Is your HR department decking out your corporate sports team with uniforms? That’s awesome! But there are a few things you need to keep in mind.

There are plenty of reasons to start a company sports team. It connects employees to one another and improves office morale. It’s a great team building exercise, and it gives people something to root for. As an added bonus, it also helps people get in shape – a distressingly rare thing in today’s world.

Of course, if your team’s really going to compete on the corporate playing field, they’re going to need uniforms. Good ones. And therein lies the problem: it’s actually very easy to mess up the design process.

We’re here to make sure you don’t.

Make it Personal

Personalization Is an important first step. Get the name or handle of each team member, and make sure both are displayed somewhere on the uniform (preferably somewhere prominent). This’ll ensure that each player stands out from the others, and also avoid any unfortunate incidents with lost property.

The back’s usually a good spot for this, though you could also add it to the front or even the arms.

Have Some Backups

The thing about sports is that they tend to be pretty physically demanding. And when Bob from IT is chugging his way down the field after a rainstorm, there’s a good chance he might end up falling and putting a hole in his freshly-laundered jersey. That’s why it’s advisable that you have at least one backup jersey per player. That way, if anything happens to one, you’ll have another waiting in the wings.

It might also be worthwhile to order some blank jerseys as well, to be embroidered with a name and number later; this will ensure you’re covered if someone drops out or needs to be replaced.

Branding is Essential

A company sports team isn’t necessarily the same as a traditional sports team. At the end of the day, your players are representing a business, or at least one facet of that business. For that reason, little details like your company name, logo, or colors should be displayed somewhere on each uniform. Of course, that presents a bit of a challenge if your colors aren’t really sports-friendly – research has proven that complementary colors in a uniform go a long way towards fostering positive team spirit.

Though if all else fails, you could always just go with red. Can’t really go wrong there.

Size Things Right

If you have the budget and the time, I’d recommend getting every player’s measurements and tailoring uniforms to fit them. Otherwise, you should make sure you order a healthy selection of each size, to account for different body types on your team – small, medium, large, and extra large.

Not Just Jerseys

Last but certainly not least, you needn’t just order sports jerseys. Depending on how spirited your employees are about the company team, you could even order apparel that lets them show off their team colors off the field and in the workplace. Stuff like hats, water bottles, and bags are all fair game – but make sure your team’s completely onboard with everything, first.