stadium chairs,” he says.

In addition to names and numbers, Ross turns to custom vinyl heat transfers when a decoration is very detailed and colorful. “We use Transfer Express to create a custom transfer in these cases because it’s a great result and typically easier then creating screens,” he says.

Fit to be Sold

When it comes to selling the girls’ market, trending styles and fresh decorating are essential, but don’t underestimate the importance of fit (or the validity of your assumptions).

“Women are looking for teamwear that is cut for the female silhouette with fabrics that are lighter weight and extremely durable,” says Louisa Santosa, technical designer at Champro. “Flexibility is a key trend with either mechanical stretch or with spandex blends and team colors with bright or fashion color accents are becoming more popular.”

Happy customers require that garment fit is an upfront consideration.

“The biggest challenge we face every day with the girls’ team market, and it’s not even close, is getting the right fit. It’s not artwork, its not delivery. There are so many vendors and so many cuts that we almost insist that teams try stuff on,” says Schaefer. “For girls’ sports in general, whoever is ordering wants the girls fitted perfectly. We have invested a lot of dollars in try-on kits for custom uniforms to address the fit issue. We try very hard to suggest and use our expertise to avoid pitfalls because we see where the problems happen every day. “

Sizing kits and charts are essential.

“Girls are much more picky about sizing than boys. Cheerleaders are the most picky, but we also hear it with girls’ basketball shorts,” says Ross. “We have sizing charts on the store websites and at times teams request a size run for fitting purposes.”

Miller appreciates the pop-up size charts integrated into OrderMyGear’s online platform for every stock garment. “When a customer is ordering the Under Armour Hustle hoodie from a team store, for instance, a size chart pops up to help customer order the correct size,” he says.  

The Body Shape Challenge

You never know what trends may overthrow assumptions about fit.

“In the last two to three years we’ve noticed that girls prefer the men’s cut styles for hoodies and T-shirts from Under Armour,” says Miller. “Before women’s cuts became more common, girls used to wear those Champion sweatpants with the top rolled down because they didn’t fit right. Now that’s how they’re wearing them again when they don’t want low-rise.”

Choosing one item to fit every body shape is a particular challenge. Consider all the vendors and fit options for softball pants. “When there is a great deal of disparity in the size of girls on the team, we try to give them the benefit of our experience. ‘Hey coach, did you consider these pants?’ Sometimes they take our advice and sometimes not,” says Schaefer.

With those challenges in mind, Champro this year introduced two softball pants. “The Champro Hot Shot are yoga- inspired softball pants that feature stretch poly/spandex fabric with an extra-wide, ultra comfortable waistband that can be worn up for extra coverage or folded down for a low-rise fit,” says Champro creative manager Kurt Moriwaki. And its Surge softball pants are a stylish, low-rise pant.

Dynamic Team Sports also reimagined its softball uniforms to offer multiple fit jerseys with elastic hem knicker pant with pockets. “These are created with the option of lightweight, mid-weight or heavy weight material, structured with high stretch and mesh to provide the ultimate mobility for our ladies in the game,” says marketing manager Merissa Pence.