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How many shirts?


Flexmoney

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I'll second that Bobert!

And don't give me this BS about XXXL costing $5 more than XXL and lower. That is crap and the shirt company knows it. A guy that runs a shirt printing business locally told me that if he is buying shirts in bulk for a special order all the sizes cost essentially the same price. The only time that the bigger sizes cost more is when they already have the shirts they need to do the order on hand and have to special order the larger sizes which is a small order so costs more per shirt.

But it is routine for the shirt company to mark up the cost of the XXXL (and sometimes the XXL too) shirts to increase the profit margin.

But back to topic.

Pre-order is the only way to fly. Trying to guess how many shirts to order based on some funky formula will leave you holding a pile of shirts that aren't your size and which no one wants.

Never done match staff shirts but for other multi-day events that I have been involved in we figured 1 shirt per day for the staff. We didn't want them in dirty shirts the second/third/fourth day and realized that none of them are going to be able to launder the shirts during the event either.

At one event that was a 3 day event we did just 2 shirts. We issued each shirt and had them write their names in both shirts with a sharpie marker. They wore one that day and then turned it in at the end of the day. These were then taken to a commercial laundry that washed and folded them on a per pound basis and they were available for the staff on the 3rd day. Saved a bunch of money as compared to buying a 3rd shirt for the staff. The logistics of re-issuing weren't really a problem either. Just sorted them by size folks found them with no problem.

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Yeah...I am with you all on the pre-order part.

I need to know what to tell the shirt people when they ask me how many I am expecting to buy?

50? 100? 150?

Ideally, if somebody could say that, "at our last BIG MATCH, we had xx number of shooters...we sold XX number of shirts to them...and, we had xx number for the staff".

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I'll second that Bobert!

And don't give me this BS about XXXL costing $5 more than XXL and lower. That is crap and the shirt company knows it. A guy that runs a shirt printing business locally told me that if he is buying shirts in bulk for a special order all the sizes cost essentially the same price. The only time that the bigger sizes cost more is when they already have the shirts they need to do the order on hand and have to special order the larger sizes which is a small order so costs more per shirt.

But it is routine for the shirt company to mark up the cost of the XXXL (and sometimes the XXL too) shirts to increase the profit margin.

Having worked in the Corporate shirt business for 5 years, I CAN tell you that some companies DO charge extra for XXL and XXXL's. Many, if not most now do have XXL's in their normal pricing, but I do not know of any that XXXl is normal pricing.

That said, being a newbie to the shooting world, I am going up to the Florida Open just to watch my first BIG Match, and would hope to be able to buy a shirt.

On another note, I CAN tell you that higher quality shirts, although more expensive to the contestants, ALWAYS out sell the cheaper, i.e. Outter Banks type shirts. I currently have NO interest in any shirt companies, but Cutter & Buck has great shirts that are cut VERY large, and last a long time.

People that shoot these matches have thousands of $ of equipment, they will spring for a $25 shirt that is of high quality.

Anyone interested, IM me and I will put you in touch with the guy that will sell then to you are the BEST price!!!!

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Yeah, and skip the huge pistols all over the shirts-- lots of us will wear nice polos to work, but a big pistol on the front or back isn't going to cut it.

I wear my Area 2 Desert Classic and Carter Martin Classic embroidered polos all the time.. paid extra for them too. 'Gimmie' Match t-shirts get relegated to the back of the closet in short order.

Note-- leave the year off if you have to order a lot-- then you can sell the same shirt the next year.

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I always opt out, if I can, of getting or buying a shirt. I just threw away 25+ that were free with match fee and take up space in my drawer. Almost all are cheap overdone T-shirts that I wouldn't wear to a shootin match much less anywhere else. Unless it is 100% (prefer combed or pima or the like) cotton they just make you sweat and itch.

I would pay extra for a high quality subtle styled polo shirt. Less stuff on a shirt is always more.

Unless you are a NASCAR car.

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Like I said, I can get Cutter & Buck shirts for the matches thru an old customer, he can sell them to the tournament for about $23.50 with about 5000 stitches of embroidery. This shirt retails for $48.00. NOW, the way to do it, to promote the shooting sports and the tournament, is to sell the shirts for the exposure, not to make a profit. Offer GOOD shirts, no dates, so they can be sold next year if they don't all go this year. Nice small logo left chest, and people will wear them again and again.

The problem with promotional shirts, is that the organizers try to buy crap, sell it to make a profit. People do know the difference in the quality of the garments, and don't want to wear crappy fabrics.

Up to you though.

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I like the idea of undated shirts.

You were there, You done it, You got the shirt.

If you are the MD, you can over order a bit without fear of dead stock.

Too bad we aren't a bit bigger of a draw. I know that at Boat Shows, there are people that show up with the equipment and will do your shirts while you wait. They do a nice job, I still have some from when I was a sailor and was showing my boat. After 15 years a few are still good enough to wear.

And they were not all thatr expensive.

Maybe USPSA should look into one of these companies?

Jim Norman

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Kyle,

Not sure what you mean by "Major" but for our last state match we had 137 shooters including 25 RO's. The breakdown on shirts was as follows:

T-SHIRTS:

S 0

M 10

L 41

XL 44

XXL 19

XXXL 8

T-Shirt Total: 122

RO POLO SHIRTS:

M 4

L 6

XL 17

XXL 6

XXXL 2

Polo Total: 35

All of these were pre-orders except for about a dozen L & XL's that we ordered as extras and we sold all of them. We only supplied one RO shirt per RO but a number of them did opt to purchase a second. Most of our RO's were local so washing shirts wasn't a big deal if it was necessary. Hope this helps.

John

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  • 4 weeks later...
I'll second that Bobert! 

And don't give me this BS about XXXL costing $5 more than XXL and lower.  That is crap and the shirt company knows it.  A guy that runs a shirt printing business locally told me that if he is buying shirts in bulk for a special order all the sizes cost essentially the same price.  The only time that the bigger sizes cost more is when they already have the shirts they need to do the order on hand and have to special order the larger sizes which is a small order so costs more per shirt.

But it is routine for the shirt company to mark up the cost of the XXXL (and sometimes the XXL too) shirts to increase the profit margin.

     

Hey Kimel and All Concerned,

just to add my two cents on this topic. I own a large screen printing and embroidery company in New England, and have been in the business for 20 years. Although it may not cost $5.00 extra for a size xxxl shirt and other bigger sizes, any size above xl is surcharged from the distributors. I have NEVER seen a single distributor charge the same price for garments small through XL as XXL, XXXL or larger no matter how many you are buying for an order. This is true for me whether i buy one shirt or 50,000 shirts. I get the best pricing on shirts from my distributors becasue of the quantities i by and i am still charged the standard sucharges for larger sizes above XL. In most cases this makes the larger sizes much more expensive than the standard sizes. My standard surcharge for xxl size is $2.00 and $3.00 for xxxl which is in line with what the mark up on the standard sizes is versus the cost. I do agree that some printers / embroiderers do take advantage of the larger size surcharges but most are just marking them up accordingly. To say that an xl t-shirt or polo cost the same as a xxl or xxxl is like saying that .45 acp costs the same as 9mm.....and that is a very accurate comparison.

If anyone has any questions about what they are being charged for shirts and / or other charges concerning their order please feel free to contact me and i will be glad to let you know if you are being given a fair deal. I have done several Area Matches in both Area 7 and Area 6 and alot of club / team shirts for alot of shooters. All of which have expressed to me that they feel they are getting a great price for their merchandise.

I have only been shooting IPSC in Area 7 for 3 years and of course i promote my business throughout the various places i go. I like to think because i am a shooter i can give my customers more than what they will get from just a walk through a door at just any local place. I also think that i can give them the look and feel of their design / graphics because i am a shooter and know the subtle differences that can make or break a designs relativity. My ultimate goal is to make the shirts i have printed / embroidered be the best looking shirts at the match!

The motto amongst the guys i shoot with is "We might not be the best shooters here, but we are the best looking!" Of course owning the business allows me to be as creative and extreme as i want.

Ultimately my point here is: don't bash the businesses that you are going to for your match needs, shop around and make sure you know what you are getting for the money. Screen printing and Embroidery is a very competitive industry. If you work closely with a company and stay loyal you will get a lot of added value for what you are paying for.

thanks.......

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I did shirts for a aprox 80 shooter match. The guy that did the shirts for my match had the same price per shirt XS to XXXXXL?!?

I ordered 2 m, 12 L, 16Xl 12XXL and 2 3xl 44total

Flex, my guy neded 1 month lead time complete the shirts. I Just incorperated the T-shirt deadline in my match flyer. At the deadline I ordered what sizes people requested and threw in about a dozen or so extra proportionatly to what was requested. We ended up selling pretty much all the shirts and made a profit. I think the key is to keep is simple and only have one shirt type and desgin. I know some people like polos and others like T's but trying to anticipate what people want will be way to hard and you may get stuck with alot of shirts left over.

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  • 3 weeks later...

anyone know if its feasible to use those under armor-style shirts instead of the standard cotton t-shirts? they're available as loose fit, so you dont have to use the skin tight version. and everybody seems to be making a line of these shirts, so maybe there is a relatively cheap version available (i know under armor is probably out of the question because of price).

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I just bought a couple at the Florida Open. VERY nice and comfortable. I got a size to fit loose. I didn't wanna scare anyone off with my body in a tight shirt!!!

There was a company at the tournament, seemed to know a lot of people there, they might do you a deal for a large quanity for a match. Let me know if you want the details on who they are.

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i was just putting that out there for those setting up matches where they will sell shirts. for summer wear, i prefer the newer polyester shirts (under armor, nike's dri-fit, new balance's air-tek, etc). not sure if it would/could be cost effective to use as match shirt instead of the inexpensive cotton shirts that we normally get.

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  • 3 years later...

At the Minnesota sectional last year there was a guy that made the shirts right at the match. He had a few different sizes and types of logos and he would press them on to the shirt right there. He had different colors of shirts, short sleeve, long sleeve etc. You could have a big logo on the back, a little logo on the front, he had something that ran down the arms. You just built whatever you wanted.

You could also have the year as a separate "steam on" and then reuse the logo portion that said "Area #" year after year. It minimizes waste because he just custom makes the shirt right there.

I THINK that the guy was just there on his own with the blessing of the match (although I am sure they had input to design), and I think he was a relative of a competitor.

Not as nice as a polo with embroidery, but I got a fairly high quality T shirt, he also had cheap ones.

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At the Minnesota sectional last year there was a guy that made the shirts right at the match. He had a few different sizes and types of logos and he would press them on to the shirt right there. He had different colors of shirts, short sleeve, long sleeve etc. You could have a big logo on the back, a little logo on the front, he had something that ran down the arms. You just built whatever you wanted.

You could also have the year as a separate "steam on" and then reuse the logo portion that said "Area #" year after year. It minimizes waste because he just custom makes the shirt right there.

I THINK that the guy was just there on his own with the blessing of the match (although I am sure they had input to design), and I think he was a relative of a competitor.

Not as nice as a polo with embroidery, but I got a fairly high quality T shirt, he also had cheap ones.

The Minnesota Sectional is coming up this weekend and the same guy will be making shirts on-site. He sets up his tent and equipment.

He provides the Match logo with our approval, of course.

It works out well for the match director who doesn't have to do anything except arrange for the guy to be at the match.

No money is made by the match and match staff doesn't have to handle any part of the shirt ordering, collecting money, sizes...saves a lot of headaches.

Also the competitors get to see what the shirt looks like before they buy it.

Got a lot of good feed back from this so we decided to try it again.

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  • 5 months later...

I'm going to revive this thread for a minute. Anyone have a good idea who to order match shirts from? I was told Manny does a lot of shirts. Anyone have a contact number or e-mail for him? I got one of Techwears t-shirts at the Area 8 this year and I love that shirt! I would love to get another. I may ask them for shirts but I'm just shopping as of now. I also need someone.....anyone.....who knows the firts damn thing about how to design stuff on a computer (shirts, lapel pins, match books, registration forms). Any ideas?

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