I always feel like a kid on Christmas morning when new jerseys arrive. Putting on a freshly printed jersey always makes me feel just a little bit cooler. I ordered my first set of jerseys eight years ago while playing on a High School team in New York City. Eight years and countless dollars later I am still ordering more, the only difference is that my parents no longer pay for them. As a cash-strapped college kid , this poses a problem. Thankfully, VC Ultimate is offering a solution.
VC is a well-known brand in ultimate circles. The Canadian company was founded in 1998 in order to create the highest quality apparel for players of all ages. Today, VC is a huge player in the ultimate market. Not only do they make some of the best apparel for the ultimate community, they also make it a point to help promote the sport. They do this by sponsoring teams, tournaments and green initiatives that help to make the sport more visible to everyone outside of the Ultimate community. Though these marketing and green initiatives are good for both the sport and the environment, it does drive the price of the product up.
Enter Printed Performance. “Printed Performance is a no-frills supplier of quality apparel to the Ultimate Market,” says Adriana Withers co-founder of VC and Printed Performance. Printed Performance offers all of the apparel and gear that Ultimate players wear for our sport, including jerseys, shorts, hats and warm-ups. “Our products are sourced from various suppliers and are not re-branded as Printed Performance gear, thereby keeping the prices rock bottom,” says Withers.
Printed Performance keeps prices low in a variety of ways. Most importantly it buys high quality gear from third-party vendors, this is very different from VC’s custom products, which are designed entirely in house.
“VC designs all of the gear that our awesome little rubber label logo goes on in-house. From style to fit to materials to construction… everything is under our control. We have two full time production people in our Toronto office making sure that VC products come in from our two manufacturers and out to our customers as best as possible every day. We’ve worked hard with our pattern maker and manufacturing head for years and years to make sure that our standards are met, and that we’re 100% proud to put our label on each item,” said Withers.
This approach to apparel has made VC a leader in the market because they only produce the highest quality clothing. Along with their marketing scheme and the increasing value of the Canadian dollar, it has gotten much more expensive to produce gear at a price that everyone can afford. Printed performance has a much simpler business plan than VC. “We are aiming to keep our marketing and operational expenses at practically zero so that we can offer great products really inexpensively,” says Withers.
This new approach has allowed printed performance to offer a ‘base’ short sleeve jersey for as little as $12.25 for teams. “You might see the same in-stock versions of the same shirt sold for $18-24 by some of our competitors,” says Withers. This savings is huge for anyone, but especially for summer leagues and youth leagues, who order hundreds of jerseys at a time.
So what exactly does Printed Performance offer? You can get screen printed or spot sublimation jerseys with numbers and names.
According to Withers price and timeline are two things that Printed Performance offers over its competition. “Our lack of overhead means we can offer you the best prices ever. If you’ve found a better price, we’d love a chance to match it – we’ll constantly work to find the best way to offer you the best deal possible.”
“Our iron-clad systems and network of screen printers and embroidery suppliers mean that we can get your orders in from trusted suppliers and out the door in about two weeks. Need it faster, just ask – we’ll also try our best to get you what you need, as ordered – on time,” said Withers.
VC and Printed Performance are two brands run by the same group of people. The two brands offer different products for different spectrums of the market. With VC you get their best offerings in Ultimate gear and customer service. With Printed Performance, customers still get that same customer service, but are able to get great gear for less money.
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