How to Choose a Sports Uniform Supplier
What Actually Separates Serious On-Water Apparel From Generic Teamwear
Most sports uniform suppliers look similar on the surface. Logos and mockups are easy. What's difficult, and far more important, is building uniforms that perform when wet, hold up over multiple seasons, and fit an entire team correctly. For on-water sports like rowing, the differences between suppliers are structural, not cosmetic. This guide focuses on the areas where meaningful separation actually exists.
1. Fit: The Biggest Performance Divider
Fit is the most common failure point in team uniforms, and the one most suppliers are structurally unable to solve.
Most uniform manufacturers rely on fixed size runs and single-pattern garments optimized for production efficiency. These systems generally don’t support:
- Mixed top and bottom sizing within a single garment
- Proportional torso length adjustments
- Optional inseam or rise modifications
- Applying individualized fit options across an entire team
Athletes are often told to “choose the closest size,” which forces compromise, especially in seated, on-water sports where proportion matters most.
JL Racing is structured differently, with full control over patterning and production, allowing it to offer mixed sizing on most unisuits and custom tailoring that adds or removes torso and bottom length for every individual on a team rather than forcing athletes to compromise.
2. Manufacturing Structure and Oversight
A supplier’s manufacturing model directly affects consistency, accuracy, and accountability.
Common Issues in Outsourced Production:
- Variation between production runs
Different batches of fabric, machinery calibration, and staff turnover can create noticeable differences in compression, stretch, color, and panel alignment.
- Pattern drift over time
When pattern files move between vendors or are interpreted by different technicians, small deviations accumulate and affect fit and performance season after season.
- Slower issue resolution
Any correction, whether a sizing discrepancy, construction adjustment, or material concern, must pass through multiple companies and time zones, which delays resolution.
- Limited customization capacity
Third-party factories cannot easily modify patterns or sizing systems without disrupting production flow, so even simple tailoring requests are often restricted.
- Reduced transparency
Teams rarely know how decisions are made, who is executing the work, or how quality standards are enforced.
- Higher reorder inconsistency
Reorders may be produced in different facilities or with different materials, creating mismatches within the same team set.
JL Racing’s family-owned, vertically integrated manufacturing model avoids these structural risks entirely by controlling patterning, construction, and quality oversight within the same organization.
3. Construction Standards That Determine Longevity
Construction quality directly influences how long a uniform lasts.
High-stress zones, especially the seat area, require reinforcement that does not restrict movement or compromise moisture performance. Many suppliers simplify construction to reduce production complexity.
JL Racing incorporates double-seat construction as a standard, reinforcing high-wear zones to extend durability without unnecessary bulk.
4. Fabric Performance in Wet, High-Abrasion Environments
Many athletic fabrics perform well when dry but fail once saturated.
On-water apparel must withstand repeated moisture exposure, compression changes when wet, UV exposure, abrasion at the seat and hip interface, and long-term shape retention. Generic dry-land athletic fabrics often lose stability or become translucent under load.
JL Racing selects textiles engineered specifically for repeated on-water exposure, prioritizing wet-state stability, durability, and opacity.
5. True Sustainability
For technical on-water apparel, sustainability is most meaningful when it is driven by durability, regional production, and operational control, not slogans or surface-level claims.
Many sportswear brands outsource manufacturing to overseas factories chosen primarily for cost. In these setups, environmental practices, labor standards, and energy use often fall outside the brand’s control, which makes sustainability difficult to enforce.
Meaningful sustainability is rooted in structural choices:
- Long-life garments that reduce replacement cycles
- Regional manufacturing that avoids multi-continent shipping and its emissions
- Direct oversight of production quality, worker standards, and material handling
- Energy-efficient operations that reduce the footprint of each unit produced
JL Racing manufactures in the Americas using approximately 90 percent renewable energy, maintain full oversight through our family-owned production model, and supports end-of-life responsibility through our JL RePlay™ program, which encourages the return of worn JL gear for responsible repurposing or recycling when possible.
6. Color Accuracy and Year-Over-Year Consistency
Color accuracy is one of the most overlooked yet impactful parts of uniform performance. For many teams, colors become part of their identity — but outsourced production and lower-grade sublimation equipment can lead to noticeable shade differences from one season to the next.
Most suppliers rely on third-party factories that use varying machine types, inconsistent color profiles, or shared production settings. This means color output can change if a factory recalibrates for another customer, replaces ink systems, or shifts to different print heads. As a result, teams often see year-over-year variations in their official colors.
JL Racing approaches color differently, using high-end, zero-water-waste sublimation equipment. We maintain dedicated color profiles for each team, ensuring consistent, accurate colors every season. With production controlled in-house, JL locks in color values and avoids the drift that occurs when outsourced factories change settings or use lower-grade machines.
7. Delivered Speed vs. Promised Speed
Quick-turn production is something every supplier talks about, but very few deliver consistently. Many brands set optimistic timelines that depend on outsourced factory availability, batch scheduling, or production queues that are outside their control, which leads to missed delivery dates once the season is underway.
A small number of suppliers advertise year-round ordering and continuous quick-turn capability, but the reality often falls short because these models still rely on external factory schedules and minimum-volume batching, waiting for orders to be large enough to produce.
JL Racing takes a different approach. By controlling production in the Americas and using defined ordering periods, JL sets realistic timelines and meet them. This structure prevents delays caused by batching or external factory prioritization and keeps delivery timelines dependable for coaches and athletes. Last year, 97 percent of JL’s custom performance wear was produced in three weeks or less, not including shipping.