I recently talked to a gym owner who isn’t taking profit off uniforms at all. Now, I’m not saying we need to gauge parents on an already expensive item, but I am saying, there should be some profit in everything you’re doing. If you’re not marking your uniforms up at all, you’re losing money. The first season I ordered uniforms, I made a few pretty big mistakes that cost me (and essentially the whole Johnston family) a few hundred dollars. Not only had I not factored the credit card fees for each swipe into my total cost, but I didn’t adequately estimate shipping, tax or the time it would take me to design as well as the admin time I spent placing the order and distributing uniforms. So, today I’m going to give you five ways to get the best prices on uniforms:
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- Consider doing all your uniforms, practicewear and warm ups with the same vendor. When I only had 28 all star kids, it was hard to meet minimum requirements for orders that would give me a reasonably priced uniform. That said, I always tried to use the same company for all those uniform items in order to negotiate.
- Do the same uniform for novice, prep and elite if needed. New gym owners often take the “industry standard” or “common practice” as rules. There is no rule by the USASF or any other entity that says you have to have different uniforms for those programs. Now, it can be helpful as you grow so that uniform pricepoints can be adjusted appropriately for the program, but if you only have 30 kids spanning across prep and elite or novice and prep, separate uniforms are going to cost you an arm and a leg. Pick a middle-of-the-road sublimated or stock uniform with mild bling. We’ve had prep uniforms that would have worked just fine for elite teams. Don’t do separate uniforms if the pricing doesn’t make sense.
- Be open to the company’s ideas. If you walk into a new uniform year trying to build a custom uniform that looks like one of the gyms winning worlds, you probably need to change your mindset. Large gyms do have a few advantages here. They’re able to get quantity discounts that often make up for the price of custom uniforms. You can still get great uniforms that are stock. As a company, check if their previous years’ catalogs are still relevant also. The company I use – I always look through the last few years of their catalogs because I know I can use previous designs. Something from 2019 is NOT out of style, so don’t worry about that. Often, we can do a top from a 2019 catalog and a bottom from a 2022 catalog and it makes a “custom” feeling uniform. Be honest with your rep about your bottom line and stick to it. If you go above that bottom line, you won’t be able to mark up uniforms.
- Shop around. I’ve moved companies over the years. The one I really liked began to outprice my budget. I wasn’t able to negotiate as they grew a lot over time, so I started looking elsewhere. Think about your uniforms. Do you keep them more than 2 years? If so, you may need to pay a bit more for higher quality. If you’re like me and change uniforms after 2 years, then you may be able to do a slightly lower quality knowing you’re only going to wear them 20 times and then it’s a new uniform. The company I prefer these days has more affordable uniforms. I think their quality is perfect for a 2 year uniform. I think it could probably hold up 3 years, but when other companies want to question the quality I’m receiving, I’m confident it’s right for me because we don’t have issues. The company that works for me may not work for you, and vice versa. But you should absolutely be shopping around to ensure you’re getting the best prices.
- Use Profit First for your All Star Budgeting. If you have no idea what this is, check out Profit First by Mike Michaelowicz. Because we use this accounting system, I can use my profit from the previous year’s all star season to place my deposits on uniforms and choreography for the next season. That means I can get the absolute BEST deals. If you’re ending your season with zero dollars in that all star account, it means you either need to budget differently or you need to use separate bank accounts for all star. This was such a game changer for me. As a result, we can afford to take advantage of microdeposit programs and discounts for ordering early in the season. Before I used Profit First, I couldn’t afford this. Now, we get our parents the best prices AND we build in profit for ourselves. We teach this financial system in the Owners Academy, so if you’re looking for more details, reach out and I’d be glad to meet with you and see if the Owners Academy might be a good fit for your gym.
I hope you found this helpful as you look toward uniform orders this season. Later this week I’ll tell you what our process will be this year as far as uniform fittings and making sure we’re getting the right sizes ordered. We’ll also talk about how to hire a choreographer that’s the RIGHT fit for your gym, so stay tuned!
