In today's racing world, jersey identification is a MUST HAVE. Some races and events even require it! Most of the jersey IDs offered in the industry today are done with heat pressed vinyl. While this is often a cheap/quick option for racers, there are a few issues that are obvious with vinyl IDs. For one, they typically wont last the life of the jersey before fading or peeling off. Color-matching vinyl lettering or numbers to the same colors in a polyester jersey is also very difficult. If not done perfectly, it can make your jersey look a little tacky.
Our solution to creating amazing jersey IDs is sublimation. For those of you who have no idea what the heck that is, we will try to explain it as we walk through our step by step process below. Almost all of the professional racers you know and love today have their jersey IDs sublimated into the fibers of the jersey. These are often provided by their team or gear sponsors. However, most of those major gear brands do not offer that same ID option to their customers. They are reserved only their professional riders.
1: Each jersey with our "Factory Installed ID" option is made to order (from scratch) at our factory. Thus, why we call it "Factory Installed". The process first starts with your online order. When you select "yes" to our Factory Installed ID option on eligible jerseys at truemx.com, you are then prompted to add in your ID info (NAME and NUMBER).
3: Once the production team receives the file at our factory, it's GO TIME! This is also the point in which the window to cancel your jersey is closed. Read our return/cancellation policy HERE. The back panel design is then mirrored, before being plotted onto sublimation paper on a large format printer.
4: Our production team then takes that plotted design and lays it face down onto a blank, white piece of jersey material. It is then taken to a large format heat press. The two materials are then pressed together under high heat, which vaporizes the ink into the fabric. When the paper is then removed, what remains is the back panel jersey design with your name and number as part of the design! It is forever embedded into the fibers of the jersey material. This is the same process used for the the front panel and both sleeves of the jersey. This also ensures that any colors used in your jersey ID match any of those same colors used in the general design of the jersey!
5: The back panel design is then cut out and the remaining white fabric is reused for other products down the road (collars, cuffs, gloves, etc.). We send the customized back panel to be sewn into the remaining pieces of the jersey to create a finished jersey! Once it is finished, our factory packs and ships it to our warehouse for fulfillment. We then add any necessary tags or labels, and then ship it out to you!
The factory ID process typically takes about 30 days from start to finish. We hope this blog breaks down the process and helps our customers to understand why the process takes this long. It's important to remember that each jersey is made from scratch when the Factory ID option is added. We typically charge $30 for this option, however you can subscribe to our email list at the bottom of the home page to receive weekly deals! We do offer this option for free on some jerseys throughout the year!
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