Sportswear Print on Demand: Why Technical Fabrics Require Different Rules

You may already be familiar with print-on-demand for regular T-shirts. With sportswear, it's more complicated: A shirt that you sweat in during training needs different properties than one you wear to a cafe. We explain what really distinguishes sports jerseys in the print-on-demand process.

Why a sports shirt has different requirements

A regular cotton T-shirt absorbs sweat and sticks to the skin when wet. For a workout, a run, or a match, this is uncomfortable – sometimes even impractical, for example in cold weather. Therefore, sportswear generally needs to:

• Wick moisture away from the skin instead of storing it
• Be breathable so heat can escape
• Remain elastic and dimensionally stable, even with intense movement

These are different priorities than for an everyday cotton T-shirt – and they determine what material a sports shirt can even be made of.

Two material worlds, one print-on-demand principle

That's exactly why we at Georg Werner work with two different material approaches, depending on what a product is supposed to achieve:

Our T-shirts are made of GOTS-certified organic cotton – ideal for everyday wear, streetwear, and anything where softness and breathability are paramount, but no extreme mechanical stress occurs. You can find more about this in our article What is GOTS certification?

Our sports jerseys are made of breathable polyester mesh. Polyester is widely used in functional clothing because it transports moisture to the outside much faster than cotton and retains its shape even after many washes. For kits, jerseys, and performance shirts, this is the industry standard – even for established sports brands.

What to look for in sustainable functional clothing

Because GOTS only applies to natural fibers like cotton, the standard does not apply to pure polyester functional wear. For synthetic functional fabrics, other certificates are relevant instead:

• GRS (Global Recycled Standard): ensures that a certain proportion of recycled fibers is included and additionally confirms environmental and social criteria along the supply chain.
• OEKO-TEX Standard 100: tests the finished textile for harmful substance limits – regardless of whether it is natural fiber or synthetic.

For our printing process, regardless of the carrier material, we use Oeko-Tex certified, water-based inks without solvents – you can find more details on our Product Details page.

How the print-on-demand principle also applies here

Whether a cotton T-shirt or a polyester jersey: The basic principle remains the same. Production only starts when you order – no warehouse full of jerseys in all sizes that eventually have to be discounted. We explain how this works in detail in "How does print-on-demand work?"

Where you can find our sports jerseys

You can find our sports jerseys made of breathable polyester mesh in the Around-the-World collection and the Water-Nomads collection – from urban motifs to watersports designs.