An ultra running club or race director with an active membership and no merch shop is leaving money on the table. A club store built on Bear Grips Pro Shops earns $300 to $800 per month for active 150-plus member clubs, with no inventory to buy, no upfront cost, and no distribution to manage. Race directors add finisher shirt programs and volunteer apparel at the same time. Here is how the setup works.
Ultra running clubs have a built-in advantage for apparel sales: members have strong community identity, they run in public where branded gear is visible, and they buy gear for themselves and as gifts for their running partners. A club with an active Strava page, Instagram account, or Facebook group already has the distribution channel. The store is just the destination.
Race directors have an even more natural selling environment: a captive audience of registrants who want the race shirt, a post-race community that wants commemorative apparel, and a race-brand identity that extends beyond the event itself into the local running community.
The Bear Grips Pro Shops model removes the friction points that have historically prevented clubs from running ongoing merchandise programs: no upfront inventory, no size coordination, no payment collection, no distribution logistics. The store handles all of it automatically.
A basic ultra running club or race store takes about 20 to 30 minutes to set up:
For the Done-For-You VIP plan ($109/month), skip steps 2 through 4. Send the logo and receive a fully built store.
Bear Grips Pro Shops: Custom Apparel for Your Team. No Minimums. Free Shipping.Here is how revenue typically breaks down for different club and event sizes:
| Club/Race Size | Buyer Rate | Avg Items | Margin/Item | Revenue/Month |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 members | 20% | 1.5 | $14 | $210 |
| 150 members | 15% | 1.5 | $14 | $473 |
| 500 members | 10% | 1.5 | $14 | $1,050 |
| Race (200 entrants, finisher shirt) | 80% | 1.0 | $12 | $1,920 (one-time) |
Race directors who include the finisher shirt in the registration fee rather than selling it separately can structure the math differently: add the shirt cost to the registration fee and the club earns a portion of that built-in revenue. Many race directors do both: include a finisher shirt in registration and run a separate merchandise store for additional apparel sales.
Running the store as an ongoing open shop (rather than a one-time pre-order window) generates continuous revenue from new members joining throughout the year, existing members who missed the first window, and club supporters who are not official members but want the gear.
Ultra running coaches who work with individual athletes or small training groups can run a merch shop as a side income stream without it being the primary focus of their coaching business. The apparel becomes a natural extension of the coaching relationship: athletes who train with a specific coach want to represent that coaching brand.
A coaching practice with 25 to 40 athletes where 50% buy a shirt or hoodie per season generates $175 to $560 per launch in passive income. A coach who does two launches per year (spring training season and fall race season) earns $350 to $1,100 from apparel without any active selling beyond sharing the store link with their athlete group.
Coaches and race directors also earn affiliate income by referring other running clubs, gyms, or sports organizations to Bear Grips Pro Shops. At 10% of the referred vendor's monthly subscription fee indefinitely, four referrals to the $59/month VIP plan earn $23.60/month ($283/year) in passive income on top of direct apparel sales.
See the affiliate program for full details. For the hat and shirt products that convert best in ultra running stores, see the ultra running apparel guide.
Free to start, no inventory required. Set up in 20 minutes, share the link with your club, and earn on every sale.
Start FreeA basic store with three to five products takes about 20 to 30 minutes. The Done-For-You VIP plan ($109/month) removes the setup from the club director entirely: send the logo and receive a fully built, ready-to-sell store.
No. Bear Grips Pro Shops is a zero-inventory model. Every item is printed and shipped on demand after each member places their own order. The club earns a profit margin on every sale without purchasing a single item in advance.
Active clubs with 150 members typically earn $400 to $600 per month when the store is promoted regularly. Smaller clubs with 50 members typically earn $150 to $300 per month. Race directors who sell finisher shirts as part of an event can earn $1,000 to $2,000 in a single race-weekend window.
Yes. Every vendor on Bear Grips Pro Shops receives an affiliate link. Referring another running club, gym, or sports organization that signs up earns 10% of their monthly subscription fee indefinitely, plus $1 per item sold by the referred vendor.
Bear Grips Pro Shops