Three reasons a camp merchandise store is worth setting up even before you solve bigger operational problems:
1. It is passive income. Once the store is live and the link is shared, every shirt order earns margin without any additional work from the camp director. A camp with 150 active families who each buy one shirt per summer at a $12 margin earns $1,800 from a single summer season. That number grows with alumni reorders, sibling registrations, and word of mouth.
2. It handles its own fulfillment. Bear Grips prints, packs, and ships each order directly to the buyer. No storage, no shipping days, no "the shirts didn't arrive before camp started" scenarios.
3. It extends the camp's brand year-round. A camper who wears their camp shirt to school in September is a real enrollment driver. Alumni who reorder a hoodie three years after their last session reconnect with the camp and often refer new families.
Step 1: Create a free Bear Grips Pro Shops vendor account at shops.beargrips.com/signup. Your camp gets a branded shop URL immediately.
Step 2: Upload your camp design (PNG, transparent background, minimum 300 DPI). If you do not have a finalized design, the free logo maker generates a print-ready layout using your camp name.
Step 3: Add products. Start with three core items: the camp t-shirt, a camp hoodie, and a camp hat. Set your retail price above the base cost. The margin is your camp's income per sale.
Step 4: Share the shop URL. Include it in your registration portal, welcome letter, and camp newsletter. Add a standing link in your website footer and Facebook group pinned post.
Step 5: Let it run. Orders are handled automatically. You receive a notification when a sale occurs. No action required until you need to update designs for the next season.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Realistic income projections based on typical camp program sizes:
| Program Size | Annual Families | Buy Rate | Avg Margin | Annual Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small day camp | 40 | 60% | $12 | $288 |
| Medium day camp | 120 | 65% | $12 | $936 |
| Residential camp | 200 | 80% | $13 | $2,080 |
| Multi-program | 400 | 70% | $13 | $3,640 |
These numbers assume one t-shirt purchase per family per year. Adding hoodies ($15-20 margin) and hats ($8-12 margin) to the store increases per-family revenue. The active alumni base (families whose children have aged out but still buy gear) adds to the total without any new enrollment effort.
The three-product starting lineup for any camp store:
Expand the store once the core three are selling:
For the full product catalog, see the Bear Grips product catalog.
Bear Grips Pro Shops includes a built-in affiliate program. Every vendor gets a unique referral link. When a camp director refers another program (a neighboring camp, a church summer program, a sports organization), and that program signs up, the referring director earns 10% of the referred vendor's monthly subscription fee, forever, plus $1 per unit sold in their shop.
A camp network director who manages multiple programs across a region and refers 10 program leads to Pro Shops earns 10% of 10 monthly subscriptions passively, without managing fulfillment for any of them.
The affiliate link lives in your Pro Shops dashboard at shops.beargrips.com/affiliate/.
Free vendor account, no inventory, no minimums. Set up your camp store in under an hour and start earning on every shirt, hoodie, and hat order.
Start FreeCreate a free Bear Grips Pro Shops vendor account, upload your camp design, add your products (t-shirt, hoodie, hat), set your retail prices, and share the shop URL with families. The store handles printing, packing, and shipping automatically on every order.
A medium day camp with 120 families, at a 65% buy rate and $12 margin per shirt, earns about $936 per year from shirts alone. Adding hoodies and hats increases per-family revenue. A 200-family residential camp typically earns $2,000-$3,000 annually from a well-run camp store.
No. Bear Grips Pro Shops is print-on-demand. Every item is printed individually after the customer orders. The camp never touches inventory, handles shipping, or deals with leftover stock.
Start with a camp t-shirt, a camp hoodie, and a camp hat. These three products cover the full range of seasonal buying intent and price points. Expand with session-specific designs and youth-specific sizes once the core products are selling consistently.
Bear Grips Pro Shops