Most uniform suppliers ask you to trust a mock-up and then go quiet for a month. We would rather show you what actually happens in between. This page walks through all twelve production steps your order passes through, in order.
Understanding the process is not academic. It tells you why design approval is the point everything else is measured against, why a colour code beats a colour description, and why the guaranteed 3 to 4 week clock starts where it does.
The first three steps turn an approved design into colour that lives inside the fabric rather than sitting on top of it. This is sublimation, and it is the reason a printed number does not crack or peel off a jersey the way a heat-pressed vinyl one eventually will.
Your logo, sponsors, player names, numbers and colours are built into a production-ready layout. Every panel of the garment is drawn out flat, so a sponsor that has to wrap around a side seam is positioned deliberately rather than discovered late. This is the file your approval locks in.
The approved artwork is printed onto transfer paper at full size. Colour is matched to the Pantone references you supplied, which is exactly why we ask for a code rather than a description. Two people can look at the same screen and see different blues.
Heat and pressure turn the printed ink into gas, which bonds with the fibres of the fabric. The colour becomes part of the material. That is why a sublimated kit keeps its design through a full season of washing, and why there is no raised print to trap heat against a player.
Have your colours already? Pick your Pantone codes and send them through with a free quote request so step 2 has nothing to guess.
Sublimation is not the right answer for everything. A cotton club polo, a cap, a heavyweight hoodie or a traditional guernsey crest often calls for stitching or a printed finish instead. These three steps cover the alternatives.
A logo has to be digitised before it can be stitched. That means converting the artwork into a stitch path, choosing thread colours to match your Pantone references, and simplifying any detail that is too fine to survive at chest-badge size.
The digitised design is stitched onto the garment. Applique adds a cut fabric layer under the stitching, which is how you get a bold, raised club crest or a large twill number that reads clearly from the boundary. Embroidery is the usual choice for caps, polos and jackets that need to look sharp off the field as well as on it.
Screen printing suits large, flat blocks of colour on cotton and cotton-blend garments, particularly supporter tees and training shirts ordered in volume. Each colour is laid down through its own screen, so the artwork is separated by colour before printing begins.
Not sure which decoration your garment needs? Send us your logo and we will recommend the right method for each item on your list.
Decoration is only half the job. A uniform still has to fit a twelve year old winger and a forty year old front rower out of the same size run, and it has to hold together through a season of contact and washing.
Patterns are graded across the full size run before anything is cut. Cuts differ by sport and by garment, and men's, women's and junior blocks are handled separately rather than scaled from one shape. This is the step that decides whether a size 14 actually fits a size 14.
Panels are cut to the graded pattern. Because the design was printed flat in step 2, every panel already carries the correct part of the artwork, so stripes, sponsor blocks and side panels line up once the garment is assembled.
Panels are assembled into the finished garment. Seam placement is decided with athlete movement in mind, which matters most in the places that take the load: shoulders on an overhead swing, the inside seam of a short, and the hem that gets grabbed in contact sports.
Sizing questions are best answered before production, not after. Call 1800 845 056 and we will talk you through running a club try-on.
The last three steps are the ones that stand behind our 100% remake guarantee. Every garment is compared against the artwork you approved before it is allowed to leave.
Quality control works from your approved production files. Names and numbers are checked against your list, colour is checked against the approved reference, sponsor placement is checked panel by panel, and seams and stitching are inspected. Anything that does not match is pulled and remade.
Garments are pressed and finished so they arrive presentable rather than creased out of a carton. It sounds like a small step. It is the difference between a committee opening a box and being pleased, or opening a box and being uncertain.
The completed order is sorted by size and by name where the kit is numbered, packed and shipped Australia-wide, including regional and rural addresses. From design approval to this point is a guaranteed 3 to 4 weeks.
See how your order is handled from first enquiry through to the boxes arriving, or get a free quote and put your own design into step one.
Every stage above exists to remove a specific risk from your order. Here is the short version of what each part of the process is actually buying you.
Approval creates a single production file that printing, cutting, sewing and checking all work from, so nobody is interpreting a description halfway through.
Pantone codes go in at artwork stage and come out at quality control. That is why we ask for a code rather than a photo or a colour name.
Our 100% remake guarantee applies where finished garments do not match the approved artwork or the approved production files.
Your production files are kept, so a top-up ordered in round six is made from the same file as the original rather than rebuilt from memory.
A process diagram is easy to publish. Finished orders are harder. Our gallery holds over 1,000 real photos of custom uniforms we have produced, including finished teamwear and customers wearing VS Wear kit on the field.
Browse by sport and by garment to see how sublimation, embroidery and applique actually look on a finished kit before you decide which one your order needs.
Want the design detail behind these garments? The ultimate custom team uniforms guide covers cuts, decoration and sizing in full, and our team is on 1800 845 056 Monday to Saturday, 8:00am to 6:00pm if you would rather ask.
Sublimation prints the design onto transfer paper, then uses heat and pressure to bond the ink into the fibres of the fabric. The colour becomes part of the material, so there is nothing to crack, peel or lift after repeated washing.
Embroidery suits caps, cotton polos, jackets and heavier off-field garments, and it is the usual choice for a traditional club crest. Applique adds a cut fabric layer for bold, raised badges and large numbers.
Screen printing works well for large flat areas of colour on cotton and cotton-blend garments, particularly supporter tees and training shirts ordered in volume.
Three to four weeks, guaranteed, from design approval to dispatch. The design stage before that depends on how quickly your committee signs off, which is why mock-up revisions stay unlimited.
No. Approval locks the production file that every later step is checked against. Revisions are unlimited before approval precisely so you never need to change anything after it.
Supply a Pantone reference. It goes into the artwork at step 1, drives the print at step 2, and is what quality control compares the finished garment against at step 10.
It is pulled and remade. Our 100% remake guarantee covers finished garments that do not match the approved artwork or the approved production files.
Yes. Patterns are graded properly across the size run, with separate blocks rather than one shape scaled up and down. That is the whole purpose of the pattern house step.
Twenty units on most garments, and ten units on volleyball. The minimum applies per garment type, so jerseys and shorts are counted separately.
Yes. Your approved production files are retained, so a later order is produced from the same file and sits alongside the original kit rather than being close but not quite right.
Still have a question about how something is made? Email hello@vswear.com.au and we will answer it in plain terms.
Give us the sport, a rough quantity and your colours, and your pricing comes back to you. Once you order, our designers draw the uniform free of charge, and once you approve the design the twelve steps above begin.
Prefer to talk it through first? Contact the VS Wear team or browse custom sports uniforms by sport.
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