Choosing the right supplier to kit out your students with a bespoke school sports kit can be challenging and there are lots of matters to take into consideration, including the range of different sports played throughout the seasons - whether that be cricket, football, netball etc, each sport requires dedicated kit and equipment.
Here are some factors to consider when thinking about your selection process.
Combining Style and Functionality
You want your students to look smart and stylish on and off the pitch whilst also ensuring that the clothing they wear is practical and fit for purpose. A bespoke school sports kit, whether that be for hockey, athletics, rugby etc, needs to create an identity the students are proud of.
You should consider your colour scheme which needs to complement any existing school uniform already in place to help create a consistent brand identity for your school. Also consider which styles will best fit with your school logo and think about what style of lettering you would like for names, positions, numbers etc.
Kit should also be hardwearing and easy to maintain so it continues to look decent after a few months or even years of wear and tear. Your school sports kit needs to be machine washable to avoid a headache for parents and needs to be affordable so it is accessible to all.
Lead times
Lead times on personalised school sports kits vary enormously from one sports kit supplier to another. In some cases you may need to allow 8 weeks or more to generate a kit for a whole team or club. Some companies use overseas suppliers and also have the kit embroidered at the same time which can really increase lead times. Some suppliers offer an in-house service which enables them to control the quality of the kit and the embroidery. This also tends to significantly reduce lead times, which is especially handy when a child has lost a piece of kit and needs to replace it as quickly as possible mid term, or when a child joins the school mid-term and needs to get their kit sorted without delay.
Hassle-Free Online Ordering Platform
A quality bespoke school sports kit supplier will want to make life as easy and convenient as possible for their customers to order their kit. Having a user friendly online ordering platform and knowledgeable, approachable staff on the end of the phone is a great advantage. Parents can then order the children’s full sports kit or top up items of kit whenever they need to without any stress. It is also handy when sports kit suppliers offer pop-up shops at your school or college as well as online presence because parents and children can view the kit, try it on and work out what sizes they need to order in advance.
Personalised kit reduces trips to lost property
There are many advantages to wearing a personalised school sports kit. It is a great advertisement for your school or college and creates a sense of community and team spirit. Kit can also be fully personalised to include a student’s name or initials which is especially helpful when it comes to reducing levels of lost property or missing items of kit. Students, teachers and parents alike can easily identify who kit belongs to when items go astray and it saves parents a huge amount of time and effort labelling kit before the return to school each term.
Longevity
When considering a sports kit supplier it is worth checking that they will be able to stock and reorder your sports uniform into the future so that there is consistency in kit when new members join your club or school community in subsequent years, and so that replacement kit does not look mismatched. Check that your supplier has long standing relationships with the manufacturers and can guarantee that kit will be available longer term.
Minimum order quantities
It is especially important when supplying kit for young people that extra stock can be ordered for individuals and there does not need to be a minimum order on certain items. Inevitably children grow at different rates and have growth spurts and it is not always easy to predict how quickly they might grow out of their school sports kit. Of course there is always a risk that kit gets lost and goes missing too and needs replacing because of this. Generally this is only feasible if a supplier manufactures items in-house or has a facility to store a lot of stock which can be on hand at a moment’s notice, so be sure to check before you commit.
Best of both worlds
If you are also in the process of updating your school formal uniform such as blazers, shirts and blouses etc then a one stop shop might be the best option for you. It is very convenient for parents and schools to have one point of contact for all their uniform needs and requirements. It means there is just one online ordering system to get to grips with and it is quicker to build up a rapport with the one point of contact.
Choosing Blue Blood for your Bespoke Sports Kit
With over 30 years of experience, the team at Blue Blood are specialists when it comes to supplying your sports kit. Whether you are looking to upgrade your rugby, football, netball, lacrosse, hockey, cricket or tennis kit to name but a few, we can support and advise you through the whole process from start to finish and beyond.
Perhaps you are also considering updates to your formal uniform. At Blue Blood we are a one stop shop and can provide blazers, trousers, skirts, sweaters, ties etc. We’d love to have the opportunity to discuss our provision with you, so please do get in touch. In the meantime check out our latest blog on “Choosing a School Uniform Supplier” for lots of hints and tips around what you need to consider.
Whether you are looking for sports kit, formal school uniform or a combination, we pride ourselves on offering bespoke customer service as well as bespoke products, so we can get to know your school’s needs and requirements to ensure you are provided with kit and uniform that you feel is exactly the right fit for your school or college.
Don’t just take our word for it…
“We recently changed our kit suppliers to Blue Blood and have been extremely pleased with the service and quality of the Canterbury kit. Dale and the team are efficient, personable and the kit has always been on time.”
Jim, Senior Performance Tennis Coach
“My children joined Seaford College last year and I was a bit daunted by the amount of kit required for all the amazing sporting activities they do there, but Blue Blood made the whole process of ordering kit so easy, it ended up being far easier than I thought it was going to be! We are lucky at Seaford because Blue Blood come and do regular pop-up shops during fixtures so we can see all the options and the kids can try stuff on and see what they like. Then we can place the order online through the Blue Blood website and it all comes embroidered with the kids names on so I don't have a huge pile of labelling to do at the end of the holiday which is amazing! The turnaround has always been really fast and they even offered a group discount when a few of the parents clubbed together to order sub coats earlier this year, the team are super helpful and are always available to answer any questions which is handy as a new joiner to the school. We are really impressed with the quality of the kit, it's brilliant to wash and has lasted so well despite being put through its paces by the kids over the last year, I can't fault them!”
Emilie, Seaford College
Get in touch to find out more about how we can supply Sports Kits