Publish Time: 2026-08-18 Origin: Site
Tennis apparel has an unusual requirement for sportswear: it has to look considered while being worn in a sport that hides nothing. A garment that sags, shines under floodlights or loses its collar after ten washes is visible in a way that a football shirt is not, because the player is on their own and standing still between points.
This guide covers custom tennis apparel for clubs, teams and brands — the garment set, the fabric requirements, decoration for club identity, and how to structure an order across members who buy their own kit.
Quick answer: A tennis programme needs four garments: a performance polo, a skirt or short, a warm-up layer, and a training tee. The polo is the piece that matters most and should be specified for shape retention and colourfastness rather than for weight alone, because it is washed after every session. Decoration is usually a small embroidered club mark on the chest, with an optional back mark for league kit. Order the match kit to a squad list and the training layer to a wider count, since more members buy the training piece.
Most clubs start with a polo and discover they need three more items within a season. Planning the set together produces consistent colours across the range and a better unit cost, because the order runs through the same yarn and dye lot.
Performance polo — the core match garment, worn by every member and washed most often.
Skirt, short or skort — matched to the polo by colour and fabric family so the range reads as one kit.
Warm-up layer — jacket or quarter-zip worn before play, at courtside and in cool months.
Training tee — printed rather than embroidered, bought by more members and often in larger numbers.
Where a club issues kit rather than selling it, the polo and the training tee are usually the two held in stock; the warm-up layer is ordered to demand because it is the least worn.
Tennis places three demands on a fabric that most sportswear does not. The first is appearance under strong light, which makes an uneven knit or a shiny yarn obvious. The second is shape retention in a collared garment, which rules out very light knit weights for a polo. The third is colourfastness to light and washing, because club colours are usually light and a fading garment shows it.
Requirement | Why it matters in tennis | What to specify |
|---|---|---|
Shape retention | Collar and placket must hold through a season | A firmer knit rather than the lightest available |
Colourfastness | Light colours fade visibly; whites yellow | Tested colourfastness and a stated care temperature |
Moisture handling | Long rallies in heat, but no full-contact abrasion | Wicking knit, mesh panel optional |
Opacity | Light colours under strong light | Sufficient weight or a suitable knit structure |
The broader choice framework for these qualities is set out in selecting sportswear fabrics.
Club decoration on tennis apparel is almost always a small embroidered mark. It reads as formal, it survives the wash cycle, and it does not create the flat printed area that shows against a light garment when it starts to crack.
Small chest mark — the club or brand logo, embroidered, consistent across the whole range.
Back mark — an optional larger embroidery for league kit, useful for identifying players.
Sleeve or collar mark — a sponsor or series mark, kept small enough to stay wearable off court.
Named personalisation — a player name or initials, which turns a squad order into individual kit.
Keeping the primary mark in one position across polo, skirt and warm-up layer matters more in tennis than in most sports, because photographs of players are often cropped tightly and the mark needs to read in each crop. The methods are compared in embroidery in sportswear manufacturing.
A tennis polo has to hold its collar and its colour across a season of washes, which is a fabric decision rather than a design one.
Tennis clubs usually buy differently from football clubs: a smaller squad list for match kit, and a much larger open order for training wear that members buy themselves. Planning both against the same specification keeps the club looking consistent without holding stock it cannot sell.
Match kit — ordered to the squad list, decorated with the club mark, issued or invoiced by the club.
Training wear — a larger order at a lower unit cost, sold through the club shop or a member order form.
Warm-up layer — ordered to a pre-committed count from members before cutting, which avoids dead stock.
Sample piece — kept by the club for wash testing and as the reference for next season's reorder.
Collecting sizes through a member order form rather than guessing produces a size curve that matches the membership. For clubs that want a stocked item, the approach in ordering merchandise clothing translates directly, since both involve selling to a population rather than issuing to a squad.
League kit is ordered once and worn weekly, so colourfastness and shrinkage matter more than the pattern.
A brand selling tennis apparel has a different set of constraints from a club. The range needs more colourways, the fit is usually closer, and the packaging and labelling have to support retail or direct-to-consumer sales rather than a hand-out at the clubhouse.
Range planning matters more — three colourways of one style usually beats one colourway of three styles.
Fit is a differentiator, so a sample should be worn and tested before the range is committed.
Labels, tags and packaging become part of the product rather than an afterthought.
Repeat orders depend on the specification being documented, not on the relationship.
Low minimum quantities make a first range practical, and the trade-offs between a stock fabric and a custom knit are explained in starting a sportswear business.
The training layer is worn more often than the match kit, which is why it is worth specifying properly.
The recurring problems are choosing the lightest fabric for a collared polo — which produces a collar that will not lie flat by mid-season — and treating the whole range as one order without agreeing colours across the pieces. A second, quieter problem is decoration that is too large: a chest mark sized for a football shirt overwhelms a tennis polo worn by one player.
A performance polo, a skirt, short or skort, a warm-up layer and a training tee covers most club programmes. The polo and training tee carry the volume; the warm-up layer is usually ordered to committed demand because it is worn least.
A mid-weight wicking knit that holds its shape rather than the lightest option available. Collar and placket retention, colourfastness and opacity under strong light matter more in tennis than raw breathability.
Yes. Stock fabrics with a single embroidered mark carry the lowest minimum, which makes a squad-sized order practical. A custom knit or a bespoke colour raises the minimum because it sets a fabric requirement first.
Embroidery is the usual choice for a club or brand mark because it lasts and reads as formal. Print is more often used on the training tee, where artwork is larger and the garment has a shorter service life.
Send the squad size, the club colours and whether members buy their own training wear, and we will propose a matched four-piece range with the fabric specified for a full season of washing.