Bear Grips Pro ShopsCustom Ink Alternative for Club Lacrosse Teams and Programs
- Custom Ink: minimum order, batch fulfillment, family coordination required.
- Pro Shops: no minimum, individual ordering, no coordinator hours.
- Same shirt quality, faster fulfillment, families pay directly.
- Club director earns ongoing margin instead of one-time fundraising.
Custom Ink is the most-named legacy custom apparel platform in club lacrosse. The model: a club places a batch order, Custom Ink prints, the box ships to a coordinator, the coordinator redistributes to parents. Pro Shops removes the batch order entirely. Each family buys what they need, in the size they need, and the shirt ships to their home. The club earns margin without ever touching inventory.
Side-by-Side: Custom Ink vs Bear Grips Pro Shops
| Feature | Custom Ink | Bear Grips Pro Shops |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum order | 6 to 12 shirts typical | None |
| Order model | Group order, single ship-to | Individual order, ships to each family |
| Coordinator hours | 5 to 15 per fundraiser | 0 after setup |
| Inventory risk | None per order, but locked in once placed | None ever |
| Fulfillment time | 10 to 14 business days typical | About 1 week |
| Sizing risk | High (parent estimates sizes) | None (each parent picks) |
| Revenue model | One-time markup per order | Ongoing margin per shirt, all season |
| Standalone storefront | No | Yes (free) |
When Custom Ink Still Makes Sense
Custom Ink is a strong fit for a one-time team event with a known headcount, where every player gets the same shirt at the same time. Examples: a single end-of-year team gift, a one-shot tournament shirt for a roster of 20.
The reason: the batch order model works when the order is fully planned and the headcount is locked. The pain comes when the use-case is open-ended (a season-long apparel store, a fundraiser with unknown sales volume, a multi-team program with different sizes across age divisions). For those use cases, Pro Shops is the better fit.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Switching a Club Lacrosse Program from Custom Ink
The switch process from Custom Ink to Bear Grips Pro Shops:
- Sign up at Pro Shops, upload the same club logo used on prior Custom Ink orders.
- Recreate the most-popular Custom Ink designs as products in the Pro Shops store. The 3 to 5 designs that historically sold best.
- Set prices at the same retail point families paid through Custom Ink. The margin per item often increases because Pro Shops base costs run lower for premium athleisure blanks.
- Announce the new store to families with a single email. Most clubs see 60% to 80% of prior Custom Ink buyers move to the Pro Shops store within the first 30 days.
The Margin Math Compared
For a typical club lacrosse Custom Ink order of 30 hoodies at $42 retail (with the Custom Ink markup option), the club earned $6 to $8 per shirt for a total of $180 to $240 from that order.
The same 30 hoodies sold individually through Pro Shops at $52 retail with $16 margin per hoodie earns $480 across the same set of buyers. That is roughly 2x the per-shirt margin and the store stays live to keep selling after that first 30-hoodie wave.
For a club selling 200 to 400 items per season across all products, the lifetime revenue difference between batch-order and Pro Shops typically lands between $1,500 and $4,000 in additional club revenue per year.
Switch from Custom Ink to a Free Club Lacrosse Store
No minimum order, no coordinator hours, no inventory. Run an ongoing club store instead of one-off batches.
Start FreeFrequently Asked Questions
Is Bear Grips Pro Shops cheaper than Custom Ink for club lacrosse teams?
It depends on the order. For a single batch of 50+ identical shirts at the lowest possible per-shirt cost, Custom Ink can come in lower. For ongoing club apparel sales across a season with no inventory commitment, Pro Shops generates more total revenue because the store stays live and earns margin all year.
Do I have to switch fully from Custom Ink to use Bear Grips Pro Shops?
No. Many clubs run both. Custom Ink for one-time team gifts and locked-headcount orders. Pro Shops for the ongoing club store, fundraiser, and tournament drops.
Are the shirts the same quality as Custom Ink?
Yes. Pro Shops uses the same blank brands (Bella+Canvas, Sport-Tek, Next Level, Champion, Gildan, Independent Trading Co., Hanes) sold under Custom Ink. Premium athleisure brands like Bear Grips and AS Colour are also in catalog. Print quality is comparable.
Does Bear Grips Pro Shops do screen printing like Custom Ink?
Pro Shops uses direct-to-garment and DTF printing methods that produce clean, durable prints comparable to traditional screen printing. For most club orders, the output is visually indistinguishable from a screen-printed Custom Ink shirt.
