What Does Your Kit Look Like in Year Two?
A lot of clubs judge a new kit rollout by how it looks on launch day.
I think that is the wrong test.
The real test is what it looks like 2 years later or even later than that.
Here is what I mean.
A great deal of what gets sold as custom sportswear is actually a blank garment with a logo applied on top.
It photographs perfectly for the launch post. Then a season passes, and the print starts to crack or peel.
Another season, and the colour on the newest reorder is a shade different from the batch that went out first.
Nobody planned for that. It just happens, quietly, because the decoration sits on the surface of the fabric rather than inside it.
That is not really a durability problem, even though it looks like one.
It is a design decision made at the very start of the project, usually without anyone realising that there are better alternatives.
Sublimation works differently.
The design is dyed into the fibre of the fabric itself before the garment is even cut, rather than applied afterwards.
There is nothing sitting on the surface to crack, peel, or fade unevenly between batches.
Whatever gets approved in the first sample is what every site, every reorder, and every new starter's kit will look like, for a long time to come.
For a club built around exclusivity, that consistency is not a nice-to-have. It is the brand.
Members move between locations, compare notes, and notice details most suppliers assume nobody is tracking.
When every venue looks considered and still looks sharp well past the launch period, that reinforces exactly the standard the club is trying to project. When it does not, the gap is rarely mentioned out loud, but it is noticed, and it slowly erodes the thing the whole rollout was meant to build.
This is also why we treat the approval stage differently.
We are not just locking in a look for the launch photos.
We are locking in a spec, colour standards, and tolerances that hold for every reorder that follows, so that batch twelve looks exactly like batch one, whether that is six months from now or three years from now.
If you are planning a kit rollout across your venues, it is worth asking your current or prospective supplier one direct question before you commit: What happens to this exact finish after fifty washes and a full season of wear?
If the honest answer is uncertain, that uncertainty is what you are really signing up for.
What would give you complete confidence that your next kit will still look the part two, three years from now?
FAQs
How long can I expect sublimated kit to still look new?
There’s no fixed number, as it depends on how often and how intensively the kit is used. But because the design is dyed into the fabric rather than printed on the surface, it won’t crack, peel or lift with wear. Sublimated kit can retain its colour and appearance throughout the life of the garment.
Will my batch twelve reorder really match my batch one order exactly, even years apart?
Yes. Your spec, including colour codes, is locked and stored from your first order. Every reorder is produced against that same locked document, whether it is placed six months later or three years later.
What should I ask a supplier before committing to a kit rollout, to avoid the year two problem?
Ask directly what happens to the finish after fifty washes and a full season of wear. If the answer is vague or uncertain, that uncertainty is what you would actually be signing up for.
