Team Uniform Stuff: Guide to Custom Sports Uniforms

Custom Uniform Tips from Team Sports Planet

In honor of the recent post on our namesake, Sports Uniform Stuff, I decided to write a brief overview of sublimated uniforms. So if the lingo of the custom team uniform world is still pretty foreign to you, hopefully this post can shed some light on the subject.


What is a Sublimated Uniform?

Tops Well... sublimation is still a fairly new trend in custom team uniforms. A "sublimated uniform" refers to a uni where the colors, numbers, emblems & names are dyed directly into the fabric. This is vastly different than traditional uniforms where decoration is generally screen printed, embroidered, tackle twilled, heat transferred, ect. Instead of different colors being different pieces of fabric sewn together(like side inserts, piping, ect), all of the colors are printed on one single piece of fabric. While this is still fairly new technology, in the last couple of years more than a few brands have jumped onto the "sublimation boat" so there are more choices than ever before.

What's so great about this stuff?

One of the big selling points is its longevity. Because everything is dyed into the fabric, your uniform colors, number, emblem, ect, will never peel, crack or fade with proper care. Also since nothing is actually attached to the jersey, they are often billed as being much lighter than traditional jerseys.

Another benefit of sublimated uniforms is the design freedom that comes with the sublimation process. A sublimated uniform can give your team a truly unique style. Again, because everything is dyed directly onto the fabric you can generally use as many colors as you want for your emblem, and the little extras like names, numbers, and outlines don't generally raise the price of your jersey.
Of course, while you don't pay for the "extras" the base price of these uniforms is generally pretty high. Currently, you can expect to pay around one hundred dollars per player. Of course the price tag can be combated with the "they last longer" argument. Since your decoration shouldn't show any wear and tear (with proper care) you can usually get more than one season out of these uniforms.


With sublimated uniforms "the look" can sometimes trump quality & performance. You may run into certain fabric restrictions when looking into sublimated uniforms, so as always, try and keep in mind what will work best for your team.


So how does this crazy stuff work?

I won't get into the finite details, but basically it works by dying the colors into the fabric using special printers. First you get a mock up of your uniform, then a cut-out of your design is printed onto special paper with heat sensitive dye. The paper & uniform fabric are placed into a heat press. The front & back of the uniform are printed separately onto the fabric. Once the printing is done, your uniform is cut out, sewn together, and wala you have a sublimated uniform.


I've included a couple of pictures for your viewing pleasure, and of course if you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message and I'll do my very best to get you an answer.

Sorry for the delay between updates. It's been busy here in Philadelphia. Since I've already covered sublimation, I think it's only fitting that I touch on screen printing as well. No doubt it is how most team uniforms are still decorated. I'm sure many people already have a basic idea of how this process works. But I happen to have a lot of nice pictures, so hopefully I can shed even more light on this subject.

Obviously it the process starts when an order is placed. You can generally choose a stock design, or submit your own art. Whatever your choice, your emblem will be designed and put into a vector format. Once the team emblem you love is in a vector format, the fun part begins.

After your art is designed it's time to take it from a digital format to one that can be placed on your jersey. The first step here is measuring your jersey and printing out your artwork on a piece of translucent paper called Vellum. This will later be used to make your artwork into a screen. In screen printing, all the colors have to be placed onto your jersey separately. So a separate screen will have to be made for every color in your design.

Here's what a finished screen looks like. So how to we get from the picture above to this? Well without getting into too many of the details... a screen is created by stretching a piece of thin fabric across a wooden frame. Then Photo-Emulsion chemicals are spread across the screen, and the printed vellum is attached to screen. After the screen dries a photo negative of your image is created, leaving a blank space for ink to pass through the material.

There are many types of screen printing machines, each with different levels of automation. However these are the pictures I have, so this is the one I'll feature. First ink is placed on the screen, and the screen is placed over a jersey. Then a squeegee is used to press the ink onto the garment. Afterword, the uniform is hit with heat to dry the ink. This process is repeated until all the colors are done and the ink is thoroughly dry.


Afterword, numbers are placed on the jersey, generally via heat transfer(as shown in the picture above) and wala you have yourself a custom team uniform ready to go for volleyball, softball, baseball, basketball, soccer..or any other sport your heart desires. And that's how your custom uniform is decorated.


Here's a couple of links for anyone still curious..

Do It Yourself Screenprinting Instructable

Screen Printing on Wikipedia

Screen Printing on About

TSP Design Services

SGIA-Specialty Graphic Imaging Assoc.-Professional Association with many informative links

So your team's uniform is all picked out, you have a great name, and narrowed your team colors down. What's next, how do you pick out the perfect art for your custom jersey? Well here a 5 tips to keep in mind that may help you create your brand new jerseys.

Custom Uniform Tips from Team Sports Planet
Tip #1 Legibility is a good thing

There are millions of fonts out there. So when deciding on a logo, keep in mind that you not only want a cool graphic, you want a font that looks great & is easy to read. There are a few fonts to avoid, particularly if you are using all capital letters in your team emblem. For example, many script, and "old english" style fonts look just plain bad in all caps. Also if your team name is very long, too many capital letters squished together may make your emblem cluttered and difficult to read.

for more

Custom Uniform Tips from Team Sports Planet
Uni's come in all types of fabric. Which one is the best for you? While I can't answer that question-- I can give you some very basic information that might help.

Dazzle Fabric
Perhaps one of the most popular fabrics used in Team Uniforms is Dazzle Fabric. Although it is used mainly at the youth and high school level--it remains very popular. It is known for its lightweight feel & "shiny" look. (also it is fairly inexpensive when compared to some of the higher-end fabrics.)If you'd like more information on Dazzle Fabric, check out this link: What is Dazzle Fabric?



Moisture Management or Moisture Wicking Fabric
If you've ever looked into buying team uniforms, you have probably noticed that the pricing of these fabrics can sometimes be a little higher--depending on the brand. It seems that most brands have their own moisture management fabrics with their own special name. (Like Wilson's ComfortDry 2.0, or Mizuno's DryLite, or UA's HeatGear-- just to name a few.)
So what is the big fuss about? Well it is better than traditional fabric at moving moisture away from the body. It transports the moisture from the skin to the outside of the uniform where it evaporates. The idea is that players will stay cool, dry, and hopefully perform better.

So is it worth the extra money?
Maybe not for your ten-year-old's T-Ball team, but if you are buying for a more competitive team moisture management fabric might be worth looking into.
Here's a link to an article with a pretty in-depth explanation of how this stuff works: Moisture Absorbent Fabric


Mesh Fabric
Unfortunately, I can only give you a pretty general description of this type of fabric. There are many different kinds, and it is also used in some moisture management fabric. (For example, the columbia blue uniform above is made from "moisture wicking cool mesh") It is known for having small, circular holes throughout the fabric. For the most part, the size and shape of the hole determines the specific type of mesh it is- and there are many different types. (Such as Port-hole Mesh, and Micromesh) You'll probably recognize this fabric most often in practice gear, or reversible basketball uniforms where the holes are larger. This is shown in the Royal Basketball jersey to the left.


Compression Fabrics
Okay, this really isn't a type of fabric. But when shopping for uni's you'll likely see this phrase a lot, "Compression Fit". So it is worth mentioning. This type of uniform is often made from a combination of stretchy fabrics(like nylon, lycra, or spandex )and polyester. When you see this in the description, it means the uniform is going to be soft, light, and tight-fitting. It's found most often in volleyball uniforms & performance wear. If you're buying compression uniforms for a team, you should to pay extra attention to the sizing as sometimes they run small.

Baseball Uniforms  Baseball Caps

Cheerleading Uniforms Throwback Uniform

Third Jersey  Soccer Uniforms

Football Numbers Wrestling Singlets

As you may or may not know,Team Sports Planet is based in Philadephia, PA. So we were ecstatic when our home team won the World Series. The parade went right by our office,and we managed to get lots of great pictures. So click the links below to see team TSP celebrate with the rest of Philadelphia.
Parade Pictures&Parade Video