How to Set Up a Free School Spirit Wear Store with DoJiggy

Selling school spirit wear is an excellent opportunity to show unity and togetherness while raising valuable funds for your school and school groups.  Whether your school needs money for school supplies, upgrading tech or playground equipment, or saving enrichment programs, setting up an online school spirit wear store could answer your school’s financial worries.

DoJiggy can help with a free online store for school spirit sales!

We’ve put together this simple step-by-step guide to show you how easy it is to set up an online store for your school. If you get stuck and need inspiration, check out our top school spirit wear fundraising ideas to help you out.

What is a School Spirit Wear Fundraiser?

A school spirit wear fundraiser empowers schools to sell a selection of school-branded apparel and merchandise. These items can include t-shirts, caps and hoodies, accessories like badges, stickers, bracelets, and more. This custom merchandise is designed to incorporate your school’s name, logo, colors, and mascot if you choose. It’s a great way to get kids, parents, and teachers enthusiastic and proud of your school.    

Why Opt for a School Spiritwear Online Store?

It’s all about school spirit, of course! When planning a fundraiser to generate valuable funding for your school, getting your students, teachers, parents, and the school community involved is essential to create a sense of teamwork and unity.

Your campaign is easy to manage with a school spirit wear online store. There is nothing to set up or take down, and supporters can buy online with just a few clicks. Also, these sales campaigns can be virtual and contact-free events.

Another benefit of running a school spirit wear campaign is its low-risk fundraising option. Choosing quality custom printing platforms (like Printful) allows your school to produce on-demand products so that you won’t have excessive amounts of inventory hanging around and eating into your fundraising budget.

How to Set up an Online Spirit Wear Store In 5 Easy Steps

Setting up a school spirit wear store is simple, but there are some vital steps to consider to ensure the success of your school fundraising campaign.

Check out our 5-step guide to creating a rewarding school spirit wear fundraiser:

1. Build a Solid Fundraising Team
2. Choose The Best Apparel and Products to Sell in your Store
3. Pick the Best Online Store and Customize it
4. Promote Your Online Store
5. Stay in Touch with Your Supporters

Build a Solid Fundraising Team

Preparation and teamwork are essential to a successful school spirit wear fundraiser. Make sure to gather a strong fundraising committee from the start. The PTA, teachers, and the general school community all provide great volunteer options for school fundraisers.

Here are a few of the tasks for your fundraising committee:

• Define fundraising goals (financial and non-financial)
• Plan a roadmap to achieve these goals
• Identify your school’s brand and decide how to stay true to your school’s values.

Choose The Best Apparel and Products to Sell in your Store

Get on the right track from the start and choose the best custom-printed merchandise that everyone wants to get their hands on. Setting up your school spirit wear online store is one thing, but it’ll only be successful if your products are popular, reasonably priced, and accessible. Here are a few things to consider when deciding what to sell in your school eCommerce store:

• Know your audience well and give them what they want. Think about their needs, preferences, and ability to give. If your school has a big football or basketball following, sell school-branded sports accessories, like spirit sticks and pom poms, custom hoodies, and t-shirts.
• Always make sure that spirit wear designs are age-appropriate for school children.
• Don’t outprice yourself! Determine appropriate product prices for your custom school apparel to include everyone’s giving levels. Remember, the idea is to be inclusive and to optimize outreach. The more products you sell, the more likely you are to exceed your school spirit fundraising goals.
• Make the process seamless by setting up a spirit wear pick-up point or day at your school to eliminate shipping headaches.

Pick The Best Online Store and Customize It

Our donor-friendly Simple Stores® are a great option to get your organization set up and selling quickly, with little effort. School administrators or PTO leaders can set up the store for free and add items within minutes.

These stores even allow Individuals and teams (e.g., students and classrooms) to sell for your school by enabling peer-to-peer functionality. Each student and classroom will have a personal fundraising page where items are sold and participants track sales.

We have even added gamification elements to make your store fun and engaging. A trophy badge rewards top fundraisers, and donors can post a message of support. Prizes are configured and tracked in the platform for the top salesperson or classes. It doesn’t get much better than this for school spirit stores.

Just Sign up for a free online sales campaign and get started!

Promote Your Online Store

Before you launch your online school spirit wear store, it is crucial to start generating some hype and awareness. Get people excited about your store and custom products by trying the following:

• Post fun videos, engaging stories, and interactive polls on social media to get people talking about your school spirit fundraiser.
• Advertise your online store in school newspapers and newsletters, school flyers, and on your school website.
• Show off your school spirit wear designs on Instagram and Facebook Stories to create interest and awareness around your cause. Ask volunteers and brand ambassadors to wear your custom apparel while telling the story behind your school spirit wear fundraiser.
• Why not set up a hashtag challenge to get people participating and familiar with your cause? This has become a popular social media trend among nonprofits.
• When it’s time to launch your online store, make sure to go big or go home!

Stay in Touch with Your Supporters

Building a solid relationship with your supporters is key to a successful fundraising campaign. Remember to check in with your donors and provide fundraising updates and progress posts during the fundraiser. Thank supporters for their donations and show them how they are making an impact. If donors have a great fundraising experience, they’re more likely to return for your future fundraising campaigns.

Make it clear to your audience what you’re raising money for so they know how they will be making an impact. When people can visualize where their money will go and how it will be used, they often feel more comfortable with giving.

School Spirit Wear Online Stores Best Practices

Here are a few best practices when setting up your online store.

• Add stand-out photos of your spirit wear products to attract as many buyers as possible.
• Include sizing charts or other information. You want clothes to fit – so go beyond just listing small, medium, and large.
• Provide options, but not too many. Providing more than 4-5 colors for a specific product is probably too many and can lead to buyer fatigue.

• Add donation functionality to increase giving options. In addition to selling school spirit wear, this will allow people to donate extra to your school’s cause and help you achieve your fundraising goals more quickly.
• Don’t outprice yourself! Determine appropriate product prices for your custom school merchandise to include everyone’s giving levels.

Read more on how to maximize profitability with an online store.

Best-Selling School Spirit Wear Apparel and Items

Take your pick from our list of best-selling school spirit wear items and have your products flying off the shelves to smash your fundraising goals! Always try to sell something people use regularly and can’t do without.

School Apparel

• Custom T-shirts – a classic best-seller
• Branded hoodies and tracksuits – perfect for those cold sports practice mornings
• Branded socks
• Baseball caps, beanies, and scarves
• Flip-flops and sliders

Sporting Items

• Spirit sticks, noodle wavers, and foam hands – Inflatable sticks and giant foam hands with custom school logos to use at pep rallies, sports games, and parades.
• Pompoms – custom pom poms are a great idea for football matches for the cheerleaders and fans
• Stadium seats (foldable chairs) 
• Custom-branded blankets or throws

School Bags and Stationery

• Custom school stationery – pens, pencils, notebooks, and pencil cases all customized with your school logo and colors
• Backpacks and sports bags

More Accessories

• Temporary tattoos – another best-seller among kids
• Reusable water bottles – teach kids about the importance of being environmentally friendly and staying hydrated by selling custom-branded reusable water bottles
• Silicone bracelets
• Stickers
• Keychains

More School Spirit Wear Ideas

Check out our top reasons for setting up a school spirit wear fundraiser:

• Set up a custom t-shirt design contest or mascot design competition as part of an arts enrichment program and allow the school community to vote on the winner or winners
• Raise money for a specific goal such as a new library, school supplies, new playground equipment, updating computers, and saving enrichment programs. Maybe even fund a memorable field trip with students in matching school spirit wear
• Welcome new students and unite them by wearing school spirit wear products. Rather than wearing restrictive uniforms, offer more comfortable options like branded tracksuits and collared shirts. Bring the students together visually to create school spirit from day one
• Create special edition graduation-themed school spirit wear products to provide long-lasting memorabilia for the last day of school

Conclusions on Selling School Spirit Wear and Custom School Apparel

Setting up an online school spirit wear store is a fun and straightforward process that helps to create a sense of unity and pride among your school and community. Spirit wear fundraisers are a great way to raise valuable funds for important school projects. So, get into the school spirit and set up an unforgettable fundraiser! 

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