Custom Ink runs on a per-order model: the chapter designs a shirt, collects sizes and quantities, hits the minimum (usually 6+ for the lowest price tier, with significant per-piece savings at 12, 24, and 50+), and places one consolidated order. The chapter receives the box, distributes the shirts, handles any size issues, and the cycle repeats next time members want a new design.
Bear Grips Pro Shops runs on a standing-shop model: the chapter sets up a shop with chapter designs, members order through the shop link individually whenever they want, each order produces and ships on demand to the member directly. The chapter never holds inventory or coordinates a bulk run.
Both models work. The choice depends on chapter scale, order frequency, and operational preference:
| Need | Custom Ink | Pro Shops |
|---|---|---|
| One-time event with locked head count | Strong | Strong |
| Ongoing year-round chapter apparel | Weak (need repeated cycles) | Strong |
| Small chapter with under 24 members | Weak (minimum forces overorder) | Strong |
| Member-paid individual orders | Weak (chapter pays, recoups) | Strong |
| Chapter capturing retail markup | No (chapter pays cost) | Yes (chapter sets markup) |
| Members order in their own sizes | Indirect (form collection) | Direct (each member orders) |
Where Custom Ink stops being cost-effective is the small-run case. A chapter that wants to order 8 hoodies for the new junior class is below the minimum-quantity break point and pays substantially more per piece than at 24+ quantities.
Approximate retail pricing for an 8-piece order of a standard hoodie with two-color print:
The math gets worse for the chapter if it orders 24 to hit the break point and ends up with 16 unsold hoodies in a closet. Pro Shops removes the unsold-inventory risk entirely.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Custom Ink's design process is good. The online designer handles letter shirts, decorations, and previews well. The friction is everything after design approval: collecting size lists, chasing payment, managing the consolidated order, distribution at chapter house.
Pro Shops' workflow:
For chapters with a high-touch merch chair who likes coordinating order cycles, the Custom Ink workflow is fine. For chapters that want the merch chair role to be lower-overhead, the standing-shop model is dramatically less work.
Custom Ink has higher consumer brand recognition than Bear Grips Pro Shops among the general Greek student population. Members and parents have heard of Custom Ink before they have heard of Pro Shops. That brand familiarity carries weight in the first conversation with a chapter member who has not ordered chapter apparel before.
The counter-argument is that the chapter's own brand is what matters most in a chapter apparel shop. The shop URL is shops.beargrips.com/{chapter-name}. The chapter logo is in the header. Members are buying from the chapter, not from Bear Grips. The platform is the back-end infrastructure, not the front-end brand experience.
For chapters that want to test the model without abandoning their Custom Ink relationship, the right approach is to launch the Pro Shop with ongoing chapter staples (letter shirts, hoodies, hats) and continue using Custom Ink for bulk single-event runs where the per-piece cost at 24+ quantity actually beats individual ordering. Both can coexist.
The clearest decision framework:
Use Custom Ink or a similar bulk vendor for:
Use Bear Grips Pro Shops for:
Most active chapters end up using both: bulk vendor for the single-event high-volume runs, standing Pro Shop for everything else.
No minimum order, members order in their own sizes, chapter captures markup as revenue. Set up a free chapter shop in under an hour.
Start FreeBear Grips Pro Shops is the closest alternative for chapters that want a standing chapter apparel program rather than per-order bulk runs. It has no minimum order, supports a chapter shop with retail markup capture, and ships individual orders directly to members.
For small runs (under 24 pieces), Pro Shops typically beats Custom Ink on per-piece cost because there is no minimum-quantity break point. For large bulk runs (50+ identical pieces), traditional bulk screen printing through Custom Ink or similar vendors usually wins on per-piece cost.
Yes. Most active chapters end up using bulk vendors like Custom Ink for one-time high-volume single-event runs, and a standing Pro Shop for year-round letter apparel, officer polos, and small-batch event shirts. The two models are complementary.
Bear Grips Pro Shops lets the chapter set its own retail markup on each item, with the margin flowing to the chapter treasury automatically as orders are placed. Custom Ink charges the chapter the cost and the chapter is responsible for separately collecting payment from members at whatever price the chapter sets.
Bear Grips Pro Shops