My tri club (140+ paid members in the metro Detroit area) currently has our race kits produced and custom printed by Louis Garneau, and we’ve considered going with some nice short-sleeve 3 pocket cycling jerseys now. It seems that we’re always out riding in a mis-matched hodge-podge of kits, and a few of us are looking to do some “advertising” on some local rides, etc. with some cool matching cycling jerseys.
Who do you guys recommend for such a thing?
Custom graphics printing required with our supplied vector graphics.
Good quality at a reasonable price for a fair quantity (over 100-125+ pieces total in various sizes mens and womens).
Should be able to provide a complete set (Mens and womens all sizes, one piece each at least) for trial sizing and quality check of seams and material at no charge (to be returned at the time of order and held by credit card if necessary).
Should have a reasonable delivery timeframe after issuing an order and approving graphics.
Before you ask, I have no idea what “good” quality and “reasonable” price and delivery means. Anyone who has placed an order for custom product knows whether the delivery was as promised or very late, and after using the product for some time knows how good the quality is, and whether fit and function are acceptable to a wide range of body types. I can tell you our mens tri shorts from LG are great, but every woman in the club hates the chamois and length on their tri shorts.
I don’t care if you work for a custom shop, LG, DeSoto, Hincapie, whomever…I am going to try to lay hands on everyones product who will ship it to me and take it to our meeting for feedback on the feel and fit and we’re going to place an order as soon as we have a consensus. So, if you guys can point me in a few good directions based on your experiences, I thank you for your input. If you do work for (or own) one of these shops and can put me on a fast-track to getting some samples, that would be awesome. Thanks!
I like Curve Inc. I have been testing it becuase I am looking to place a custom order as well. Not as many people and the prices are pretty comparable with other places like Pactimo. I actually like the tri suits better then Pactimo (better quality, better chamios). Plus I think they have more options then most. They should send you demo to try out (they did that for me).
No upcharge for colors. Can print any custom graphics on that fabric
I like Curve Inc. I have been testing it becuase I am looking to place a custom order as well. Not as many people and the prices are pretty comparable with other places like Pactimo. I actually like the tri suits better then Pactimo (better quality, better chamios). Plus I think they have more options then most. They should send you demo to try out (they did that for me).
No upcharge for colors. Can print any custom graphics on that fabric
i don’t think you can go wrong with De Soto, their customer service and quality are top notch. not sure how the pricing is as our tri clumb has gone with Voler & LG in the past. the Voler shorts were adequate but nowhere as nice as my DeSoto shorts and the LG shorts had a seam in the wrong spot…OUCH! never wore those again. the cycling team that i ride with has champion systems gear and my initial impression is that it’s nice stuff.
The team I ride for uses Giordana… I think our last order was 600 some pieces. Not sure how their customer service is, but I can’t say enough good things about the quality of the clothing (especially the bibs, jerseys, warmers, jackets… well… everything!).
I used Desoto’s custom branch- Hidden Bay and had mixed results. We liked the prices and got everything on time. The uniforms are nice quality but they shipped our team uniforms with the wrong lettering. We agreed to keep them in return for three free uniforms. We had decided we would give them away at our next team meeting. The team had a drawing for and I got the sizes we needed and sent in our order for the three free replacements. They shipped those three tri suits and one of them had the colors messed up. I sent it back around August of last year. I called/emailed/left messages and was told it was being looked into. I haven’t heard anything since. I ended up giving my team uniform to the drawing winner (we were the same size) that never did get his trisuit. Needless to say this year we went somewhere else.
All in all the team liked the uniforms and the prices/low minimum orders were good. Being the the one that dealt with the process it just left a bad taste in my mouth. We could have sent back everything and demanded the correct artwork but didn’t. I thought Hidden Bay would be more inclined to fix a small problem but never did.
This has nothing to do with Desoto though, I love their gear and just picked up a new ITU suit which is great.
I would go with the LG jersey since they already have the artwork from your tri kits (assuming you want the same design). My previous tri team did just that; the 3 pocket jerseys are very nice quality and will last for years.
Another option is Sugoi, as they do custom work for very reasonable prices. You could get the matching bike shorts/bibs as well.
Our team has used Verge for the last two years, and we are very happy with the results. http://vergesport.com/about_custom
The prices are very reasonable, the quality is great, and the customer service is top notch.
They offer a full range of products from socks to jackets etc…
Feel free to PM me and I can give you the name of the sales rep that we work with.
My team has been very satisfied with Champ-Sys (Champion Systems). Their road stuff is great, but I’m not a fan of the tri stuff, for some reason it really doesn’t fit very well. But it’s good quality and price for the bib, shorts, and bike jerseys! They have mens, womens, race, and regular cuts, which is really nice.