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Best Places To Customize Jerseys

by Mike Chen on 09/26/08 at 01:56 PM ET
Comments (14)

Updated 9/28/08 with info on Sharks jerseys

Yesterday, I asked readers to leave comments about where they got letter/number customizations for their replica jerseys. The driving force behind this is the fact that many of us have gotten burned by buying customized replicas from NHL.com, as those jerseys have iron-on letters and numbers.

Fear not, fellow hockey fan. There are alternatives out there, though it might take a little patience. Here’s a compilation of what we found out yesterday:

1) If you want a customized jersey and can only afford a replica (RBK Premier), do not buy it from NHL.com. Authentic (RBK Edge) jerseys are customized with the actual stitched lettering/numbering but all replica customizations purchased from NHL.com are heat transferred. Here’s the fine print from NHL.com: “Screen-printed twill appliqué player name and number on the back”

2) The general consensus is that if you already have a jersey and you live in an NHL city, the easiest thing to do is to go to the team’s pro shop and ask how they do the stitching. For the Sharks, they used to have a program where you drop the jersey off at the start of the game and it was ready to be picked up by the end of the second period. However, that was back before the RBK jerseys and I’m not sure if they still do that now. These are generally trustworthy as they are team-affiliated so they won’t mess up font or placement.

Also, if you’re buying a popular player, see if the team’s pro shop sells replicas with actual stitching. It sounds like some teams might have this, but as far as I can tell in San Jose, those jerseys are straight out of the NHL.com truck and they have the crappy iron on.

3) Sportsk.com and Jerseycity.ca also do customizations and readers can vouch for these places. JerseyCity.ca’s customization is $90 and it takes about four weeks as it’s shipped to an outside source that claims to do official NHL/IIHF lettering. Sportsk has a page on their site that states they only stitch customizations (and their prices are cheaper than Jerseycity, though I have no personal experience with the quality).

4) IceJerseys.com (note: they’re a KK sponsor but this isn’t a shameless plug) claims that they ONLY do stitching, not iron-on, and they have a 100% satisfaction guarantee ("Customized jerseys qualify for return or exchange in the event of manufacturing defect or customization error.”—I think that means that if it looks crappy, you can return it but if you typed in a player’s name wrong, they won’t accept it). I bought an old Evgeni Nabokov replica from them several years ago and I remember it looked great but that was before the RBK jerseys, so I have no personal recent experience with them.

5) Local choices: In Winnipeg, the River City Sports shop apparently does a great job (I don’t know about their popular online catalog though). Cutting Edge in Boston does just the numbering/lettering and doesn’t sell jerseys. The Hurricanes and Flyers stores do a good job, though Hurricanes fans wanting a third jersey have to wait until they can do stitched customization (currently only available on the standard jerseys)

I hope that helps! It’s just too bad that NHL.com tried to cut corners by doing the awful iron-on with the debut of the RBK jerseys.

Update 9/28/08 I just stumbled across the Sharks’ independent online store (not linked on NHL.com). At this store, you can select the option of stitched numbers ($80, 3-4 week wait) or heat-transferred ($65, one week wait).

Filed in: NHL | Mike Chen's Hockey Blog | Permalink
Tags: Jerseys,

Comments

...but if you do decide to use IceJerseys.com, clicking the provided link will give us here at KK credit for the sale.

Posted by Paul from Motown Area on 09/26/08 at 01:39 PM ET

My experince with Sportsk.com has been great, having purchased several jerseys from them over the past six years. They do a quality job. The jerseys were not RBK but I can’t imagine that will make a difference.

Posted by Cwix from Roanoke, VA on 09/26/08 at 03:54 PM ET

I have ordered 4 different customized jerseys (USA/NHL/AHL) online from River City Sports over the past six years and have always been 100% satisfied. The last one was my first replica RBK jersey from them and it was stitched.

Posted by Frisby from Kentucky on 09/26/08 at 04:13 PM ET

I ordered mine through Ice Jerseys.com (through this website of course) and was very satisfied.

Posted by Aaron from Phoenix on 09/26/08 at 05:39 PM ET

I’m pretty excited, I just sent out my New York Rangers “Statue Of Liberty” jersey to SportsK.com to have “Rags Suck” #68 on the back!! Of course it is going to cost me 83 dollars, but it is SOO worth it!

Posted by Kevin from Pittsburgh on 09/26/08 at 08:40 PM ET

Dang it! Where was this link two weeks ago when I ordered a jersey from NHL.com!

It should have arrived in the mail today, so I’ll have to see what disaster I wasted my money on when i get home. And here I thought I was being safe ordering it from the league. BLAH!

Posted by Sarah from Oakland, CA on 09/29/08 at 08:34 PM ET

Hey, I feel your pain Sarah. Same thing happened to me which is why I’m using the reach of the blog to hopefully help fans out.

You *might* be able to return it to NHL.com if you don’t open it. I’m not sure what their return policy is on it, but if it’s a standard player, I think they just grab it off a warehouse shelf. Give them a call and see if you can return it, then use one of the other options.

Posted by Mike Chen on 09/29/08 at 08:38 PM ET

Sweet mama, they are THAT bad?!?! Will I be totally humiliated wearing it?

I got all my other jerseys from City Sports Lettering, but they seem to be gone now. I was going to go with River City this time, but they didn’t have smalls.

I swear, this purchase was doomed from the beginning. I’m freaking out now.

Posted by Sarah from Oakland, CA on 09/30/08 at 01:00 AM ET

They’re not mind-numbingly awful and they’re fine from afar. It’s just up close you noticed that the lettering is on an iron-on nameplate and the numbers don’t move right with the jersey because they’re not stitched.

When you get it from NHL.com, check it out and don’t take any of the tags off yet, then see if you’ll live with it. If I could do it again, I’d have returned my Sharks Roenick jersey and reordered it from IceJerseys or River City. But it is what it is, so I’m living with it (though my new Dan Boyle one will be different).

Posted by Mike Chen on 09/30/08 at 11:35 AM ET

The place in the Bay Area that I go to buy my replica but completely stitched on name and number not screened named and number inner layers is Hockey X Sport in Oakland. They are a Hockey Equiptment store and roller rink but they have a huge selection of sharks jerseys and such. I have purchased a home Thornton as well as hockey gear from them. I recommend them for all your jerseys.

Posted by Eric from Sacramento on 10/01/08 at 02:18 PM ET

WOW, im glad I read this right when I did. I was going to get up and order a new Canucks 3rd with Kesler on it for the last day of free shipping. Im glad I didn’t. Shipping may be free but I wouldn’t have wore the jersey!!!! I dunno why but I just hate the single layer multi-colour twill. I’m no baller and can’t afford Authentic so yeah. I mean its bad enough I have to deal with the single layered shoulder patches, but i’ve gotten used to them. I mean it might be hard to tell with the new RBK EDGE Canucks jerseys since they are only one colour, but i’d know!!! I can tell you that River City Sports does do a really good job with both CCM/KOHO jerseys as well as RBK EDGE as i’ve got both kinds done. Jersey City seems to do both but multi-layered stitched is $20 more I believe, but well worth it!!! Well thanks for saving me from getting a waste of money man!!!!

Posted by Steven from Winnipeg on 11/30/08 at 05:26 AM ET

I’ve been quite pleased with the results buying customized jerseys from both IceJerseys and River City Sports. Can’t go wrong with either of them. Also bought direct from the Bruins Pro Shop, they do excellent work but at premium prices. As for jerseys I already own which I subsequently want customized, I’ve usually mailed them off to Exclusive Pro Sports in Rockford IL. I’ve been sending them stuff since ‘96 and I’ve always been pleased. They do a great job matching colors/fonts for all sorts of obscure minor league/college teams.

And as for the Rbk Edge jerseys… Well, I used to buy nothing but authentics. It was especially fun when Starter, Nike, ProPlayer, and CCM were all battling for business and every time a team switched manufacturer the prior season’s authentics would get dirt cheap, i.e. a hundred bucks or less. When Rbk and the NHL announced the pricing for authentics for the new Edge designs, I literally laughed out loud, then said to myself “I guess my days of buying authentics are done”. There’s just no way a blank non-customized jersey is worth $300. Game-worn jerseys from non-star players go for not much more than that…

Posted by Rico from Vermont on 12/03/08 at 06:58 PM ET

The worst thing about the iron on that absolutely drives me crazy is the fake stitching pattern drawn onto the numbers and nameplates to make it “look” like it was stitched. Argh!!!

Posted by b. cheng from Beijing on 12/04/08 at 03:41 AM ET

I just got a new Ryan Miller 3rd in the mail yesterday from NHL.com and was shocked the iron on. I guess I thought that it would still look and feel like the stitched name & numbers except done through heat transfer. It’s litterally iron on name and numbers like you would get at a craft store. I can’t believe they are selling this junk to fans. So disappointing

Posted by MB from VA on 12/17/08 at 10:36 AM ET

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About Mike Chen’s Hockey Blog

Mike Chen prides himself in being the only hockey writer integrating puck discussion with both Morrissey quotes and Star Wars references. Since 2004, he’s blogged about all things hockey and currently contributes to FoxSports.com, the Battle of California, and RotoRob.

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