Sports Jerseys – Ready to Create Multiple Products at Once

Johannes Goebel

Selling personalized sports equipment comes with a few challenges. You will have to combine team branding and personalization for the individual athlete. In addition, sports clothes are usually ordered for an entire team. That´s why allowing for orders with multiple copies and data printing capabilities are a must. Take a look behind the scenes, discover the opportunities and configure your own sports jersey with our sample application.

When your customers order a personalized product, here´s what usually happens: they will pick a layout, add a name and a photo, maybe some additional layout elements, watch a preview, order and they´re done. Most products are unique gifts for one very special recipient. But some are not. What about an invitation to a party that goes out to 50 guests? Each card will have the same design and only a different name on it. Would you really want your customers to do the configuration for each card, again and again? That´s obviously not feasible. And there are more products that require some form of data entry to generate multiple versions at once, after the configuration is finished.

One especially intriguing example for products that are ordered with many copies based on one individual design are in fact sports jerseys. So, let´s take a closer look.

What´s the task at hand?

Millions of kids around the globe are playing in amateur sports teams. Each of them needs an individual shirt with their name and number printed on it, and of course the fitting size. In addition, these kids play in different teams. This means, the right team colors, team name and emblem are needed as well. Now, some of these shirts will be ordered at the start of the season as part of a larger package for an entire team. At the same time, there will be new players joining a team every once in a while. So individual orders will be ranging from just one shirt, or two to a couple of dozen, all based on the same team layout.

All of these factors need to be taken care of when teams order their shirts in a web shop. Unless we´re talking about large professional clubs, this cumbersome task will usually rest on some unlucky coach or parent. By providing them a shop with full data printing capabilities you can make their lives a lot easier!

Meet the needs of a very specific order process

To make shoppers happy, there are a few issues you should take care of. First of all, you need to make sure, that the configuration of the shirt´s design is disconnected from the entry of the name, number and size of the individual member. Next up, there needs to be a dedicated way to enter multiple records in a table. And last but not least, you have to ensure that a print file can be generated based on multiple datasets and handed to the printer. Needless to say, that easy handling of the configurator and smooth previews will not hurt either… In addition, your solution should also be able to allow for the design of the front, back and sleeves of a shirt.

Exploit the vast market for sports equipment

If you´ve done all of this right, there´s a huge market to tap. And the opportunities for you go way beyond shirts. In fact, you will be ready to sell any product that is ordered with multiple copies and contains both a team branding and personalization for the individual athlete. This includes apparel for all kinds of team sports such as jackets, pants, socks, or team hats, even helmets for hockey, baseball or football. And it doesn´t stop there. Some vendors offer equipment such as custom bags for sports ranging from soccer to bowling. Next up, there´s personalized equipment for training and the dressing room, including towels and water bottles. Even branded and personalized hockey sticks, cricket and baseball bats are a possibility.

There´s also potential with athletes that do individual sports. Many of them will be also members of a club and require clothing with their club design. Think of personalized apparel for cycling or tennis, swim wear and swimming caps, or equipment for equestrian sports, from helmets for the riders to personalized saddle cloths for the horses. Last but not least, there are opportunities even outside the field with cheerleader uniforms or clothing for coaches and staff.

By using a solution such as Printess you can exploit all these opportunities and many more.

Sample included The sample template you find on this page is also included in the Printess license. You may use it as a simple basis to develop your own products, or as an inspiration for your designers.

Learn more, get in touch Find out more about Printess - your professional design and configuration solution for personalized print products. Call us at +49 337 66 469 886, send an e-mail, or register for our free trial right away.