Custom Ink Alternative for Doctor Offices and Medical Practices

Custom Ink works for one-off practice apparel orders. The practice manager sets up a group order, collects sizes, collects payment, hits the deadline, the shirts ship. For a practice running 3 to 5 separate apparel needs per year (new hire onboarding, Doctor's Day, Nurses Week, MA Recognition Week, holiday party, flu clinic giveaways), the coordinator workflow burns out the practice manager. Bear Grips Pro Shops replaces the manual coordinator with a year-round storefront.

How Custom Ink Workflow Plays Out at a Practice

The Custom Ink group order workflow at a practice:

1. Practice manager sets up a group order with a deadline.
2. Shares the link in the staff Slack or email.
3. Each staff member clicks through, picks size, enters info, pays.
4. Manager chases down staff who did not order before the deadline.
5. Order locks. Goes to production.
6. Shirts ship 2-3 weeks later in a bulk box to the practice.
7. Manager sorts, bags, distributes shirts at the next staff meeting.

This works once. It does not scale to 5 cycles per year across staff polos, recognition weeks, patient gifts, and holiday parties.

How Bear Grips Replaces the Coordinator Role

The Bear Grips Pro Shops storefront model:

1. Practice manager sets up the storefront once.
2. Storefront stays open 24/7, 365 days a year.
3. Each staff member orders direct through the storefront when they need a piece.
4. Shirt prints on demand and ships free to the staff member's home address.
5. Practice gets margin in the bi-weekly payout.

No coordinator. No deadlines. No batch sort and distribute. New hires in March order the same week. Damaged polos in October replace the same week.

Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.

Custom Ink vs Bear Grips: Head-to-Head

Feature	Custom Ink	Bear Grips Pro Shops
Minimum order	6 pieces typical	1 piece
Order window	Locked deadline per group order	Open 365 days/year
Setup fees per design	Yes, varies	None
Reorders	New group order required	Same storefront, instant
Coordinator role	Practice manager per cycle	None, staff orders direct
Shipping	Bulk to practice address	Free direct to each staff home
Production time	2-3 weeks after deadline	About 1 week from order
Embroidered staff names	Per-design setup fee	Customer input at checkout
Patient gift program	Each batch a new order	Storefront stays open

When Practices Switch From Custom Ink to Bear Grips

Three common switch triggers:

• Practice manager burnout. The manager running 4-5 group orders per year hits the wall. The practice needs a model that does not require manual coordination.
• New hire late-add problems. A new MA joins in March. The most recent group order was in January. The next will be for Nurses Week in May. The new MA has no branded polo for 8-10 weeks.
• Inventory in the supply closet. Three years of leftover bulk apparel sits in the practice supply closet.

Bear Grips solves all three. The storefront stays open. New hires order the same week. No bulk order, no leftover supply closet inventory.

How a Practice Switches From Custom Ink

The transition process:

1. Sign up at shops.beargrips.com/for/doctors-office.
2. Upload the practice logo (PNG preferred).
3. Add 8-12 starter products: staff polo, quarter-zip, hoodie, recognition tee, patient gift tee.
4. Build role sections.
5. Share the new storefront link in the staff onboarding email and the practice Slack.
6. Run the existing Custom Ink group orders until they complete, then stop scheduling new ones.

The transition typically takes 12-18 months to fully complete as staff adjust to ordering direct instead of through a coordinator.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a practice still do an annual whole-staff bulk order if it wants?

Yes. Nothing stops a practice from placing a single order with multiple line items for a whole-staff issue. Same per-unit pricing across all line items.

Does Bear Grips offer fundraising-style payouts like Custom Ink fundraisers?

Yes. The practice sets the retail price and earns the margin on every staff-purchased piece. Bi-weekly payouts go to the practice's bank account.

What if the practice wants a one-off design (not the standard storefront)?

The storefront can launch a limited-time recognition-week-specific or holiday-party-specific piece that opens and closes on the practice's schedule. Functions like a Custom Ink group order, but no minimum and no coordinator.

Does Bear Grips do design help like Custom Ink?

Yes. Done-For-You VIP includes mockups, design help, and full storefront setup by a Pro Shops advisor. Self-Service VIP is for practices with the logo and design ready.