School Sports Kit & PE Uniform Manufacturer

What a school PE kit order from ZipaSports contains

A school orders PE kit from ZipaSports as a set of garments cut to one specification and one crest, with each garment treated as its own design for the 20–25 piece minimum. Most schools order the pieces below in a single run, split across youth and adult sizes, and add fixture kit for the teams that represent the school on Saturdays. Lower quantities are possible on request for a small sixth form or a single house.

Fixture kit follows the same cut and fabric standards as our club pages for football, rugby, netball, hockey, cricket and athletics, so a school can source the whole calendar from one factory in Sialkot.

Daily wear and the washing machine: why we specify piqué and fleece

School PE kit is worn two or three times a week and washed after every lesson, which is a harder life than most club kit ever sees. For that reason we steer schools towards piqué knit polos rather than lightweight jersey: the raised texture hides pilling, the collar holds its shape, and the poly-cotton option at 200–240 GSM stays opaque after repeated hot washes. Tees and shorts use polyester interlock at 140–180 GSM because it dries quickly on a radiator and does not shrink.

For hoodies and tracksuits the choice is between cotton-polyester fleece at 280–350 GSM, which feels like a conventional school hoodie, and performance polyester fleece at 240–300 GSM, which is lighter and dries faster for outdoor games lessons. Both take an embroidered crest well.

Crests on daily-wear garments are usually embroidered because thread survives tumble drying and does not crack. Where a school wants house colours built into the garment itself, sublimation prints the colour into the polyester fibre so it cannot peel or fade under normal washing. ZipaSports runs wash-fastness and colour-fastness checks on sublimated fabric, and the approved fabric and GSM are written on the spec sheet so next year's order is identical.

House colours and fixture kit from one crest

A house system is handled as one garment pattern reproduced in several colourways, so four houses do not require four separate designs from scratch. The school sends its crest and the house colours, either as Pantone references or as a photograph of an existing garment we can match, and the studio returns one mockup showing every house side by side within 24 hours.

Fixture kit for school teams is sublimated so numbers are printed with the shirt rather than applied afterwards, which matters for a school that fields several year-group teams from the same shirt stock. Names, numbers and sponsor placement follow the same rules as our names, numbers and sponsor logos page.

Youth sizing from the youngest year group to sixth form and staff

One school order can contain youth sizes for the youngest pupils and adult XS–5XL for sixth formers and staff, all counted towards the same 20–25 piece minimum for each garment design. Mixed sizes within one design are standard, so a run of 60 PE polos might be spread across eight sizes without any change to the minimum.

The same garment must fit an eleven-year-old and an eighteen-year-old without looking like two uniforms. Computerised size grading from one master pattern scales the crest position, collar depth and hem length proportionally, so a Year 7 polo is recognisably the same garment as an upper-sixth one. Women's cuts in XS–4XL are available for girls' fixture kit and skorts.

Because pupils grow between order and September, most schools take a size set before bulk: one garment per size in 5–7 days at sample cost, credited against the bulk order. The PE department tries them on a few pupils and confirms the breakdown, which becomes the approved specification the bulk is measured against. See our size chart guide for the age-to-chest bands we start from.

Ordering to the school calendar: term-start deadlines

Kit that must be on pupils for the first PE lesson of the autumn term needs to be approved in the early summer term. The chain is fixed: digital mockup within 24 hours of your brief, optional size set in 5–7 days, bulk production in 15–25 business days after design approval, then 5–10 days by DHL, FedEx or UPS to the school office or the school's kit shop. For a September start that means sign-off before the summer break. Express production in 7–12 days exists at additional cost but does not shorten the courier leg.

• Twelve or more weeks before term: send crest, colours and rough quantities; receive the mockup within 24 hours.
• Ten weeks before: order the size set if sizing is uncertain; it arrives in 5–7 days plus courier time.
• Eight weeks before: approve design, sizes and labels; bulk production begins.
• Three to five weeks before: bulk completes and ships; pre-shipment photos are available on request.
• Term start: kit is in the school, with a top-up list for late admissions.

Schools selling kit through an outfitter often stagger the order so PE polos ship first and fixture kit follows. ZipaSports can split one order into two dispatches from Sialkot on request; see the lead-time guide.

Initials, numbers and safeguarding-friendly design notes

We recommend that school PE kit worn off-site does not carry a pupil's full name on the outside of the garment. This is a design note, not a rule we impose: many schools prefer initials on the hem or inside label so kit is identifiable in the changing room but not readable across a playing field. Fixture kit carries numbers rather than names for the same reason.

Practical options we build into school orders:

• Printed size tag with a blank name line inside the neck, so parents write the name at home.
• Small embroidered or heat-transfer initials on the hem or sleeve, ordered from a list the school supplies.
• Back numbers only on fixture shirts; squad names kept to the teamsheet.
• Staff kit in a contrasting colour or with department wording, so adults are distinguishable on a school trip or at a fixture.
• House identification by colour panel or back-neck house name rather than by pupil name.

Where a school does want names, for a leavers' hoodie or a sports tour, they are printed or embroidered from your list and kept as a separate design file. Every option here sits within the 20–25 piece minimum per design.

Reordering the same kit every year without colour drift

School PE kit has to match across year groups for as long as the design is in use, so consistency between orders matters more than for a club that refreshes kit each season. ZipaSports keeps the digitised crest, the sublimation artwork, the Pantone references, the fabric and GSM, the graded pattern and the approved size breakdown on record under the school's name. A reorder is cut from those files rather than from a fresh brief.

Top-ups for new admissions, lost kit and mid-year size changes are accepted below the standard minimum on request once the design is on file. Email the size list and order reference; the top-up follows the same 15–25 business day window, or the express route if needed for a fixture.

Two things can still move between orders. Dye lots on solid-colour piqué and fleece can differ by a small shade, which is normal and not a defect; sublimated polyester holds colour more consistently than piece-dyed cotton blends. Measurement tolerance is ±1–1.5 cm. Both are on the spec sheet, and our quality control page describes the checks before dispatch.

What the school needs to send us

A complete brief lets the studio return an accurate mockup within 24 hours and production start the day the design is approved.

A photograph of the old kit and a wish list is enough to begin; the design service is free and revisions are unlimited before approval.

Delivery to schools in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Europe, and the Quality Guarantee

Finished kit leaves Sialkot by DHL, FedEx or UPS and arrives in 5–10 days in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and Europe, with tracking sent to the school's ordering contact. Import VAT and any duty are payable by the importer on arrival unless otherwise agreed; the commercial invoice, packing list and certificate of origin are supplied. Whole-school orders can go by sea in 3–6 weeks if placed early. Country detail is on our UK, USA, Canada, Australia and EuropeIrelandNew ZealandUAESaudi Arabia pages and in the shipping policy.

Quality Guarantee: if any garment arrives with a manufacturing defect, we remake it free of charge — the remake goes into production within 3 days of your report. A defect means a print fault, stitching fault, wrong size against the approved specification, or wrong garment or quantity. Send photos and the order reference within 7 days of delivery; we confirm within 24 hours and ship replacements at no charge, or credit if preferred. Made-to-order kit carrying the school crest cannot be returned for change of mind, and sizing chosen by the school is not a defect. Full terms are on the Quality Guarantee page.