Cheerleading Clothes

Letterman Jackets

One great way for the school to show support for your cheerleader athletes and for your cheerleaders to show support for the athletic teams is to let the squad get letterman jackets. Letterman jackets show solidarity with the school's athletes and are especially appropriate for senior high school squads that do stunting and competing. You can frequently design a jacket by choosing from a few basic styles, or your school may already have something chosen. You can also honor members of the squad who are veterans with special pins placed on the letter. Generally, you can have the word "cheerleader" embroidered across the back and the school's logo on the front. Check with the school's athletic director or consider these options:

• The Jacket Shop doesn't require a minimum order.

• Mount Olympus Awards offers specific cheerleading patches to go on their jackets.

• TM Athletics offers the option of designing your own jacket with various patches, letters and emblems.

Customized T-Shirts

While the athletes are wearing their game day jerseys to announce to the school that they have a game, why not show your support by wearing your squad's T-shirts? There are several advantages to wearing T-shirts as opposed to your uniform on game day:

• Cheerleading uniforms are cold in the winter! A T-shirt can be worn with jeans, and you can bundle up before going outdoors! It looks much better than wearing sweats under your uniform.

• T-shirts are easier to wash than a uniform.

• T-shirts are cheaper than uniforms making it possible to have special T-shirts just for spirit week or just for homecoming.

Here are a few ideas for getting squad T-shirts:

• Make your own: Tie dye your squad's T-shirts using school colors. This is probably the cheapest route since you can buy T-shirts and dye from the craft store for a few dollars. Make sure that you take care in thinking through how the colors might blend. If your school colors are orange, yellow and black for example, you might want to forego the black!

• Order them customized: The Cheerleading Source, along with several other companies, allows you to customize T-shirts with each girls' name or other cheerleading logos. This is a great option for camp!

• Order a template design: Logo Softwear is one company among many that will allow you to customize a template that they've created. This is another great option for warm up or practice uniforms.

Sweats

When it comes to cheerleading clothes, sweats are almost an imperative. They're comfortable, warm and sturdy. They can be worn to school, at night during camp when it's colder or under your cheerleading skirt when the weather is really uncooperative.

When choosing sweats, it's important to consider what they might be used for. For example, while putting the words "cheer" or something similar on the bottom might be cute and very trendy right now, it won't look cute if the girls are expected to wear their sweats under their uniforms in inclement weather. In addition, some schools allow girls to wear sweatshirts over their shell or instead of their shell, along with their skirt during cold fall football games.

Like all cheerleader clothes, sweats too can be customized:

• Cheer Etc. has one of the best selections for cheerleading clothes, including sweats.

• Q-Gifts allows you to submit your own artwork to customize any cheerleading clothes you buy from them.

• Customize Link offers templates to use while customizing your sweats. They also have fleece shorts that are popular for practice.

Extra Cheerleading Clothes Saves Money!

Whatever you decide to do with your squad, having extra cheerleading apparel for them helps save money and preserve uniforms. If your squad has to pass down their uniforms from year to year, it may well be worth the investment to purchase squad T-shirts, jackets or sweats!