All-Star Late Uniforms

[SharkDad]

Rudags I hope you don't think I am directing any of my comments specifically at GK. It's the uniform / gym owner system in general when parents get stuck paying full price for a uniform they received late.

 

[SharkDad]

I hope it's no surprise for parents to know that gyms receive discounts from EPs and uniform companies for attending multiple competitions or ordering uniforms and competitions from the same company. I think Varsity is the only one that offers uniforms/competition combination discounts.

Parents should also be aware when their gym is actually in contract with or sponsored by another company. Realize that this sometimes eliminates the possibility for the gym to order uniforms, shoes, or attend certain competitions even if the service from that company is known to be bad.

As I said earlier, it's the gym owner's responsibility and choice to decide who they want to enter contracts and do business with. As the one paying the bills, the parents can let the gym owner know they won't stand for late uniforms by not paying full price for a service they receive late in the season or in poor quality/condition.

Incidentally it's also worthwhile to ask the gym owner to tell you if they are passing those discounts on to you or not.

 

[CheerBank]

Apparently the factory that manufactures the special fabric they use have been flooded out and are just getting up and running again. At least thats what we have been told.

Parts of the garment district in NYC was very effected by the storm. I own a bow company and I had some shipment delayed out of nyc for fabric but it was only a two or three day delay.

Thank you. Was not thinking about where the fabric was coming from.

 

[Ems]

This thread is very interesting. My team has ordered new "Not GK" uniforms for competition in mid-November so now I'm starting to wonder when they'll arrive. Though luckily we fundraised and had sponsors so the money is taken care of and we don't have to wait for people to turn in checks...

 

[CricketCheerMom]

Varsity should post it on their website. I own a bow company also and I was able to get my fabric from other places in Texas or California.

 

[CoachTamara]

We (GK) require a sample for all custom uniforms. Therefore you can see it on a person and fix what you don't like prior to ordering.

We did that. Still nothing fits.
I'm just curious as to what people think as far as getting the uniforms and still being unhappy. In a normal world, you simply return the top that doesn't fit and if you love it enough, you buy the correct size. In cheer world, it's "custom" so you are simply out of luck. And instead of not wearing it, you are forced to keep it for 2-3 years and wear it on stage in front of tons of people...

 

[SharkDad]

We did that. Still nothing fits.
I'm just curious as to what people think as far as getting the uniforms and still being unhappy. In a normal world, you simply return the top that doesn't fit and if you love it enough, you buy the correct size. In cheer world, it's "custom" so you are simply out of luck. And instead of not wearing it, you are forced to keep it for 2-3 years and wear it on stage in front of tons of people...

I want to continue to re-emphasize the point that this is only because the cheer world allows it to continue. So olong as people stay professional it's fair to give bad reviews to companies you deal with, as well as hopefully good ones like Rebal Athletics has been getting in this thread.

It's also fair to not bring your business back to a crappy company and I would even strongly consider not giving that final 75%, 50%, or %25 (whatever it is) payment for crappy/late uniforms and make it point to compete one year with shorts and t-shirts to let your customers know you are sticking up for them--not the big EP or uniform company.

At some point service needs to be demanded in writing with the initial contract for this to ever get fixed. Until then. . .I suggest parents letting the gym know they won't pay full price for late/crappy uniforms and either not give their final payment or take it out of their tuition.

 

[Rudags]

Rudags I hope you don't think I am directing any of my comments specifically at GK. It's the uniform / gym owner system in general when parents get stuck paying full price for a uniform they received late.

Not at all. Im just giving the 'inside the uniform industry' perspective. The only point I wanted to get across is YES, uniform companies will mess up. Im not saying they (or me as a rep for that matter) is perfect. What I am saying is in my experience, more times than not, its the gym owners lack of organization that causes late uniforms but its so easy to just tell the parents "Its the uniform companies fault" because a parent would never know any different.

 

[Cheer4lyfe]

Well all I will say is this, I am a gym owner who-
- Ordered in Late August
- Had them sent to the wrong address
- Was sent the wrong design and fabric to, and wrong design on the shorts
- Had to reorder a different design because they couldn't accommodate my request although they said they could on the roof
- Had to wait another 5 weeks for the new design to come
- It recently came, and low and behold- The shorts are still wrong
It has been over 15 weeks

This is a not GK uniform, I did nothing wrong in this process and kept all my email records as proof of all communications
-

 

[Ems]

Update!!! We got our uniforms today, right before cheering at a basketball game. We would have gotten them sooner, but our school offices were closed until yesterday, but still in time nonetheless.
We did not wear them cheering because there wasn't enough time to change, but a few girls on the team (myself included) tried ours on in the locker room between games. The tops fit great!
However... the skirts.... are small. But yet, they're not. The waist band is super tight and is extremely uncomfortable, not something I could stand to wear for the 4-5 hours we're in uniform. However, it's the same size as my other uniform skirt. Not to mention it gives a very unflattering muffin top. But, the actual skirt part is super loose and baggy and long.
I mentioned the waist band issue to my coach who texted our rep who replied that because of the banding it's tighter than normal and that we need to stretch it out. We were warned of the baggyness of the skirt, which can easily be taken in/hemmed, but not the tightness of the waist band which would be very hard (if it's even possible) to fix. If I hand known that, I would have ordered a bigger size. To "stretch it out" to where it would be the same as my other skirt it would have to stretch out at least an inch.
I'll post pictures from my phone so you all can see the difference.
NOTE: these are collegiate high-rise skirts I'm talking about!

 

[Ems]

Pictures of the new skirt vs the old skirt of the same size. The white skirt is new

 

[Ems]

Tapatalk sent the message before I was finished and its too late to add... Sorry about all the posts people!
So the picture from the above post are the waist bands side by side... The skirts are lined up at the top but are uneven at the bottom. Note, the red skirt is on the tighter button and the white skirt is on the looser button.

The current skirt with new top

The new skirt and new top... Super flattering, right?
We were told to stretch them out over the next few days and bring them to our next practice to see how everyone's fit. And sorry the pics of my gorgeous stomach are super huge!

 

[cheermom5678]

Tapatalk sent the message before I was finished and its too late to add... Sorry about all the posts people!
So the picture from the above post are the waist bands side by side... The skirts are lined up at the top but are uneven at the bottom. Note, the red skirt is on the tighter button and the white skirt is on the looser button.

The current skirt with new top

The new skirt and new top... Super flattering, right?
We were told to stretch them out over the next few days and bring them to our next practice to see how everyone's fit. And sorry the pics of my gorgeous stomach are super huge!

See if you can move the button over to loosen the waistband a bit.

 

[Ems]

See if you can move the button over to loosen the waistband a bit.

It's already on the loosest button. I just washed it in cold water and now it's stretched around a piece of wood to try to stretch it out. We have been told by our rep that we are unable to make exchanges...

 

[DropAndRun]

Ems.. OMG! What is your coach saying? I understand that you can't return but if its an ordering error and everyone's fits that way, I would certainly hold the rep responsible. Surely they don't expect you to wear them like that?