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Customized youth NHL jerseys -- what are my options?


artificialintuition

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Hey, all:
Did a quick search but didn't see anything on this topic. I now have a particular need to order a customized jersey for my son (not a common one), and I'm wondering what my options are.

My young son has been wearing Reebok Premier jerseys (L/XL). Typically we've just purchased the ones that have screen-printed numbers/letters, and while I don't love them they are suitable for the purpose (which includes wearing them to actually play hockey). I'm a guy who appreciates the difference between an Edge 2.0 and the Into-Edges (or the new "authentic" (insert eye-roll) Adizero).

So far we've just grabbed those jerseys in-store, so naturally we're limited to the most popular players.

Are the new "Fanatics" jerseys the equivalent of the Reebok Premiers? I think I read that for adults they are of slightly lesser quality.

It's a little hard to tell whether Cool Hockey or others use stitched numbers, heat transfer, or screen-printing. All of them look like screen-printing online. 

Here's an example from Cool Hockey. Note: It says "pre-stitched" numbers. (Is that code for "heat transfer"?) That's the Fanatics jersey.

The Flames, as an example, sell the Premier jersey, and judging by the price of customization ($100) I'd imagine those are hand-stitched numbers.

Is an adult XS an option (vs Premier YTH L/XL)?

Thanks for helping me understand the options for kids. This will get used, abused and washed. It is also more of a temporary thing; that said, I do appreciate quality. I'm open to recommendations. I'd l like to figure out where the sweet-spot is.

 

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I’ve sent youth jerseys to EPS, they scaled down the size and sewed them on just like an adult jersey. Looks great, but the cost was the same as an adult jersey as well. 

 

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7 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

I’ve sent youth jerseys to EPS, they scaled down the size and sewed them on just like an adult jersey. Looks great, but the cost was the same as an adult jersey as well. 

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Were these premier jerseys?

It's hard to tell if the crests of these Fanatics jerseys are screen prints; it appears that they are. Sewn-on numbers might be overkill on a jersey with a screened crest.

Any recommendations for the style of jersey to look for? It looks like an XS adult jersey *might* be pretty similar to a Youth Premier L/XL. Pit-to-pit looks the same, but the adult may be longer. My initial search on that was inconclusive.

Thanks!

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One was a Premier and the other was an older CCM. CCM was definitely not a screened crest, I don’t believe the Premier is either, but I can’t remember. Honestly, I got both jerseys on eBay cheap, so they wound up being about the same price as a screen customized jersey from NHL.com, so I guess in that respect it was worth it.

Not that my daughter cares either way, her Taylor Hall jersey from last year is all screened and she likes it just as much. 

The crests on the adult Fanatics jerseys are one layer printed and glued on, not screened. They’re kind of horrendous. 

As far as sizes go, I’m not knowledgeable enough to speak on that.

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3 hours ago, mfitz804 said:

One was a Premier and the other was an older CCM. CCM was definitely not a screened crest, I don’t believe the Premier is either, but I can’t remember. Honestly, I got both jerseys on eBay cheap, so they wound up being about the same price as a screen customized jersey from NHL.com, so I guess in that respect it was worth it.

Not that my daughter cares either way, her Taylor Hall jersey from last year is all screened and she likes it just as much. 

The crests on the adult Fanatics jerseys are one layer printed and glued on, not screened. They’re kind of horrendous. 

As far as sizes go, I’m not knowledgeable enough to speak on that.

Thank you.

A while back my kid was faced with a choice between a really nice Rangers Winter Classic jersey (everything was stitched) and a flimsy, screened Rangers home jersey, he chose the latter. My wife was trying desperately to convince him to get the WC jersey (I'm kicking myself now as I didn't check which model it was) as it was pretty sharp, but he kept saying no. I then pointed out to her that one was $175 and the other was $70. 

She stopped trying to convince him. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Figured I'd answer my own post in case anyone is looking in the future.

I found many places offering youth jerseys but was not particularly impressed. It seemed like the (youth) Reebok Premier jerseys might be a bit better choice than the Fanatics version. Although no one will confuse either with the on-ice adult counterparts or even the adult "authentics," the Reebok Premier seemed a little less like a long-sleeve t-shirt than the Fanatics Breakaway.

The two final contenders were CoolHockey with "pre-stitched" customization or Great Plains Cresting, who I though could only do the pricier hand-stitching (CAD100). I jumped at a sale price via CoolHockey on a Friday night as I was a bit worried about hitting a deadline, and the Flames shop was not able to provide an immediate answer to a few questions.

Early the following week I found out that the Flames could do heat transfer at the arena for substantially less than hand-stitching and still send it out with my jersey, but it was too late to cancel with CoolHockey. To their credit, they were LIGHTNING fast.

I knew going in that the crest would be sublimated (and slightly glossy), then stitched to the jersey. I understood from the CoolHockey site that "pre-stitched" customization meant: "Numbers and letters are pre-sewn then applied by heat."

Turned out that the numbers and letters were sublimated, like the crest, then sewn to the jersey. This was a nice surprise. 

As stated above, this isn't an on-ice jersey, though through an 8-year old's eyes it might as well be a gamer. 

[Note: For some reason the Flames "C" looks a little more jagged in this photo than it does in person; that seems to be a factor of the material (which has horizontal lines in it) and the reflection.]

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