5 Tips for Creating Custom Shirts to Sell at Dance Competitions
If you are hosting a dance competition and are in charge of concessions, one of the things you will have to decide is what type of apparel you will sell. When designing custom shirts to sell at your event, it is important that you select an item that that participants will like so it will sell. Following these guidelines will help you create a shirt or series of shirts that will go over well at your next event.
1. Consider the Quality of the Materials You Will Be Using
When you are selling clothing items at a dance competition it is important to strike a balance between quality and cost. If your attire feels or looks cheap, you may not be able to sell your stock. However, a high price will also make it difficult to sell your items. To offer a good-quality but inexpensive product to your participants and spectators, it is important that you start with a quality shirt that is soft, comfortable, and durable. Purchasing your shirts in bulk quantities will help lower your overall cost.
Next, you should make sure that you order a screen print as opposed to a heat transfer. Heat transfers tend to be cheaper and allow more colors in your design, but they will also crack and fade more quickly than a screen-printed shirt.
Finally, make sure that your design is created in a way that will allow your printer to match it exactly. This includes using Pantone colors, switching any text in your design to outlines, and creating your design in the actual size you want it printed.
2. Offer Comfortable Clothing That Can Be Worn during Practices
When deciding what type of clothing to print on, you should consider what most of your participants wear to practices and at dance events. Although they may also wear their shirt in other locations, they will be most likely to wear it around other dancers. For this reason, you should consider tank tops as well as t-shirts and three-quarter sleeve shirts that are fitted but easy to move in.
You will also want to offer your clothing in a range of colors. However, keep in mind that many instructors insist that their dancers wear either black or white clothing to practice, so you may want to order larger quantities of these colors.
3. Create Something for Parents
When you are creating designs for your shirts, don't forget to create clothing targeted toward the participants' parents and other spectators. Many of these guests will want to support their dancer by wearing clothing from the competition. For this reason, you may need to extend your range of sizes and consider designs that focus on being the parent of a dancer. This can be communicated through phrases, such as "Dance Mom," or graphically, by depicting parents or spectators in the design of the shirt.
4. Get Design Ideas from Your Target Audience
When you are trying to come up with a design for your apparel, you should consider getting design ideas from dancers who will be at your competition. You can consider holding a design contest to come up with a shirt design or you can simply ask for input about various designs that you are considering. It is important to ask a large variety of dancers so you will know what types of designs are likely to appeal to a range of dancers as opposed to a select few.
5. Go Beyond Literal Interpretations of Dance
At dance competitions, it is common to see shirts displaying various silhouettes of dance poses, such as leaps and back bends. Because of this, it is likely that many of the participants will already own one or two dance shirts like this. To make your shirts stand out and to increase sales, consider focusing on the theme of your competition as opposed to dance in general. Alternatively, think of a less literal interpretation of dance that will make your shirt unique.
Contact a company like Absolute Screen Printing for more ideas or to hire them for your event.
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