Team Apparel: basic considerations
No apparel is more customized than team apparel. Team apparel is, by definition, the mark of a particular sports team. Team uniforms and warm-up clothes have to tell anyone who looks at them just what team the wear belongs to.
Of course, there is a full range of customizing options, not all of which can fit within all budgets. For a little league baseball team, simple embroidery or a couple of patches might have to do. But even team apparel that’s being adorned in the humblest fashion should be put in the hands of companies and shops that do customizing professionally. It is important that uniforms and related clothing have a satisfying appearance.
The decision about what text to put on the garments is limited in the sense that the team has just one name. While the team might be named for an animal, the graphics and symbols on the uniform should be chosen in consultation with the customizing company. Team apparel can look garish or drab if poor decisions about what kind of symbols and how to place them on the garment are made.
Screen-printing offers a more stylish and elegant way to add text and images to the garments. A variety of colors are available in which to render the logo or chosen graphic design of the team. Once again, aesthetic decisions should be made in concert with the experienced people who custom design clothing such as team apparel.
Some teams, looking to make a splash, opt to have photographs and fine details worked into their uniforms. A process called sublimation performs those kinds of jobs. Computer printing also allows for a myriad of text and image printing options.
Team apparel choices, of course, depend on the smart and appropriate selection of materials and color schemes. The nature of the sport and the archetypical image of the players of that sport will have to be factored in when deciding on the look of the team’s clothing. There is also the tradition of the team or of its affiliated school to take into consideration. The old great colleges of the Northeast will probably never deck out its players as does a soccer team, not to mention a NASCAR driver and his crew.
Naturally, an indispensible element in team wear is its comfort and durability. All sports make special demands on those who play them, so the clothing players wear must be up to the task. For instance, football uniforms must be worn in all kinds of weather. Teams, both college and professional, make a point of purchasing uniforms of different material in order that players may be comfortable in the various weather conditions they’ll be forced to play in.
Of course, team apparel has become popular with fans. Such items as caps, t-shirts, and sweatshirts are big sellers. Fans often go the route of customizing these items, adding their own names of the name of a loved one to the garment or cap. In fact, we probably wouldn’t speak or write much about team wear were it not for the proliferation in sales of professional and big name colleges’ apparel.
