Key takeaways
- Spirit wear stores earn your organization 10 to 20 percent back with no inventory to manage.
- The $125 store design fee is waived once store sales reach $3,500.
- Big Head prints ship free, and senior banners print on 15oz hemmed and grommeted vinyl.
- Event tents start at $999 with free design and free shipping.
- Tax exempt status and purchase orders are handled on the job ticket, with Net 15 or 30 terms for approved organizations.
- Order football gear over the summer and graduation pieces by early spring.
Spirit wear stores
A spirit wear store is an online shop with your school's designs. Parents and fans order and pay on their own. We print everything in house and bundle it by order, so the club never collects cash, counts sizes or stores leftover boxes.
- Money back: the store earns your organization 10 to 20 percent back on sales.
- Setup: a $125 base store design fee, waived when store sales hit $3,500 or more.
- Products: tees, hoodies, hats, polos, bags and more, screen printed, embroidered or printed DTG and DTF.
Most stores work best in short windows. Open the store, push it to parents for a couple of weeks, close it, then print. That keeps orders together and gets everything back before the game it was meant for. See what we print on the screen printing page.
Team, staff and coach apparel
Not everything belongs in a store. Team shirts, staff tees, coach polos and practice gear are usually one bulk order paid by the club or campus.
- Minimums: 12 garments for one color, 24 for two colors.
- Turnaround: 7 to 10 business days from approval and payment, with rush down to 1 to 2 days.
- Embroidery: a clean pick for coach polos and staff jackets that get worn for years.
Not sure which print method fits? Screen printing wins on big runs with few colors. DTG and DTF handle full color art and small counts. The full breakdown is in screen printing vs DTG vs DTF.
| Item | Typical use | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit wear store | Parent and fan orders | 10 to 20 percent back, $125 fee waived at $3,500 |
| Team apparel | Players, coaches, staff | 12 piece minimum for one color |
| Big Head prints | Student section, senior night | Ship free, quoted on the ticket |
| Senior banners | Senior night, graduation | 15oz vinyl, $5 flat shipping |
| Sponsor banners | Stadium fence, fundraisers | Stock sizes 2x4, 3x6, 4x8 ft |
| Event tents | Concessions, fairs, games | From $999, free design and shipping |
Big Head prints
Big Heads are the oversized face cutouts the student section waves at games. Players love them, parents keep them, and they show up in every photo from the stands.
- Send a clear, front facing photo with good light. A phone photo works if it is the original, not a screenshot.
- Use the same style of photo for every player so the set looks like a set.
- Order early for senior night and playoffs, when everyone wants them at once.
Big Heads also work beyond football. Volleyball, basketball, band and cheer families ask for them too, and they make a good fundraiser when the club sells them to parents.
Big Head prints ship free. Sizes and pricing are quoted on the ticket. Browse Big Heads and tents in the print shop.
Senior banners
Senior banners hang on the stadium fence or the gym wall for senior night, then go home with the family. One banner per senior, with a photo, name, number, sport and graduation year.
- Material: 15oz vinyl, hemmed and grommeted so it hangs flat and holds up outside.
- Stock sizes: 2x4 ft and 3x6 ft are the common senior banner sizes.
- Shipping: $5 flat shipping on banner orders.
The hard part is collecting photos, not printing. Pick one parent or coach to gather every photo by a firm deadline, all in the same orientation. Send them together on one ticket with a list that spells every name exactly right. Pricing is quoted on the ticket.
Field, fence and sponsor banners
Sponsor banners are one of the easiest fundraisers a booster club can run. A local business pays for a season on the fence, and the banner cost comes out of the sponsorship.
- Sizes: our stock vinyl banners come in 2x4, 3x6 and 4x8 ft. A 4x8 is the standard big fence banner.
- Tiers: sell larger banners to top sponsors and smaller ones to the rest, so every business has a price that fits.
- Wind: on an open fence line, ask about mesh, and tie banners at every grommet.
Keep sponsor logos big and simple. A banner is read from the bleachers, not up close. The vinyl banner size guide covers viewing distance and layout. Running a golf tournament fundraiser? See golf sponsor packages.
Event tents
A branded tent turns a folding table into a booth. Booster clubs use them for concessions, the spirit wear table, band and cheer fundraisers, and school fairs.
- 10x10 and up, from $999
- Free design and free shipping
- 2 to 5 business days to produce, then FedEx with tracking
Put the school name and mascot on the canopy and the club name on the back wall. One tent covers every home game for years. More on sizes and add ons in the event tent buyers guide.
Tax exempt orders, purchase orders and Net terms
Schools and districts run on paperwork, so we keep it simple and put it all on the ticket.
- Tax exempt: tax exempt organizations are handled on the ticket. Attach your Texas sales tax exemption certificate and we apply it to the order.
- Purchase orders: note the PO number on the ticket so it prints on the invoice.
- Net terms: Net 15 or 30 terms are available for approved organizations.
- Payment: cash, check or card.
One thing trips up clubs. A booster club or PTA is usually its own nonprofit, separate from the district. That means it needs its own exemption on file, not the district's. If a parent pays with a personal card, the order is usually not tax exempt.
One point person per order
School orders go sideways when five parents send five versions of the same logo. Pick one point person for each club or campus and route everything through them.
- Approvals: one person signs off on proofs, so nothing prints on a half yes.
- Files: send the official school logo and mascot art once. The ticket takes 20 files at 100MB each, so the whole set fits in one upload.
- Separate tickets: use one ticket per budget, like band, volleyball or the PTA, so each invoice lands with the right group.
Once your logos are clean and on file, every future order skips the setup. If the mascot art is old or blurry, the print ready files guide explains what we need and when cleanup rates apply.
Timelines for football season and graduation
Two seasons drive most school orders. Plan backward from each one.
Football season:
- Early summer: finalize designs and open the spirit wear store before two a days.
- July: team apparel, coach polos and the event tent for home games.
- Early fall: fence and sponsor banners up before the home opener.
- Mid season: senior banners and Big Heads ordered a few weeks before senior night and playoffs.
Graduation:
- Early spring: collect senior photos and order senior banners.
- April: grad yard signs, shirts and party banners for families.
Proofs come back in 1 to 2 business days and apparel takes 7 to 10 business days after approval. Leave room for the photo chase. Start any of it with a job ticket.