3 Tips for Selling Branded Gymnastics Apparel for Your Club
A gymnastics facility’s name and logo being worn by members and community members is a very memorable experience! Branded gymnastics apparel is a great way for your club to increase revenue, grow membership, and diversify your offerings. Still, there are some things you should be doing to ensure success in your sales of branded gymnastics apparel. Selling your branded products is an important part of your business, so here are three tips to keep in mind.
Why Branded Apparel is Important:
While having a branded apparel line with your logo on it won’t be paying all the bills, this can still be a great way to create some other forms of equity, whether it goes towards something else in your facility – or donated to a charity of your choice.
Adding branded merchandise can also do the following:
- Acts as an extra form of free advertisement
- Builds recognition and differentiation within your community
- Improves engagement among your members and community
- Promotes exclusivity to your gymnastics club
When styling, sourcing, and selling your gymnastics apparel, there are some crucial steps you need to take into account.
1. Styling Your Gymnastics Apparel:
While you already have a logo, it might benefit your gym to look into other designs or ideas that catch people’s attention. If you are unsure of what you might want to do for a new design, partner with a graphic designer.
Some good places to look for a graphic designer outside of your community are fiverr or freelancer.com. Be clear with your designer about what types of apparel you are interested in, as the design may change based on certain textiles.
When redesigning or incorporating new designs, using similar imagery and copy from your existing marketing materials can help you establish your brand faster. Always make sure the designs you create will reflect value with your current members and potential leads.
2. Sourcing Your Apparel Materials:
When you begin looking for places to source your gymnastics apparel items, it’s best to think of quality vs. quantity. While there are many one-stop companies available to the public, often times they can feel cheap and wear down quick.
If you are trying to stay local within your community, consider partnering with a local silk-screener or printer. Reach out to your network and see if anyone could make a suggestion for a local company.
If you are having some trouble finding a local company to source the type of merchandise and apparel you have in mind, here are some high-quality online sourcing options:
- Broken Arrow Wear – Broken Arrow uses state-of-the-art printing and embroidery equipment, and the company’s online design tool has over 13,000 pieces of clipart and hundreds of design ideas. It is quick and easy to use, plus it includes custom artwork free with your order.
- UberPrints – Uberprints is another good T-shirt printer if you want to design a shirt yourself. Plus it has fun and quirky options like creating matching items for you and your dog! Their website is designed around creating a shirt yourself.
- DiscountMugs – DiscountMugs offers more than just t-shirts like mugs, pens, toys, or other promotional items. Their design software lets you put your uploaded design on almost any of their product choices. No custom artwork is included with your purchase, so this site is best if you would be hiring a personal graphic designer.
When you use one of these third party sources, always ask for a proof or a mockup of your apparel before purchasing to ensure you are getting exactly what you are looking for.
3. Selling Your Apparel:
Your gymnastics apparel should be easily visible to your members. Keep your stock limited to a degree – you won’t want to have an overabundance of items overfilling in an office or storage closet. Start small with your orders, as you can always increase and start invoicing for more when the demand is there.
When thinking about your pricing, it’s best to keep the price slightly under the value depending on the product. While you can still earn some additional income by selling gymnastics apparel, if you are looking to really get your brand out there with merchandise, making it affordable with you members is essential
When you first introduce your new branded apparel items, think about using it in other marketing materials like:
- Having a sale on your social media pages with a big reveal of new branded apparel
- Offer giveaways and run competitions on social pages or your directly from your website
- Share it with other local businesses in your community – give them an excuse to talk about your gymnastics club
If you are looking to start selling your own branded gymnastics apparel in your club, be sure you have great graphics that highlight the identity you want to convey in your merchandise. Think about having multiple types of garments available, including men’s and women’s products, as well as various color schemes to choose from. By following these tips and keeping an eye on your overall strategy, selling branded gymnastics apparel becomes a much simpler process!
