by Matt DeLaere, Marketing
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True to the old proverb about March coming in like a lion but going out like a lamb, sports shops around the country are about to start roaring with preparations for spring sports. Baseball, softball, lacrosse, soccer, and track seasons are right around the corner, so be a lamb and prepare yourself now for the incoming orders.
No matter the sport, the easiest and most cost-effective way to decorate jerseys is to use Pre-Spaced Text for player names, paired with Pre-Cut Numbers. This saves the time and hassle of laying out player names and allows you to apply names and numbers with a heat press in one easy step.
Baseball/Softball
Baseball and softball jerseys a look of their own. The front logo is usually text-based, and front numbers, if used, are smaller than those on football jerseys. Plus, these jerseys are often split front, making their decoration a unique challenge.
Stahls’ Any Word. Any Way.™ custom lettering designer makes split front jerseys easy to decorate. With it, you can choose from four split front options, even specifying the distance between buttons or seams. Available in a variety of materials, ranging from no-sew CAD-CUT® heat transfer materials to sewing-required Kiss Cut® Appliqué, Any Word. Any Way. lettering can be ordered in a variety of colors and fill effects, and with or without a tail.
Give your customers the look of sewn letters and numbers without the expense and hassle of embroidery with SimStitch®. Laser cut to look stitched, it’s available in several colors of letters and numbers and Any Word. Any Way. custom text. Any Word. Any Way. Sublimated SimStitch can also be ordered in 6 distinct fill patterns.
For a letter and number look just like the pros, try Stahls’ Ballpark Letters and Numbers, designed to look like the fonts used by professional teams across the United States and Canada.
A trendy, bold new look can be achieved with Stahls’ new Pre-Cut Number styles. Elementary looks great on baseball uniforms, while Fahrenheit heats up softball uniforms. Or suggest one of the new interactive Pre-Cut fonts to really wow your customers.
Baseball and softball also represent unique decorating opportunities for add-on sales. Decorate caps with our 2″ Embroidered Letters and Numbers (no sewing required) and a Hotronix® Cap heat press, or decorate cleats using your heat press and our quick change shoe platen.
To other decorating options, from American flags for the sleeves to full color digital stickers for the helmet, check out our Decorating Playbook: Baseball Edition.
For name and number sizing and placement tips, visit our How to Decorate pages for baseball uniforms and softball jerseys.
Lacrosse
Boys’ and girls’ lacrosse seasons are also about to start. Be sure to use a material that can handle the rough and tumble sport, like abrasion-resistant Thermo-FILM® or Thermo-GRIP®. And recommend aggressive, modern-looking number styles, like Apex or Intrepid.
Don’t forget the add-on sales here, either. Many lacrosse uniforms use numbered shorts, and gloves and cleats add another area ripe for personalization. Plus, you can add a logo and number to helmets with the CAD-PRINTZ® Full Color Custom Helmet Decal Pack.
To learn more about decorating lacrosse uniforms, visit our How to Decorate Lacrosse Uniforms page.
Soccer
Many high school girls’ soccer seasons take place in the spring, and youth soccer can be found in both the spring and summer. Decorate jerseys and shorts (and cleats!) with eye-catching Pre-Cut Number styles like Future, Team US, and World Cup, or Pre-Spaced fonts like Fusion and World Cup Shadow.
Thermo-FILM’s superior opacity and resistance to dye migration make it an excellent choice for sublimated polyester soccer uniforms.
For soccer decorating guidelines, check out Stahls’ How to Decorate Soccer Uniforms page.
Don’t Forget the Accessories!
Whatever you’re decorating this spring, you’ll need heat printing accessories to get the finished product looking just right. Whether it’s layout boards and Thermo Tape for perfectly aligned names and numbers, Letter Remover Solvent for mistakes, Print Perfect Pads for working around buttons and seams, or reusable cover sheets for just about everything, you’ll find what you need at Stahls’.