Wholesale Team Apparel Glossary
36 terms every team apparel reseller, retailer and dropshipper runs into — defined in plain English, with what each one means for your order.
Product Quality
Team Wear Grade
The construction tier our catalog sits in: 160–180 GSM polyester knit, dye-sublimated or embroidered graphics, double-needle stitched seams. Heavy enough to hold shape after repeated washing, and the same construction buyers find on the wholesale racks in their own market.
GSM
Grams per Square Meter — the standard measure of fabric weight. Our team wear sits at 160–180 GSM. Below about 140 GSM the fabric reads thin and can go semi-transparent under strong light; above 200 GSM it becomes heavy and less breathable.
Driver vs Fan Version
The two cuts buyers ask about most. Driver Edition follows the fitted, lighter construction associated with the racing line; Fan Version is the looser supporter cut. We supply our own production, and we do not issue licensed-brand hangtags or authenticity paperwork.
Colour Fastness
How well a dyed or printed garment holds its colour through washing and light exposure. Worth testing on any colour-blocked design where a dark panel sits against a light one — that is where a weak dye lot shows up first.
Product Variants
Driver Edition
A shirt cut in the style associated with a racing team's driver line — usually a collared polo or a lightweight tee carrying the team livery, sponsor blocks and driver-number graphic. Our most requested motorsport style after standard team polos.
Player Version
A tighter, lighter athletic cut with mesh ventilation panels under the arms and at the back, and tonal (colour-matched) badges. Sold to collectors and gift buyers. We list it wherever the source album actually stocks it — not every team has one.
Fan Version
The looser, more forgiving supporter cut. Slightly heavier fabric than Player Version, embroidered or woven badges, and the version that accounts for the large majority of retail sales. Our default cut.
Crew Neck
A round-neck pullover with no collar — the mid-weight option between a polo and a tee. Popular for team merchandise because it takes a large chest print without the structure a collar requires.
Polo Shirt
Collared knit shirt with a buttoned placket, usually 2–3 buttons. The staple motorsport team garment: it carries embroidered crests and sponsor marks well and sells in corporate and fan channels alike.
Baseball Jersey Cut
A full button-front shirt with a contrasting raglan sleeve and a straight hem, borrowed from baseball uniforms. We use this cut for club colourways, which is why a football club name can appear on a shirt that is not a football shirt.
Product Categories
Special Edition
A limited or anniversary design rather than the regular season range — throwback liveries, milestone celebrations, one-off event shirts. Sold in smaller quantities, so worth asking about stock before you commit to a listing.
Tracksuit
Matching training top and pants, worn to and from the track or pitch. A natural cross-sell to anyone already buying team shirts, and usually the highest-value item in an order.
Product Details
Sleeve Patch
A heat-applied badge on the sleeve, usually a sponsor or series mark. Applied as a separate operation to the finished shirt, so it is an add-on rather than part of the base garment. Position and size confirmed against the artwork before production.
Production
Sublimation Printing
Dye-sublimation transfers the artwork into the polyester fibres rather than laying it on top, so the print is part of the fabric. It will not crack, peel or lift in a normal machine wash. Used for all-over livery graphics and colour blocks.
Heat Press
Heat-transfer vinyl applied to a finished garment and bonded under a press at about 180°C. Used for names, numbers and sleeve or chest patches. It is an add-on service on top of the base garment, quoted per piece.
Embroidery
Stitched crests and logos, typically on polos and crew necks. More durable and more premium-looking than a print, and the usual choice for corporate and team-issue orders. Quoted per logo by stitch count and placement.
Vector File
A scalable artwork format (AI, SVG, EPS, or a high-resolution PNG on a transparent background) required to print a custom logo. Vector artwork stays sharp at any size; a low-resolution bitmap will pixelate when enlarged.
Pantone Color Matching
The reference system used to lock a colour before production. Send a Pantone code, or a physical swatch we can match against, and we run the dye lot to it. Confirm the reference early — colour is the hardest thing to correct after the fabric is dyed.
QC Inspection
Quality control. Every piece is checked on a lit table before packing: print alignment, colour match, stitch integrity, measurements against the size chart, and fabric faults. Failing pieces are pulled and replaced rather than shipped.
Custom Name and Number
Heat-press personalization: a surname of up to 20 characters plus a squad or driver number. Standard placement is the name across the upper back with a large number below it, and optionally a small number on the front chest. Quoted per piece.
Logistics & Shipping
DDP Shipping
Delivered Duty Paid — an Incoterm where the seller pre-pays import duty, VAT and customs clearance so the buyer sees no charge at delivery. Available for most US, UK, EU and AU orders. Worth confirming before you price your own retail.
DHL Express
Our default door-to-door courier. Typical transit: 5–8 days to the US, UK and Western Europe, 6–9 days to Australia and the Gulf, 8–12 days to Latin America, Africa and South Asia. Tracking number issued within 24 hours of dispatch.
Sea Freight LCL
Less-than-Container Load — your cargo shares a container with other shippers. Cost-effective above roughly 100 kg and typically 40–60% cheaper per kilo than air. Transit 25–40 days. Best for distributors restocking a 3–6 month buffer.
Sea Freight FCL
Full Container Load — a 20' or 40' container booked for one shipment. The cheapest per-piece option once you pass roughly 2,000 pieces. Transit 25–40 days. Used by importers and wholesale-to-wholesale resellers.
Payment & Finance
T/T (Telegraphic Transfer)
Bank wire — the standard B2B settlement method. The usual split is a 30% deposit on order confirmation with the 70% balance against the tracking number on dispatch. Bank charges sit with the buyer.
USDT (TRC20)
Tether stablecoin on the TRON network. Network fees are low and settlement takes minutes, which makes it a practical alternative to a bank wire for resellers in regions where transfers are slow or costly.
Business Terms
MOQ
Minimum Order Quantity — the smallest order that can be produced for a given design. Ours is 10 pieces per design. You can mix teams, sizes and styles freely inside one order, and sample orders from a single piece can be arranged on request.
Proforma Invoice (PI)
The formal pre-payment document: line-item quantities, unit pricing, customization add-ons, freight, total and payment instructions. Issued before payment and normally valid 14 days. Ask for one at any point in the conversation.
Lead Time
Time from order confirmation to dispatch. Blank stock runs about 7–10 days; custom name and number printing about 10–15 days. Add courier transit (5–12 days) for the door-to-door window, and allow more around seasonal peaks.
Restock
The reorder cycle for refilling fast-moving lines. Steady-volume retailers usually work a 4–6 week cycle; fast-turnover dropshippers work 2–3 weeks. Build in extra time ahead of a season launch, when the whole market is ordering at once.
SKU
Stock Keeping Unit — a unique identifier for one sellable item, broken down by team, style, season and size. Every SKU in our catalog has its own product page, its own reference code, and its own entry in our product feed.
Tier Pricing
Quantity-based unit pricing — the more you take of one design, the lower the unit cost. Pricing is quoted per order rather than published, because fabric, print method and freight all move with quantity and destination. Mix designs to reach a better tier on total volume.
Inventory Cycle
How long a line takes to sell through. Current-season team wear in a popular colourway moves in 4–8 weeks; a niche special edition can take 16–24. Your sell-through rate on the first order is what should set the size of the second.
Neutral Packaging
Plain, unbranded outer packaging used on drop-ship orders so the end customer sees only the reseller's brand. No supplier logo, no supplier paperwork inside the parcel. Tell us at order time if you need your own insert card included.
Business Models
Drop-Ship
A fulfilment model where the reseller holds no stock. Each order is passed to us and shipped straight to the end customer, in neutral packaging, with no supplier branding visible. Suits stores that want to test demand before committing to inventory.
Marketing
Anchor Text
The clickable text of a hyperlink. For resellers building their own storefront, a natural mix of branded, keyword and descriptive anchors reads better to search engines than repeating one exact phrase everywhere.
Still Unclear?
Ask us anything wholesale-related on WhatsApp — team, quantity, size range, artwork.
Ask on WhatsApp