FAQ's

I've seen other companies charge me $110, $150, or even over $200 a uniform. You can't really deliver me a customized, all-inclusive, pro-quality uniform for $74. It's a scam, right? Or they're going to fall apart on me in two weeks? Am I missing some catch?

We get that frequently. Actually we've actually been doing it for a while, with no sacrifice on quality, no tricks, no hidden extras. We just run a leaner operation by selling directly to you without reps or dealers as middlemen marking things up. Our cards are on the table: $74 basketball, $89 baseball, even just $89 football, etc. And free shipping to the western region (usually just a flat $50-75 on team orders to other states, including any warmups).Now you can afford the uni's you thought your budget freeze was going to force you to live without -- or even do both home and aways for what you had budgeted for just one. If you doubt it, call us for a free sample and see for yourself, it usually brings skeptics around.

Why would you do that if you could get away with charging more like other sellers?

Because we believe schools and athletes deserve a break. For real.

That's pretty impressive, although I had a kind of interesting offer from A_____ and N___ too.

You should hear some of the stories we've heard from coaches about the hidden strings the big guys attach, like tournament restriction clauses, or the money they make back on you again on shoes or other catches. We don't just give you a great deal, we keep it all above board and out in the open. No gimmicky discounts off inflated prices, just the real deal.

The price sounds great for the team order -- but what would you charge me for replacements if I go needing those down the road?

The normal per-piece prices, nothing higher, and no minimums for team gear. (Also, no extra for size: same from YS to adult XS to 4XL.)

And this is the good stuff, right? No cheap silkscreening that's going to crack up on me in a year or two or heat press or sublimation?

Nothing but top-quality materials, sewn custom tackle-twill embroidery, and patch logos, with a sport-specific defects warranty, although many teams have been using them for much longer. For best lifetime, be sure to follow the washing instructions. For a copy, click here.

I don't really know the materials well. Any suggestions?

For baseball, we typically recommend our elf fabric, and for football a stretch-mesh/lycra/microshiny are a good catchy mix. For basketball we often suggest either a tri-fit (wicking breathable) and microshiny (smooth sheen) combo, though a checker tri throughout is very attractive without being excessively flashy, and if you're partial to a heavy mesh or dazzle etc., we can do that too. Dri-fit is generally better for things like hockey jerseys, and we normally recommend reserving micromesh as a liner material. Remember these are just different weaves but chiefly a quality polyester. There are photos on the site, and we can discuss the others when you ask. For what it's worth, though, don't stress out too much over the choices. If you're stuck between say regular tri-fit versus checker or heavy mesh, you're really still going to end up with a set of great-looking quality suits no matter what.

I really liked a style you had on your site, but my girls want a racerback cut, we wanted to adjust one of the trim details to match our last style, we'd like individual names, and I wish it could have a tab neck with a small "C" logo we have instead.

Then you can. We customize it all for you -- for free. No hidden fees for the embroidery, redesigns, or logo patches, it's included.

Are your suits NFHS-compliant for high schools? I had a problem with the last set somebody made me.

Usually all but some of the less-used designs. Most state associations just adopt the NFHS rules, we know them pretty well, and we'd probably try to warn you if something you liked or a change you were requesting had some flagrant issue (it's not hard to make most non-compliant details legal). While it varies a bit by sport, most rules are aimed at keeping the teams distinct and the numbers clearly visible, so for example for basketball they're about things like not putting details below the neckline, the width of arm trims, or not going outside a side corridor on jerseys. Soccer is going to solid jerseys, and football teams should especially remember the NFHS has been advising schools of new regulations going into place for 2012 which put many classic designs out of bounds for high schools, but we can still generally customize any affected styles to make them compliant, so keep those in mind. If you have any specific questions, just ask.

I really like this sample you sent me, but I just noticed a small spot or two on it. Is that anything to be concerned about?

It's probably just the water-soluble glue we use to hold the embroidered letterings in place when we stitch them to the body, and it'll come out when you wash it to test how the lettering starts to soften up (yes, we do encourage you to do that).

I got burned once before by bad customer service. How seriously do you take that?

We want you happy, and we're committed to try to work with you no matter what. We stand behind our stuff, so if we genuinely flubbed something, we'd be there -- and even if you made a mistake on your end that you just realized too late, we imagine ourselves in your shoes and would still try to find a way to at minimum help and work something out somehow.

I'm a little new to this. How complicated is the process?

Usually it involves just a PO, an approved design, and a carefully worked out sizes/numbers list. (AAU teams can start with half down if you need, we'd just ask you to pay the balance by ship time.) We can start you a sketch to look at if you just tell us your school name, colors, mascot, and 2-3 favorite styles off the website. If you got to feeling overwhelmed by design choices, we could even suggest and email you a couple popular styles to look over and pick from. And nothing starts till you're 100% happy with a design first. If you like what you see in the sample too, tell us the materials you favor and give us final approval on both the proof and your sizes/numbers list (a PO by itself does not start your order: we need you to specifically approve each of those first, so be sure you give us your final approval on both).

I tried and tried and tried, but I can't seem to find our school logo file anywhere, and nobody at my small school has any ideas.

Those are really your safest bet for quality, and we can help with the graphics just up to a point, but in a pinch we've managed to help strapped people work from even photos or faxes. We can't work miracles, but we've come close. It's still best to try to find a good quality computer file though, so do try to ask around. Worst case, a set of initials still works fine too.

I sent you my sizes and numbers list. Does it sound normal?

"Normal" can vary a fair bit from team to team. One men's team might order in just mediums and larges, another might run large and xl's with even some 2x and 3x's. One girls' team might center evenly on mediums, another might run extra smalls and smalls with just a few mediums, so it really depends. It helps to keep in mind when doing your list that next year's team will be different from this year's too, so even if you land in the middle, it can help to be prepared for the stray S or 2XL. That said, though, there is sometimes a significant size variation between manufacturers in either direction, which is why we strongly recommend referencing a sample uniform when drawing up your list to play it safe, since sizes are something you want to get right. If you have more specific questions than that, let us know, but the sample is really the best place to work from. Also keep in mind your chosen cut (racerback, t-shirt) may adjust the feel of the fit, and we can do from youth sizes to adult XS up through 4X, and no charge to add or subtract length.

When should I get started?

To play it safe with season starts, always try to get on the ball early. We usually get strong demand, and our official order time runs anywhere in the 7-10 weeks, depending on volume and other factors (occasionally faster, but we can't guarantee anything outside that range). If it's going to be tight, we can sometimes work with emergencies, so give us a call and see what we could at least aim for. Even though life gets busy, always try to be ahead of the curve if you can no matter who you're working with. And if you're early enough, we often run early-bird spring promotions, so watch for those too.

A guy I know with a store really liked your stuff a lot. Could he resell for you?

Doubtful. We've done it before, but we prefer direct sales to customers, since resellers understandably want to add additional markup to your bill, and we prefer to keep our prices low for your team via direct sale to you.

I saw another maker had a disclaimer on their site about colors varying sometimes with dye lots over time. Is that a problem?

Any manufacturer has to contend with this to some degree. The fact is, minor color variations are a fact of life. They're usually not severe, but it's best to be aware color shades can and will vary some over time, especially when you work the fabric to minimize bleed risks as we do. That's also why we often suggest getting that extra outlier size the first time for best consistency rather than sitting the fence to reorder later (which also suddenly adds reorder turnaround time again right when you need the uni). Again, rarely drastic, it's more likely nothing you'll notice, but it can happen some and it is not a defect, so please keep it in mind.

Do you do practice gear too?

Our reversibles usually fit that bill. We don't cut any corners on those either though, they're the same quality as our game suits. If weight's a special concern, you can single-layer the embroidery, though it really does soften nicely. We don't recommend it, but one college team liked the reversibles we made them so much they actually started wearing them instead of their old game unis!

I want to work with you, nobody seems to come close to your price, but we work with an automated bid system. Did you get anything from them yet?

It's best to tell us directly if you need us to apply for something. Since we run a leaner, low-cost operation for you, we don't have lots of time to go navigating through murky bid websites or 40-page RFP's and filling out long applications, and then charging you double to do it. We give you the straight-up deal that everyone else has to try to match instead (and usually can't). We also see no point in paying large bureacratic purchasing cooperatives legal kickbacks and then charging you extra for it. Most schools just need us to send them a W-9 form, and they're ready to go on the best deal. So if you really need us to apply for a particular bid, let us know, but our prices bring us enough business that we really don't have to work hard to compete with the companies that empty out your budget or hard-won booster funds.

I ordered from you six years ago, and the suits have held up great, but I want to replace the aways too. Do you still have our old designs and logos?

Yes. We keep all that info on file, so even if you want to do a new design, we should be able to adapt the previous details too.

So if you do this a lot, what other kinds of things are useful advice from experience for me to know beforehand?

A lot of different small things. Besides trying not to get stuck without that one spare set (some player always comes in late at the worst time), here's a few f'rinstances:

* Remember high school numbers can only use the digits 0-5 (football normally can not use 0 or 00, and those who can can't use both). Check too for any possible retired numbers.
* Be really sure you use a sample as a sizing reference: we've seen other makers' standards come in both larger and smaller.
* Be careful with box cutters when your shipment arrives later so as not to slice anything.
* If you do a belt tag, keep it to 5-6 characters at max, three's better, so as not to stress the stitching.
* Design sketches are fairly accurate but always approximations. Our production staff has a margin of flexibility to do the best job they can, so if you need to be specific about any details, please do so in advance.
* We'll do our best and can usually accommodate early on, but revisions to orders can't be guaranteed after first placement.
* If you're looking at a college design with some highly detailed shadow pattern silkscreened on, remember it not only won't recreate with embroidery, it's probably also illegal for high schools, and you don't need the technical.
* Lettering trim contrasts will be weak on dark colors like black with forest or maroon; most people can live with it, but if not, going single or 3-color can help.
* That set of black aways you pictured may look hot, but double check with your AD or principal first -- often they're fine, but more than once we've seen them shot down as "not our colors". On the flipside, if you're a two-color school, many 3-color styles can work for two, but often you can still use a neutral like silver or black in lighter touches for a third color.
* Always check over the proofs we send you carefully to make sure everything's exactly how you want it, remembering that even with a PO, we will not start the order until you reply to confirm your final approval on both the design and sizes/numbers. Also reconfirm any special instructions (single layer, racerback, etc.) or specific target dates then too. And please bear in mind that our turnaround time starts when you approve the final proofs and sizes/numbers for the order, not three weeks earlier when you called and looked at a first draft.
* Keep your nice new stuff under lock and key when it arrives -- replacing swiped cool shorts is unfortunately a common reorder a week or two later!

But if you do your homework, look forward to an A+ on your gear.

Those are actually pretty helpful, but I've still got a good obscure question I bet you haven't run into yet.

Then pick up the phone and stump us -- we'd look forward to talking!

Intrepid Sportswear - www.intrepidsportswear.com 888-228-4732 Office: 206-285-0779 Fax: 206-282-2992