Ask a club secretary what part of a kit order causes the most grief and very few will say artwork or colours. It is sizing — and specifically junior sizing. Adults know what they take. Under-11s do not, their parents guess, and the guess is made against a label that means something different depending on which garment it is attached to.
The result is familiar: a handful of players swimming in their shirts, two who cannot get theirs over their shoulders, and a kit bag of unworn tops nobody can use. Here is how to size a junior squad properly, handle growth, and structure the order so mid-season joiners do not become a problem.
Why junior sizing goes wrong so often
Age labels are not measurements. A "9-10 years" shirt from one manufacturer can be several centimetres different from another's. Age sizing is a rough population average, and a nine-year-old at the top of the height range has essentially nothing in common with one at the bottom.
Sports fits are not high-street fits. Performance garments are often cut slimmer and shorter than school or leisure clothing, and technical fabrics have less give than cotton. A child who takes an 11-12 in a school polo may well need a 13 in a fitted playing shirt.
Nobody wants to be the awkward one. Juniors under-report a size they think is embarrassing, and parents order up "so it lasts". Both distort the order, in opposite directions.
The fix is not more careful guessing. It is measuring.
Size by height and chest, not by age
The single biggest improvement any club can make is to collect two numbers for every junior player: height in centimetres and chest measurement in centimetres.
Height is the more reliable predictor for playing kit, because most junior sportswear is graded primarily on stature. Chest matters for fitted shirts, base layers and anything with a zip. Collect both and you can size against any manufacturer's chart instead of hoping their age labels match your assumptions.
How to do it without it taking over a session:
- Measure at training, in one go, with the same person doing all the measuring. Numbers self-reported from home are noticeably less accurate.
- Height without boots or trainers, heels against a wall.
- Chest around the fullest part, under the arms, tape level and not pulled tight.
- Record it on one shared spreadsheet against player names, not on scraps of paper.
- Keep the sheet. You will want it again next season and for replacements.
For a squad of twenty this takes about fifteen minutes and removes almost all of the guesswork.
Run a size set session
A size set is a sample garment in every available size that players physically try on before ordering. For junior orders it is the most effective single thing you can do, and it is worth delaying the order by a week to arrange one.
Two rules make it work. Try the actual garment, not a similar one — a polo and a raglan-sleeve playing shirt in the same nominal size can fit very differently, so at minimum get samples of the most fitted item. And record the decision on the spot, against a named list, before players leave. Sizes remembered later are sizes remembered wrongly.
Ask your supplier what they can provide. We supply size sets as standard on club orders, because it costs far less than a batch of replacements.
How much growing room is sensible
Some growing room is reasonable. Two sizes up is not — an oversized playing shirt catches on equipment, rides up and looks poor in team photographs, and a junior who dislikes how their kit looks is a junior who wears it less.
A workable rule of thumb:
- Playing shirts and match kit: true to measured size, or one size up if the player is near the top of a size band or visibly growing. Match kit that is too big is a genuine disadvantage on the pitch.
- Training tops, hoodies and tracksuits: one size up is fine and often better, as these go over other layers.
- Shorts, skorts and leggings: true to size. Bottoms that are too big are the fastest route to a garment that never gets worn.
- Outerwear and rain jackets: one size up, because they go over everything else.
If a player sits between two sizes, check when their birthday falls. Someone turning twelve in October will get more out of the larger size than someone who turned twelve in March.
Order spares deliberately, not accidentally
Every junior squad has mid-season joiners, and at least one shirt that gets torn, lost or outgrown before Christmas. Reorders of one or two items always cost more per unit than the main run, and on bespoke sublimated kit they can take just as long to produce. Build spares into the initial order rather than treating them as an emergency:
- Two to four spare playing shirts across the middle of your size range, where most new players land.
- Skip the extremes. Spare 5-6s and adult XLs are the sizes that sit in the cupboard for years.
- Number spares with squad numbers you have not issued, so a replacement does not clash with an existing player.
- Log what you hold. A kit cupboard nobody has inventoried gets ordered around rather than used.
Plan for the handed-down season
Junior kit gets recycled, and a club that thinks about that at the design stage saves money for years.
Avoid individual player names on junior playing kit if you intend to hand it down — squad numbers survive a change of owner, a name does not. If juniors want their name on something, put it on a training top or hoodie they keep. Choose a design built on stock colours and standard garments so it can be topped up in two years, and keep the artwork on file with your supplier so top-ups match rather than approximate.
Junior kit sizing FAQs
Should we use age sizing or numeric sizing?
Whichever your chosen garment is graded in — but decide from measured height and chest either way. Treat the age label as a name for a size band, not as information about the child.
What if a player is between two sizes?
True to size for match kit, up a size for training wear and outerwear. Factor in when in the year they were born and whether they are visibly growing.
Can we mix junior and adult sizing in one order?
Yes, and most clubs need to. Junior and adult garments in the same range are designed to look identical on the pitch — worth confirming with your supplier if your squad straddles the two, as the changeover point varies by manufacturer.
How do we handle a player who grows out of their kit mid-season?
That is what your spares are for. If you have none, ask your supplier the lead time on a single-item reorder before you promise the player a date.
Do parents need to be involved?
Only to sign off. Collect the measurements yourself at training — faster and considerably more accurate than twenty separate replies to a group message.
Getting it right first time
Junior sizing is not complicated, it is just rarely done systematically. Measure once, run a size set, apply sensible growing room by garment type, and order a few spares in the middle of the range. Do that and the kit cupboard stops filling up with shirts nobody can wear.
If you are ordering junior kit this season, we supply size sets as standard and hold your artwork on file so top-ups match. Have a look at our sports teamwear and club kits range, our custom tennis club kit, or our guide to what a hockey squad actually needs for the season.
