Dressed for success: uniforms and team apparel designed to make a difference.

There's something to be said about wearing the uniform the pro's wear: donning the same football jersey as Brett Favre or slipping on the basketball shorts worn by Kevin Garnett.

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For a company determined to reach a new audience, there are no better selling points than star power and quality craftsmanship. That is precisely the advantage Reebok enjoys as it prepares to launch its Fall 2005 team apparel line for colleges and high schools. The ship date is June 1.

"We provide all the apparel for the NFL and the NBA," says Chris Gallo, Reebok's senior product manager for team apparel. "We have the exclusive license. So it has to be the top product made in the marketplace. What we've done with the team line going forward is focusing on incorporating the type of technologies that we offer to the professional athlete to the high school and collegiate athlete.

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"When we walk into a high school gym, it's definitely a positive. To prove yourself to the pros, that's a great message to bring down to the collegiate and high school levels."

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The team line will have more than 55 style-specific products for sports including tennis, track and field, football, soccer, baseball, basketball, as well as training apparel. Gallo says that the team line might not have the same exact cutlines as its pro line, but Reebok will be using the same fabric and stories.

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"We have to cater to the specific needs of the high school and college levels," says Gallo. "From the team apparel side of the business, going forward to Fall 2005, our goal was to build the best product possible and improve on what we've done in the past. Not just fabrications but also telling a moisture management story. PlayDry is our moisture management umbrella. It's not just a fabric, it's many fabrics that basically perform as a moisture management team."

In designing and building its uniforms, Reebok not only relies on the input of the athletes themselves, but team equipment managers, who are equally important. Gallo referred to them as the gatekeepers to the athletes and coaching staffs.

Reebok brings its designers, developers, and product teams out to the players and equipment managers. Then, after tabulating the feedback, the product is built, and then tested.

"For the high school and college level, it's not just the jerseys," Gallo says. "Although the jersey is what screams the team. Of course, you want that product to be breathable and perform. When you're dealing with football pants, they have to be able to take the rigors of the sport. When you start getting into really lightweight products in pants you have to make sure the stuff holds up day in and day out. And not just on the field. It has to hold up to laundering, too."

But, as Gallo was quick to note, there is more to what athletes wear than just on the outside. It's what they wear underneath the product and what they wear in training. That said, Reebok uses a lot microfibers, stretch products, polyesters, and a host of technical meshes.

Says Gallo: "It's not just on the fabrications. It's also on the cutlines of the products. Making sure you have the right weight that's specific for heat, specific for cooler weather. The cutlines are specific for a guy who is running track or a girl who is playing tennis. Those fabrications could be in a tennis dress or a compression short."

Betlin, the authorized licensee of adidas, is another company looking to cash in on the scholastic football market that rivals such as Russell and Champion have pretty much owned for years.

The adidas football uniform line for the high school level, which is built overseas, closely mirrors what the company currently offers college programs such as Nebraska, Louisville, and Tennessee.

"We've got a lot of good custom product, but only certain high schools can afford it," says Tony Chapman, Betlin's director of team uniforms. "So you have high schools that need more of a price-point type uniform. What we've done is taken a lot of the better aspects of what we provide our colleges, built that into this pattern, along with the benefits and features that are in this uniform."

The adidas football jersey is comprised of a freestyle raglan that provides a better fit over shoulder pads, according to Chapman. Betlin has upgraded the inserts to lycra--what the professional teams use in their jerseys--vs the old-school knit rib finish. The football pants have a superior pocketing system that accommodate the pads as well as grip elastic built into the waistband to help the players keep their jersey tucked in, which is a high school rule.

Uniforms are available in all the standard colors, plus silver and Vegas gold. Betlin has also developed a tackle twill and screen print program that offers more numbering and lettering options than it competition, according to the company, including unique adidas fonts.

"So even if you have a stock jersey, you can decorate it in a manner completely different from what anybody else in your conference is going to wear," Chapman says.

CUSTOM MADE

Customized uniforms are advantageous in many ways. For one, it allows the creativity of the coach, athletic director, and team to come up with something special.

"When you look at a uniform, like the side panels, a lot of teams want something a little more curvier, a little more flashier," says Phil Loftis, chief designer for Proball, which specializes in custom-made basketball uniforms for high school programs. "Teams don't want your basic, stock uniforms anymore. They want something that is pretty much unique."

The consensus among basketball uniform manufacturers is that most of the high schools are looking at what major universities and pro teams are wearing. Looking good means feeling good, and quite possibly, playing good.

"From junior high up through Division I college, and the NBA for that matter, the basketball uniform has become a fashion statement," says Tim Marsho, national sales manager for DeLong. "When you walk on the floor, there is no such thing anymore as a plain tank top with one color numbers front and back. That is so far gone.

"It's not uncommon when our dealer base approaches the end users, which are coaches and athletic director's and they hear things like, 'I like the Duke style but only in our team colors.'"

DeLong offers both a women's and men's cut in its basketball uniforms. It has developed a separate product line that took the top 16 silhouettes (inserts, fabric, decoration) in its opinion from around the country--pro and college--and put those in a random order, which makes it easier on the dealer and the coach.

"Quality is a given, whether it is stock or custom stuff," Marsho says. "In the old days, you could get by with stock stuff that was medium to lower quality. It seems now that the bottom feeders and the low-end stuff doesn't exist anymore. People just got tired of slugging it out over a $5 basketball jersey. As school budgets get crunched more and more, and in some cases frozen, the keys will be price sensitivity and being able to ship quickly."

While Loftis believes dazzle fabric is going out of style, mainly because it doesn't have the longevity of micromesh, Marsho begs to differ.

"The dazzle cloth is still the No. 1 fabric on the high school level," says Marsho. "Maybe not so much on the collegiate level. However, some of the higher-end fabrics are starting to make a bigger impact. Those being Dazzle Cord (bright, shiny ribbed-like corduroy) and textured pebble (soft, cottony feel, with pebble hand). Another is FlashKnit Brite, which gives another look to a shiny fabric."

Loftis reports that baggy shorts remain hot, while the longer shoulder top is not as popular as the traditional top. Women are going to a wider shoulder and shorter sleeve so you can't see the armpit. V-necks with the neck plate are a very popular choice. "A lot of teams are copying the rounded-curved neck on the Los Angeles Lakers' jerseys," Loftis says.

Loftis and Marsho are in agreement that tackle twill lettering is the top choice.

"Tackle twill has taken on a whole new life in terms of being much more fancy and intricate," Marsho says. "It's amazing what can be done with tackle twill lettering styles. Full block, four inch was always the standard. Script lettering and applique has become very popular."

Victory Athletic prides itself on factory-direct, truly custom garments. Offering contemporary patterns and popular colors and schemes to keep up with the fashion trends, the company produces baseball uniforms for any level, as well as softball and basketball uni's.

"You know what Nike and adidas are doing in terms of the major college market, and even some of the high school ranks," says Ron Rubenstein, Victory Athletic's director of business development. "What we have embarked on in the college level--primarily Division I-AA, Division II and Division III--is we are going after exclusive supplier relationships with conferences of that ilk. We have something to offer in three sports. We believe we have the best constructed product in the industry."

Victory Athletic is also the only company that manufactures, a true, for lack of a better name, Barry Bonds' style-pant. Called the Clemson cut, after a similar style popularized by the Clemson U. baseball team, it's a look that is now transcending the pro ranks. Victory is providing that style for the youth, high school, and college levels.

"The way we do it is completely different than anyone else," says Rubenstein. "We just don't take the elastic out of the pant like some other companies do. What they have to understand is that the pant has to stay down over the shoe. The way we do that is with a built-in stretch legging, like a leotard, that is sewn-in about mid-calf. The player slips his foot in, and the pant stays down that way forever."

Champion Athleticwear, which already manufactures custom football and basketball uniforms, is expanding its product line with the Spring 2004 launch of its track collection and the pending Spring 2005 lacrosse collection. The latter will ship around Christmas.

"Lacrosse is a booming sport," says Ray Fowle, director of sales for Champion. "So adding a lacrosse collection certainly makes sense for us."

The track collection features Champion's Friction Free technology, which helps prevent chafing, while the company's DoubleDry moisture management technology wicks away perspiration. The line is available for men and women in both home and away styles: white body with dark inserts on the side and a dark body with white inserts. There are 16 color schemes.

The men's lacrosse line will have jerseys, with dazzle yoke and sleeves and Pro-Brite mesh bodies, tailored specifically to fit over the shoulder pads. The shorts are mesh. As for the ladies, the line will feature DoubleDry fabrication.

"We don't do some of the bells and whistles that some of our competitors do, but we do make certain that our products are going to last for years," says Fowle. "So six years from now, the varsity team will still be playing in our jerseys. It doesn't sound eye catching or anything like that, but we do pride ourselves on our workmanship."