Booster Club Spirit Wear Fundraiser: How to Run a Pre-Order Sale

Most booster clubs and PTOs run a spirit wear sale at least once a year, and most of the headaches come from the same place: ordering stock before anyone has paid, guessing sizes, and ending the season with a box of unsold medium hoodies in someone's garage. This guide walks through a pre-order model that avoids that, from picking items to handing out bags at the game.

We make private-label hoodies, tees, warm-ups and team wear in our workshop and partner factories, so the advice below is written from the production side: what a manufacturer needs from you, where timelines slip, and how to price so the club actually raises money.

Why a pre-order beats buying stock up front

There are two ways to run a spirit wear fundraiser. In the stock model, the club orders a pile of shirts and hoodies in a spread of sizes, then sells them at a table over the season. In the pre-order model, the club shows samples or mockups, takes paid orders for a set window, and places one production order for exactly what was sold.

	Stock model	Pre-order model
Cash needed up front	The full order, before any sales	None beyond samples; families pay first
Leftover risk	High, especially in odd sizes	Close to zero
Size range	Limited to what you guessed	Every size someone ordered
Speed to customer	Instant at the table	Two to four weeks of production, plus shipping
Volunteer workload	Spread across the season	Concentrated in sorting and pickup day

The honest trade-off: pre-orders lose the impulse buyer at the Friday night game. Many clubs solve this with a hybrid. Run the pre-order first, then add a small number of the best-selling item in the most-ordered sizes for table sales. Our minimum is 50 pieces per style for textile (5 per style for leather), so plan that add-on run with the minimum in mind.

Step 1: Choose a short, focused item list

A long menu slows families down and splits your order into tiny runs of many styles. Three to five items usually covers everyone:

• A core tee for students, siblings and casual fans. This is the entry price point.
• A pullover or zip hoodie for fall and winter sports. This is usually the item with the most profit per piece.
• One item for parents, such as a quarter-zip, crewneck sweatshirt or a "Football Mom / Band Dad" style tee.
• One optional premium piece for seniors or coaches: a warm-up set, a jacket or a personalized item.

If the team also needs matching travel gear, plan it as a separate order. Our guide to custom warm-up suits for teams covers that side of the order, and the White Buraq textile catalog shows the hoodie, tee and set styles we produce.

Step 2: Lock the design and decoration method

Decoration decides both price and look, so settle it before you announce prices. A few practical rules from the production side:

• Use the school's official colors and approved logo files. Check with the athletic director or school office before you print a mascot. Some schools control how their marks are used.
• Send vector artwork (AI, EPS, SVG or a high-resolution PDF). A logo screenshot from a website will not reproduce cleanly.
• Keep the color count low. Fewer colors in the design usually means a cleaner print and a simpler quote.
• Put embroidery on the premium items. An embroidered chest logo on a hoodie or quarter-zip looks more expensive and lasts through washing; a big printed back design is better on tees.

If you are not sure which method suits which garment, our comparison of embroidery vs screen print vs DTF explains the differences in feel, durability and cost.

Ask about custom labels too. Private label and custom branding are available, so a club can have its own neck label or hang tag instead of a generic blank brand. It is a small detail, but it makes the piece feel like official team gear rather than a stock shirt with a print.

Step 3: Price it so the club actually raises money

The most common pricing mistake is setting the selling price first and working out costs afterwards. Do it the other way round. Get your per-piece quote from the manufacturer, including decoration and any labels, then build up the price.

Here is the method, with made-up round numbers so the math is easy to follow. These are illustrative only, not our pricing; the team will quote your actual items.

1. Start with your landed cost per piece. Say a decorated hoodie quotes at $20. For US buyers we ship free with duties paid, so there is nothing to add for freight.
2. Add your own costs per piece. Card processing fees, bags, and any online order form fees. Say $2.
3. Decide your profit per piece. If you want $15 per hoodie for the club, your selling price is $20 + $2 + $15 = $37. Round to a clean number like $38.
4. Check it against what families will pay. If the result feels too high for your community, cut the decoration (a one-color print instead of embroidery) rather than cutting the club's profit to almost nothing.
5. Multiply out your goal. At $16 profit per hoodie (after rounding to $38), 100 hoodies raises $1,600. If the goal is $3,000, you either need more volume, a higher-margin premium item, or a second sale in spring.

Keep the tee cheaper with a smaller profit per piece. It brings in siblings and grandparents who will not spend hoodie money, and those orders add up.

A note for team dealers and local shops that resell spirit wear: our wholesale store-stock price is 50% of retail, which leaves room for your margin if you run sales for several schools at once. The wholesale account details are covered at the end of this guide.

Step 4: Get sizing right before the order window opens

Size mistakes cause most of the exchanges and complaints in a spirit wear sale. Prevent them up front:

• Publish a size chart with real measurements (chest width and body length), not just S, M, L. Point families to a size guide that explains how to measure a garment they already own.
• Offer the full range. You do not need to leave out bigger parents or linemen. Larger sizes, up to 8XL, can be made to measure, which helps coaches and bigger players who rarely find team gear that fits.
• Have samples at a try-on table at a game or open house. If you are in metro Atlanta, ask us about local textile samples so families can feel the fabric and check the fit before they buy.
• Note youth vs adult sizing clearly. Parents ordering for a ten-year-old often pick "small" without checking whether it means youth or adult.

State your exchange policy clearly in the order form. Because pre-order items are made for the club, many clubs make sizes final once production starts. Whatever you choose, write it down before the sale opens.

Step 5: Plan the calendar backwards from the date you need the gear

Spirit wear has a hard deadline: homecoming, the first home game, a tournament, or holiday gift season. Work back from that date.

Stage	Typical time	What happens
Design and quote	About 1 week	Send artwork, pick items, approve mockups and prices
Sample (optional)	Ask the team	Check fabric, print and fit before announcing
Order window	10 to 14 days	Families order and pay by size
Production	2 to 4 weeks	Cutting, sewing, decoration and labels
Shipping and sorting	A few days to a week	Delivery, then volunteers bag orders by name

Add those up and a spirit wear sale needs roughly six to eight weeks from first contact to pickup day. If homecoming is in five weeks, shorten the order window and simplify the design rather than hoping production goes faster. If you are reading this in late fall, a spring sports or end-of-year sale is a realistic next target.

Step 6: Run the order window

Keep the window short with a firm close date. A two-week window with reminders at the start, the middle and the last two days usually collects most of the orders a longer window would, with less chasing.

• Take payment at the time of order. No "pay at pickup." The whole point of a pre-order is that the club never fronts money for unpaid items.
• Collect the essentials: buyer name, student name and grade or team, item, size, color, any personalization, and contact details.
• Show real photos or mockups of each item. Families buy faster when they can see exactly what they are getting.
• Share it everywhere at once: team group chats, the school newsletter, a flyer with a QR code at games, and coaches' announcements.

When the window closes, export the orders and total them by item, color and size. That tally is your production order. Double-check it against payments received before you send it.

Step 7: Place one clean production order

Send the manufacturer a single, organized order. It saves days of back-and-forth. Include:

• A size breakdown per item and color, in a simple table
• Final artwork files and placement (left chest, full back, sleeve)
• Thread or ink colors, ideally with color codes from the school's style sheet
• Label and tag choices
• A list of personalized pieces (names, numbers) with spelling checked twice
• The date you need the shipment and the delivery address

Ask the manufacturer to confirm the total piece count back to you in writing before production starts. A single wrong number at this stage becomes a missing hoodie on pickup day.

Step 8: Sort and hand out without chaos

When the boxes arrive, open everything and count against your order before anyone takes a bag home. Then sort by student or family name, not by item. Bag each order with a printed slip, and line bags up alphabetically or by team. Pickup at a home game or practice works well; plan a second pickup time for families who miss the first.

Afterwards, write down what sold by item and size. Next season that record tells you which items to drop, which sizes to stock for table sales, and how much profit each item really brought in.

What to ask a manufacturer before you commit

1. Is there a minimum order per item or per color? (With us, it is 50 pieces per style for textile and 5 per style for leather.)
2. What is the production time once artwork and sizes are approved?
3. Is shipping included, and are duties paid for US delivery?
4. Which decoration methods do you offer on each garment?
5. Can we add our own neck labels or hang tags?
6. What size range do you cover, and can you make larger sizes?
7. Can we see or try a sample before families order?
8. Who is our contact if something is wrong when the order arrives?

Clubs that also want a premium piece for seniors or a letter jacket program can read our team ordering guide for chenille patches, which covers the extra details those orders need.

FAQ

How much money does a spirit wear fundraiser make?

It depends on your profit per piece and how many families order. Multiply the profit you build into each item by your expected order count. A club that sets a clear profit per piece before announcing prices knows its result as soon as the order window closes.

Do we need to order a minimum number of hoodies or shirts?

Yes. Our minimum is 50 pieces per style for textile and 5 per style for leather, so a small club, a single team or a band program should plan its item list so each style reaches that number.

How long does custom spirit wear take?

Textile production runs two to four weeks once artwork, items and sizes are confirmed. Add a week for design and quoting, your order window, and shipping. Plan six to eight weeks from start to pickup.

Can we get plus sizes for parents and coaches?

Yes. Larger sizes up to 8XL can be made to measure, so the whole team family can wear the same gear.

Can we see samples before we open orders?

Yes. Ask the team about samples for your items. Clubs in metro Atlanta can ask about local textile samples to show at a try-on table.

If your booster club, PTO, team or local shop is planning a spirit wear sale, email info@whiteburaq.com with your item list, rough quantities and the date you need the gear, or start through our wholesale page. The team will confirm pricing, decoration options and a production timeline for your order.