We went local too. At the beginning of the year we do a one-time advance purchase event. T-shirts long and short, fleece pullover jackets, hooded sweatjackets, sweatshirts, sweatpants, golf shirt, denim shirts, backpacks, sports bags, towels, baseball hats, and shorts. This year we even tried a small mascot in our school colors, but they did not sell well. We had to order a box of 250 minimum and now are stuck with about 220.
Our school's logo is registered with Lands End so our parents can buy high quality spirit wear there and we get a small kickback. That program works best if you have someone responsible for marketing it throughout the year, since it's an ongoing option, not a one-time sale.
As an alternative to the Lands End merchandise, our principal took the lead on selling very simple (one logo, one style, two colors) silk-screened school t-shirts. He kept the pricee down so most kids could get one to wear on Fridays. He keeps whateever profit he makes. He's has run two sales periods this year - beginning of the year and right before Christmas. He uses a local t-shirt vendor.
We did spirit wear . ..in the fall we had t-shirts in our two school colors, sweat pants, sweat shirts (both in gray), hooded zip sweat jackets (gray) and flannel lounge pants. ALL were successful, however, we purposely kept the prices down so that everything was affordable for everyone.
Parents are asking to have the tshirts on hand to sell at the open house next year.
We don't like to use our Spirit items as a "large fundraiser" so I may not be much help to you LOL.
Best of Luck !
We tried this last year and ended up stuck with a lot of stuff. We have always had t-shirts and sweatshirts, but we bought pens, pencils, highlighters, rulers and water bottles with our school mascot. They have not sold well, so we're giving them next year as incentives when people pledge a lot at our pledge drive.
We are lucky that our mascot is a dolphin. We can find all kinds of sculptures, necklaces and pictures with our mascot on it. Maybe if you check places like orientaltrading.com you can find things with your mascot.
