How Much Does Custom Cycling Kit Cost?

Custom cycling kit is quoted rather than sold from a price list, because the number moves with five things: how many pieces you order, which garments are in the mix, how complex the design is, where it ships, and whether it is a first run or a reorder. This guide explains how each of those pushes the figure up or down, so you can size a budget before you ask and brief the order well enough to get an accurate quote back.

Why there isn't a price list

A club ordering forty jerseys and a triathlon squad ordering eight trisuits are not doing comparable things, and a single published number would be wrong for both. Custom production is set up per order: the artwork is laid out against each garment pattern, fabric is cut to your quantities, and the run is made to order rather than pulled from stock.

Any supplier publishing one headline figure is either quoting the cheapest garment at the highest volume, or building in enough margin to cover every scenario. Neither helps you plan.

The useful move is to understand the levers, then get a quote against your actual brief.

Quantity is the biggest lever

Setup work — laying out artwork, proofing, preparing each garment pattern — is broadly fixed regardless of whether you order ten pieces or a hundred. Spread across ten, that work is a meaningful share of what you pay per piece. Spread across sixty, it is close to noise.

This is why the per-piece figure drops steeply at first and then flattens. The steep part is usually in the first few dozen pieces; beyond that, additional volume changes less than people expect. If you are close to a threshold, adding the few extra pieces to reach it is often the single cheapest decision available to you.

Minimums at DTR start from 5–10 pieces depending on the garment, so a small group inside a larger club can run its own design without waiting for a club-wide order.

Which garments are in the mix

Not all pieces carry the same production cost. A cycling cap or a pair of socks is a fraction of the work of a trisuit. A jersey sits below bib shorts, which sit below thermal bib tights, which involve more panels, more construction and a chamois.

The practical consequence for a club order: a package of jersey, bib shorts and socks behaves very differently from a package built around winter kit. If the budget is fixed, decide which garments the group will actually wear most before you decide how many of each.

How much the design asks for

Because DTR kit is sublimated, the artwork is printed into the fabric rather than layered on top — so a twelve-colour illustration is not inherently more expensive to produce than a two-colour logo. That removes the per-colour charge you might expect from other decoration methods.

What does add work is the design process itself: how many rounds of revision, whether artwork arrives as usable vector files or needs rebuilding, and whether the same design has to be laid out separately across men's and women's patterns and several garment types. Arriving with clean vector files and a clear brief is the fastest way to keep this part small.

Individual names or countries add a small per-piece step, since each garment becomes unique. See how to design custom kit for what to prepare.

Destination, timing and reorders

Shipping and any applicable duties depend on where the kit lands, and for clubs outside the EU that is worth establishing early rather than discovering at the end.

Timing matters in a different way: rushed production limits options. Ordering with proper lead time keeps the full garment range and the normal process available. Our custom kit timeline covers when to start for a given season.

Reorders are usually the most efficient order a club places. The design already exists and has been signed off, so the setup work does not repeat. Keeping the design stable across seasons is worth real money — more on that in club kit reorders.

What to check is included

When comparing quotes, make sure you are comparing the same thing. Ask whether design and layout work is included or billed separately, whether revisions are capped, whether there is a setup or origination charge, what the sizing process involves, and what happens if a piece arrives wrong.

At DTR nothing goes to production without your sign-off on the visual, and sizing is handled with a proper collection process rather than guesswork — see custom kit sizing.

How to get an accurate quote quickly

Send four things and the quote comes back fast and firm: the garments you want and rough quantities of each, your artwork or logos as vector files, your target delivery date, and the destination country. If you want individual names, say so upfront.

If quantities are still uncertain, give a range rather than waiting until the number is final. A quote against a range tells you where the thresholds sit, which is usually the information you need to settle the order.

FAQ

Why won't you publish custom kit prices?

Because no single number would be accurate. The figure depends on quantity, garment mix, design complexity and destination — a published price would mislead most of the people reading it.

What is the minimum order?

Minimums start from 5–10 pieces depending on the garment, which is low enough for a small squad or a sub-group within a club.

Does a more complex design cost more?

Not for colour count — sublimation prints the full design into the fabric, so extra colours do not add production cost. Additional revision rounds and laying the design out across multiple patterns do add work.

Is a reorder cheaper than the first order?

Generally yes, because the design work is already done and signed off. Keeping your design consistent between seasons is the simplest saving available to a club.

How many pieces before the per-unit figure improves?

The steepest improvement comes in the first few dozen pieces, as fixed setup work spreads across more units. Beyond that it flattens. If you are near a threshold, tell us and we will show you both sides of it.

Tell us your brief and we'll take it from there: request a quote.

DTR — performance cycling and triathlon apparel, designed and developed in Ukraine.