How are player names and numbers applied?

Vinyl heat transfer — coloured film cut to shape and pressed on. It handles individual names and numbers cleanly, which digital and screen methods cannot do economically per garment.

When is screen printing right for a club?

When one design goes onto a whole squad — sponsor logos or club branding across 25-30 garments or more, where setup cost spreads and per-garment cost drops.

Should we order spare kit?

Yes. New members, size swaps and replacements are certain, and adding garments to the original run costs far less attention than a separate reorder later in the season.

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Garment Printing

How Do Suffolk Sports Clubs Get Kit and Training Tops Printed?

Club kit is rarely one job. A single squad order usually mixes personalised elements, a sponsor design repeated across every garment, and a crest that appears on everything — and each of those wants a different method.

Which method for which part of the kit?

Kit element	Method	Why
Player names and squad numbers	Vinyl heat transfer	Every garment is different — cut and pressed individually
Sponsor logo across the squad	Screen printing	One design at volume; setup spreads across the run
Club crest on polos and jackets	Embroidery	Durable, premium, survives seasons of washing
Small-batch training tops	DTG	No setup, economical for a handful

Where does the volume threshold sit?

Screen printing becomes the economical route from roughly 25-30 garments for a simple design, earlier for one colour and later for multi-colour work. Below that, DTG avoids setup entirely — the thresholds are worked through in how many t-shirts make screen printing worth it and the crossover economics in DTG or screen printing for small runs.

Why order the whole squad at once?

Consistency and cost. Garment batches vary slightly in shade between production runs, so kit ordered in two halves can look like two kits. Setup is also already paid for in the first order, which makes spares cheap at the point of ordering and expensive afterwards. Order for the squad you will have by mid-season, not the one at the first training session.

What artwork do clubs need to supply?

Vector artwork for crests and sponsor logos wherever possible. Crests going to embroidery are converted into a stitch file, which favours bold, simple shapes — fine detail is usually simplified, and that conversion happens once and is reused for every future order. General file rules are in the print file setup guide.

How long does club kit take?

Longer than same-day work. Screen setup, stitch digitising and per-garment pressing all take time, so plan weeks rather than days before the season or a tournament — quite different from the flat print covered in the same-day printing guide. Clubs that order in the close season get the calm version of this process.

The full method comparison is in the DTG vs screen printing guide. For squad quotes, contact Minuteman Press Ipswich, 5 Tacket Street, IP4 1AU.

Frequently asked questions

How are player names and numbers applied?: Vinyl heat transfer — coloured film cut to shape and pressed on. It handles individual names and numbers cleanly, which digital and screen methods cannot do economically per garment.
When is screen printing right for a club?: When one design goes onto a whole squad — sponsor logos or club branding across 25-30 garments or more, where setup cost spreads and per-garment cost drops.
Should we order spare kit?: Yes. New members, size swaps and replacements are certain, and adding garments to the original run costs far less attention than a separate reorder later in the season.

Read the full guide

DTG vs Screen Printing: Which Suits Your T-Shirt Order?

Published: 11 May 2026