Fitness Kickboxing Apparel Compared: Bear Grips, Custom Ink, Printful, Printify

Fitness kickboxing studios looking at custom apparel have three categories: bulk-order shops like Custom Ink, POD marketplaces like Printful and Printify, and vendor SaaS like Bear Grips Pro Shops. Each was built for a different use case. For a studio running ongoing member merch, milestone hoodies, and challenge series tees, the vendor SaaS model wins on setup time, ongoing sell-through, and operator workflow.

Custom Ink: Built for One-Time Bulk Orders

• Minimums per design: 6 to 12 pieces per design to unlock pricing.
• Setup is order-by-order: Fresh upload, proof, setup per challenge series. Slow for monthly drops.
• No persistent storefront: Members cannot browse a shop link. Each order is a transaction.
• Best for: A one-time studio launch 50-piece order. Not for monthly challenge tees, weekly member orders, or milestone hoodies.

Printful and Printify: POD Marketplaces

• Catalog broad but unfiltered: Hundreds of products, requires curation.
• Storefront is on the operator: Studio builds and maintains a Shopify or Etsy store. Real time investment.
• Setup per product: Each tee needs mockup generation, description, pricing setup.
• Best for: Multi-location chains with an in-house e-commerce team. Not for a single-studio owner.

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

Bear Grips Pro Shops: Vendor SaaS Built for Studios

• Persistent shop link: One URL the studio shares forever. Members browse and order direct.
• No piece minimums: Order 6 challenge tees or 600 at the same per-piece rate.
• No setup fees: Multi-color logos, monthly drops, all flat rate.
• Done-For-You option: $109/mo VIP. Our team builds and curates the studio shop monthly.
• Built for studios: Designed around the ongoing merch + challenge + milestone workflow.

Side-by-Side: Which Platform Fits a Kickboxing Studio

Factor	Custom Ink	Printful / Printify	Bear Grips Pro Shops
Piece minimum per design	6 to 12	None (POD)	None
Setup fees per design	Typical $30 to $80	None	None
Persistent storefront	No	Operator builds	Included
Setup time to first sale	Per-order	2 to 6 weeks (Shopify build)	About a week
Monthly cost	$0 (per-order)	$30+ Shopify + plugins	$0 free, $59 VIP, $109 DFY
Best for	One-time studio launch	In-house e-comm team	Ongoing studio merch, challenges, milestones

Switching Cost From Custom Ink or Printful

• Setup: One day. Upload logo, pick three starter products, set retail.
• Migration: Re-upload logo and product designs.
• Shop link: Available immediately. Print the QR code, add to the front desk card.
• Existing orders: No migration required. New orders flow into Pro Shops.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does per-piece price compare to Printful or Printify?

Per-piece prices are competitive on both VIP plans. The bigger comparison is total cost: persistent shop link, no Shopify build, no plugins.

Can we switch from Custom Ink mid-year?

Yes. Setup takes a day. No contract to break.

Do you handle the shop site, or do we build a Shopify store?

We handle the shop site. Studio gets a Pro Shops URL with logo and branding. No Shopify or Etsy build.

What is the Done-For-You option for a studio?

DFY VIP ($109/mo): our team builds and curates the studio shop monthly. Studio sends one logo, we handle 15 products, mockups, descriptions, and seasonal challenge drops.