As a buyer in the sports and leisure sector, every purchasing decision counts, even down to the uniform you provide for your staff or volunteers…
We’ve been privy to many scenarios in which a client, after seeing their leisurewear order in the flesh, has been driven to despair. A request has gotten tangled somewhere along the line, resulting in a wonky, ugly or plain-unusable batch of uniform.
To help you minimise the risk of falling foul, here are common mistakes you could be making as a buyer:
Choosing the cheapest supplier
The biggest red flag is raised when you approach a low-grade printing company. Yes, the rates may be the cheapest, but you’ll get what you pay for i.e. results of a middling or downright messy standard.
Colours may be faded, and not half as sharp as the initial briefing suggests. Or the embroidered logo could be askew, carrying inconsistencies through everyone’s uniform set (which, by its very nature, has to be identical, or not count as a uniform at all). Your savings, on the face of it, are great, but they’ll create more problems down the line.
Confusing the design or colour scheme
As a leisure professional, you have to be recognised from a distance: the clothing should never seek to confuse people. Patterns, taglines and names/numbers could be hard to decipher, even though they look fantastic on paper. The gung-ho buyer can mistake a complex design for something that’s legible.
Likewise, colour shades could be a winner at the conceptual stage, but arrive as an eyesore when they’re printed out. Getting it wrong will necessitate a redo, adding more time and cost to the order.
Forgetting about seams with screen printing
When designing clothing, you need to consider collars, button holes, stitches and seams, all of which can influence the look of the final results. Screen printing, an industry staple, isn’t that great for getting your design onto the fabric with the exact right proportions. This is because seams have a subtle effect on the ink screens that’re used, as the surface of the garment isn’t 100% flat.
Dye sublimation printing is much better for a high-quality order. Instead of laying an ink stencil on top, designs are sublimated directly to the fibres with pressurised, heated gas. So you can be sure the finished product looks just as good as you planned.
Failing to account for sizing
There’s no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to sizing. When ordering uniform, you need to consider how the design will adapt to different shapes and sizes. How will the logo look on the chest of a man versus a woman? How about that motivational phrase on the back?
A good printing service should work with you to attack these factors head-on. When buying for all sizes, it’s imperative that the branding works, no matter the shape of the person wearing it.
You can choose Corporate Trends, of course, to negate these issues before they ever arise. We’re aware of the blunders our clients can fall into if they don’t plan their printing batch to a T. Contact us, and discover how we’re the right fit for you!
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