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part of Billings Sports' operations. "We still won't neglect team – it's bigger volume and our main emphasis – but we're pushing this other side. We had no team cus- tomers during COVID and this printing business helps us during tough times. We were able to jump on items such as masks, high-vis cloth- ing, ice packs and medical kits," Billings adds. Keen on Sublimation Blythe's Athletics in Valparaiso, IN, is also keen on expanding its reach in the sublimation market and handles some in-house work such as spot sublimation for names and numbers. "We've been utilizing sublimation for a while now and it's being used by every sport, includ- ing football and fanwear. We can sublimate tackle twill and then sew it onto uniforms, which allows for many colors on one patch across the uniform. It's very versatile," explains owner Mike Blythe. In basketball there's a lot of mix and match with sublimated shorts, jerseys and shooting shirts, and hoodies, polos and hats are popular fanwear products. Blythe's is also sublimating plaques for awards, mouse pads, photo puzzles, towels, blankets, tablecloths, socks — even crazy ugly sweaters. "Sublimation is everywhere now," Blythe says, adding that almost all uniforms for baseball, softball and soccer are sublimated, and teams from youth through high school are sublimating all or part of their jerseys. "It's less money to sublimate than to decorate, because there's just one price for sublimation," he points out. For example, a roundneck crew jersey with designs on the front, sponsors on the sleeve and numbers on the back are about $30 each. Baseball pants are now being subli- mated, too, and they're normally a $70 item. "If a team dealer pushes hard enough, it's possible to sell two sublimated uniforms for the price of one traditional uniform," Blythe adds. "With sublimation, you don't have the extra cost of resizing a design because it's all done by com- puter, unlike screening that requires extra sets of screens for different garment sizes." As a further indication of sublima- tion's growing popularity, Blythe is now starting to see more machinery for fully sublimated product get- ting installed in dealers' stores. "The machinery used to be in the $400,000 to $500,000 range, financially out of reach for many dealers, but now the entry level price point is about $150,000," he says. "We're also seeing a cross- over of more screenprinters and advertising special- ists getting into the team business and more team dealers entering the cor- porate business." As a result of the market shift pointed out by both Blythe and Billings, sublimated uniforms are now starting to take the place of branded options, which is bound to take a toll on the Big Three's uniform sales. "Wild colors and designs some- times overshadow the importance of a small Swoosh," obser ves Blythe. "Traditional colors are giving way to a whole rainbow of options, which in turn are changing the dynamics of traditional team uniforms. There's no doubt that sublimation is here to stay." n sportstylemag.com • sportstyle How advances in sublimation tech are helping team dealers remain competitive Photo: Founder Sport Group

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