The endurance kit
Soccer: ninety minutes, outdoors, in whatever the weather does
Soccer kit is worn continuously for ninety minutes, outdoors, often in weather that changes during the match. It needs to breathe when a player is running and not chill them when they stop, which puts it in a narrower fabric window than the indoor sports.
It is also the sport where the kit is most clearly a set of three — shirt, shorts and socks — and where getting one of the three from somewhere else is most obvious.
The sock problem
Socks are the piece programs buy locally, and they are in every photograph of the team. A kit in matched colours with eleven different socks looks less finished than a plain kit with matched ones, which is a poor return on the money saved.
They are produced knitted to the kit colours rather than printed onto a stock sock, and the reasoning is the same one that applies to every small piece in our range of team socks, bags and finishing pieces.
Goalkeeper kit is the other soccer-specific problem: it has to contrast with both outfield strips and both opposition strips, which is a rule worth checking before the design rather than after.
What ninety minutes of running asks of a kit
Six specification points that are soccer-specific rather than general teamwear.
- Weight
- The lightest workable fabric in the range. A soccer shirt is worn for ninety minutes of near-continuous movement, and every gram is carried the whole way.
- Moisture
- Wicking through the whole body panel, not only under the arms. Sweat that stays in the fabric is weight that was not there at kick-off.
- Sleeve options
- Short and long produced from the same pattern and the same dye lot, because a squad that splits by weather should not split by shade.
- Goalkeeper kit
- A different garment, not a recoloured outfield shirt — padding at the elbow, a different cut, and a colour that has to contrast with both teams and both keepers.
- Numbering
- Sublimated on the back and, where the competition requires it, on the shorts. Pressed numbers on a shirt washed twice a week are a repair job by mid-season.
- Socks
- Ordered with the kit rather than bought locally, because sock colour is the detail that most often gives away a set assembled from three suppliers.
Home, away, and the third-kit problem
Soccer is the sport where a club is most likely to order two or three complete kits at once, and that changes the manufacturing question. It is no longer "can you make this shirt" but "can you make these three sets so they read as one club".
The answer lies in producing them together. Three kits made in one run share a pattern, a fabric batch and a print calibration, so the crest sits in the same place on all three and the badge colour matches across them. Three kits ordered across three seasons do none of that, which is why the third one so often looks like it belongs to a different team.
It is also cheaper, because the setup cost that dominates a small order is paid once. The reasoning is the same one behind ordering a full set rather than pieces, and it applies with more force here than in any other sport.
Why we do not sell you a soccer kit here
Everything above is about how the garment is built. If what you actually need is to look at soccer kit, compare designs and place an order, that conversation belongs on a site set up for it rather than here — this page exists to explain the manufacturing, not to compete with the people doing the selling.
The same holds for the other four sports we build for. We make the garments; the sport sites carry the ranges, the sizing charts and the ordering.
What we make for soccer
Each of these is a cross-sport page — the same garment as we build it for every sport, with the soccer products listed inside it.
Soccer kit in other colourways
The same soccer garments made up in different colours. Yours is produced to your own design.
Product photographs from the ZEE Sports Wear range. Every order is made to the program's own colours and design.
Soccer questions
Do you supply the whole kit including socks?
Yes, and ordering all three together is the only way to be sure they match. Socks have their own minimum, which ordering with the kit usually clears.
Can you do sponsor logos on the front?
Yes, with written permission from the sponsor. We redraw the logo to vector as part of the mockup at no charge.
What about goalkeeper jerseys?
Made to contrast with both teams’ outfield kit, usually with padded elbows. The soccer site covers the options.
Do you produce home, away and third kits together?
It is the right way to order them. Three kits made in one run share a pattern, a fabric batch and a print calibration, so the crest sits identically and the badge colour matches across all three. Ordered across three seasons, they do none of that.
Is the goalkeeper kit just a recoloured outfield shirt?
No, and treating it as one is a common mistake. It is a different garment — padding at the elbow, a different cut, and a colour that has to contrast with both teams and both keepers, which is a rules question as well as a design one.
Can we have short and long sleeves in the same set?
Yes, from the same pattern and the same dye lot. A squad that splits by weather should not split by shade, which is what happens when the long-sleeve order is placed separately three months later.
Do you supply socks and shorts with the shirts?
Yes, and it is worth doing. Sock colour is the single detail that most often gives away a set assembled from three suppliers, because it is the one piece people buy locally when the main order runs short.
How is numbering applied?
Sublimated on the back and, where the competition requires, on the shorts. A soccer shirt is washed twice a week through a long season; pressed numbers on that laundry schedule are a repair job by the midpoint.
Can you reproduce our club crest accurately?
From a vector file, yes, at any size. From a low-resolution image we will redraw it and send the redraw for approval before production, because a crest is the one element a club will notice being half a millimetre wrong.
What fabric weight do you use for soccer?
The lightest workable option in our range, with wicking through the whole body panel rather than only under the arms. Ninety minutes of continuous movement makes every gram a gram that is carried the whole way.
Do you handle sponsor printing?
Yes, as part of the same run. Sponsors added later by a local printer are the usual reason a set stops matching — different method, different placement tolerance, different fade rate.
What lead time should a club plan for?
Longer than most clubs allow. The controllable part is artwork approval; the fixed part is production and shipping. A club that starts the conversation in the close season gets a different answer from one that starts two weeks before the first fixture.
Where do we buy the kit itself?
This page covers manufacturing. For ranges, sizing and ordering, our sport sites handle the selling — we would rather explain the garment here than compete with them.