TL;DR: September is our single busiest month of the year at Jersey Ink — and for good reason. Schools and sports teams are in full swing, and the window is shorter than most people realize. Our standard turnaround is three weeks, so if you need shirts in hand for an upcoming event or fall season game, now is the time to reach out. Don't wait. Even if you're not ready to place an order, shoot us an email and we'll start getting ideas and mock-ups together. It's not as complicated as it feels — we'll walk you through every step.
September is officially our highest-sales month of the year at Jersey Ink — and it's not hard to see why. School administrators, coaches, booster club presidents, and team moms all hit the ground running at the same time — and they all need their custom apparel. It's one of the most energized and, yes, most intense times of our year.
If you're in that group right now — staring at your to-do list wondering how to get shirts ordered before the first game or the first day — this post is for you.
The #1 Mistake: Waiting Too Long
Let's start with the hard truth. The biggest mistake we see every single year is the same one: waiting too long.
When you wait, a few things happen. You end up in rush territory, which puts pressure on our production schedule and your wallet. Or you rush into the process before you're actually ready — without a clear design direction, without final colors confirmed, without knowing what styles you want — and then the back-and-forth takes longer than if you'd just started earlier in the first place.
Here's the math: our standard turnaround is three weeks. That means if you need shirts in hand by October 1st, your order needs to be placed and approved by September 10th. Which means you need to start the conversation with us this week to give yourself time for design review and approvals before that deadline.
Our recommendation: give yourself at least one extra week before your order deadline for back-and-forth. Mock-ups typically come back within a few hours from our design team, but reviewing colors, styles, and options — and getting sign-off from your coach, principal, or committee — always takes more time than people expect.
Rush options are available, but they're first-come, first-served based on production availability. Always ask — we'll do everything we can to make it work — but don't count on it.
What Schools and Sports Teams Actually Order
Here's the honest answer: the basics.
Our industry has a bread-and-butter, and it's T-shirts. In September, everyone is ordering T-shirts — and rightly so. They're versatile, budget-friendly, printable in any color, and literally everyone wears them.
Beyond tees, the most common back-to-school orders include long sleeves, hoodies, hats, backpacks, drawstring bags, and assorted promo items (think lanyards, pens, water bottles) for welcome events and orientations.
For fall sports specifically — football, soccer, cross country, volleyball, field hockey — T-shirts remain the backbone, but there are some sport-specific nuances. Football programs tend to place the largest orders given their rosters and fan bases. Cross country and soccer teams lean toward lightweight performance tees and tanks for practice gear. Outdoor fall sports like football and soccer also drive orders for blankets and stadium cushions from families who'll be sitting in the cold at games. And by September, beanies start showing up in orders as the weather turns.
None of this is trendy. It doesn't need to be. The basics work — and they work every year.
Schools vs. Sports Teams: Key Differences
Both need great custom apparel, but the ordering process looks a little different depending on which you are.
Sports teams have a few unique considerations. Player customization — names and numbers on the back — adds production complexity and cost, so factor that in early. Colors often need to match existing uniforms precisely, which means Pantone color matching matters more than it does for a general event shirt. Performance fabrics are a bigger priority (moisture-wicking, lightweight materials for active wear). And your deadline is non-negotiable: the season starts when it starts. Rosters also change year to year, so you can't always just reorder exactly what you got last time.
Schools tend to order for specific events — spirit days, back-to-school orientations, field trips, staff appreciation, fundraisers. The challenge is usually the process, not the product: orders often need to go through an administrator, a committee, or a PTA, which means more approval layers and more people to align. Size ranges are also massive when you're outfitting students and staff together. The good news is that schools are generally a great fit for our online merch stores, which let everyone order their own size without anyone having to collect them manually.
For both: branding guidelines matter. Schools have district-approved logos and colors. Sports teams need to stay consistent with their program identity. Come to us knowing your colors and logo, and we'll make sure everything aligns.
Spirit Wear Store vs. Bulk Order: Which Is Right for You?
This comes up constantly for schools and booster clubs, and the answer really depends on your situation.
An online spirit wear store makes sense when:
- You have a large or diverse group where collecting sizes individually would be a logistical nightmare
- You're tied to an event or a cause — a breast cancer awareness shirt drive in October, a school fundraiser, a community event — where people are buying in for a reason
- You want zero leftover inventory risk. With a store, we only print what's actually ordered
- You want to offer a fundraising opportunity (your markup comes back to you as a check at close)
A bulk order makes more sense when:
- You already know everyone's sizes from a previous order
- It's a smaller team and the coach just knows what everyone wears
- You need things faster (stores require setup time; a straight bulk order can move quicker)
- You want to hand out shirts at a specific event and need them all at once with no shipping complexity
The sweet spot: if you're ordering for a group of 24 or fewer and you know your sizes, bulk is usually simpler. Above that — especially with a wide range of ages or a broader community — a store almost always wins.
What to Have Ready Before You Call
You don't need to have everything figured out before you reach out — that's what we're here for. But the more you bring to the first conversation, the faster we can move.
Helpful to know going in:
- When do you need it in hand? This determines everything about the timeline.
- How many people are you ordering for? A ballpark is fine.
- What did you order last year? If you've worked with us before, we have it on file. If you're coming to us for the first time, knowing what you've done before — even with another shop — helps us understand what's worked and what you'd change.
Everything else — styles, colors, design direction — we can help you figure out. That's the whole point of working with a team that's been doing this for 20 years.
Advice for First-Timers
If ordering custom apparel is a new task on your plate this year — maybe you're a first-year coach, a new team mom, or a new administrator who inherited this responsibility — first of all: it's going to be fine.
The best thing you can do is talk to whoever handled it before you. Ask what they ordered, what the team loved, what they'd do differently. Even a few notes from the previous person saves a lot of time and guesswork.
And then call us. We'll ask the right questions, walk you through the options, and make it as painless as possible. We've helped hundreds of first-timers through this exact process. You don't need to show up with answers — just show up.
If You Haven't Ordered Yet — Here's What to Do Right Now
Look at your calendar. Find the date you need apparel in hand. Count back three weeks — that's your order deadline. Count back one more week — that's when you need to have your design and details finalized. If that date has already passed, reach out to us today anyway and ask about rush options.
Even if your needs are still two months out, it doesn't hurt to start now. Send us an email at orders@jerseyink.net, tell us what you're thinking and when you need it, and we'll get you on our radar. We can start pulling ideas and creating mock-ups so that when you're ready to move, you're not starting from zero.
It's not as scary as it feels. We know this is an extra task on top of everything else you're managing — the season, the students, the schedule. That's exactly what Jersey Ink is here for: to guide you through the process, take as much off your plate as we possibly can, and make sure you end up with something your team is proud to wear.
Give us a call at (610) 378-7844 or email orders@jerseyink.net — let's get started.
Jersey Ink has been a custom apparel shop for over 20 years, serving schools, sports teams, businesses, and organizations in Reading, PA and beyond.