Working With Bakline
Team Portal
Team Portal
We are honored by your interest in having Bakline create your team kit! This page provides you with key information about how we support running teams, corporate clubs, and non-profit entities through the design process, operational and technical mechanics of managing a team store and fulfillment, and fostering a community through premium quality team-wear.
This page should answer most questions. If you're ready to get going or have additional questions, reach out to support@bakline.com.
Reach Out
WHAT IT'S LIKE WORKING WITH US
WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO, AND WHY IT MATTERS
WHY BAKLINE
Being fast is a mindset, demonstrated through a commitment to improvement. Let’s redefine fast in a way that includes more athletes as competitive, committed, and powerful. Dedicated athletes come in all sizes, focus on different events, and are in different stages of their development. But no matter where you are, fast is an idea that belongs to all of us.
This is the brand ethos we bring to how we engage with teams, and the lens through which we serve as your apparel partner.
We value our collaboration and partnership with our clients. Our specialty is working with running clubs and teams to take away all the operational aspects of providing team kits, including team store set up, fulfillment to your members, and management of orders, in addition to the design and production of the kit itself.
In working with Bakline, you’re offering your local running community a collection that is designed to ensure you look like a team on and off the race course. We’ve spent years developing our line from the ground up, and are excited to share our passion with you and your team members.
Bakline’s gear offers a fresh take on running apparel. While many brands focus on speed or status, we highlight the consistent effort of runners of all sizes, shapes, and speeds. Our premium-quality apparel remains accessible to most runners.
Rooted in the belief that running is hyperlocal, we design with your unique community in mind. In fact, it was through our club relationships that Bakline redesigned its sizing system to utilize Straight Cut and Contoured cut, which you can learn more about here.
Bakline offers a full line of premium performance and graphic athleisure apparel. We help you through the design, production, ordering, and fulfillment process. Working with us should feel like adding five more people to your volunteer staff.
As your apparel partner, we can customize nearly any of our products to fit your team's community vibe and standards. Whether you have a 20+ year history and a 1,000 members, or have recently banded together with 20 dedicated athletes, we have the experience to support what you need. Few brands can match our in-house production and customization capabilities.
Partnering with Bakline means supporting a small business. We see our clients as collaborators, involving you in our product development like no large brand can. We can even create custom cuts and sizes tailored to your club's needs if necessary.
Being fast is a mindset, demonstrated through a commitment to improvement. Let’s redefine fast in a way that includes more athletes as competitive, committed, and powerful. Dedicated athletes come in all sizes, focus on different events, and are in different stages of their development. But no matter where you are, fast is an idea that belongs to all of us.
This is the brand ethos we bring to how we engage with teams, and the lens through which we serve as your apparel partner.
We value our collaboration and partnership with our clients. Our specialty is working with running clubs and teams to take away all the operational aspects of providing team kits, including team store set up, fulfillment to your members, and management of orders, in addition to the design and production of the kit itself.
In working with Bakline, you’re offering your local running community a collection that is designed to ensure you look like a team on and off the race course. We’ve spent years developing our line from the ground up, and are excited to share our passion with you and your team members.
Bakline’s gear offers a fresh take on running apparel. While many brands focus on speed or status, we highlight the consistent effort of runners of all sizes, shapes, and speeds. Our premium-quality apparel remains accessible to most runners.
Rooted in the belief that running is hyperlocal, we design with your unique community in mind. In fact, it was through our club relationships that Bakline redesigned its sizing system to utilize Straight Cut and Contoured cut, which you can learn more about here.
Bakline offers a full line of premium performance and graphic athleisure apparel. We help you through the design, production, ordering, and fulfillment process. Working with us should feel like adding five more people to your volunteer staff.
As your apparel partner, we can customize nearly any of our products to fit your team's community vibe and standards. Whether you have a 20+ year history and a 1,000 members, or have recently banded together with 20 dedicated athletes, we have the experience to support what you need. Few brands can match our in-house production and customization capabilities.
Partnering with Bakline means supporting a small business. We see our clients as collaborators, involving you in our product development like no large brand can. We can even create custom cuts and sizes tailored to your club's needs if necessary.
So how does it all work?
PRICING
Our pricing is super straightforward. There’s just one all-in price for each item, and that’s based on three things: how many you’re ordering, the MSRP of the item, and the type of customization we’re doing. We’ll send you our pricing schedule when you're ready—no surprises. And nope, we don’t charge extra for things like ink, screen setup, or any of those random add-on fees. None of that.
The MSRP might shift a bit as compared to what's on our site if we’re doing something extra custom—like a more complex screen print with a bunch of colors—but if that happens, we’ll always make sure it’s clear before you commit to anything.
There are three possible additional charges:
- Shipping: Postage for bulk orders shipped to you,
- Handling: Team store handling, if relevant, $2 per item sold, covering our storing, holding, and managing your team store, including exchanges/returns), and
- Design: When we review what you're looking to create, we will consider how long it takes to make. If it takes more than 3 design hours (the vast majority of orders do not require more than this) then we need to charge for additional design hours. We value creating custom and unique garments for you and the process can be detailed and time-intensive. This design service fee is in support of that creative process when working as your true brand partner.
CUSTOMIZATION
There are three main ways of working with Bakline. Sometimes, a team will utilize all three of these.
1) Customizing In Stock Bakline Gear
How it works: Bakline creates and sells original performance gear and lifestyle apparel that express our passion for design, performance, and our sport. If you see a product from our own collection that you like (whether performance or lifestyle), your collection can include any of these items and we will customize it (inventory permitting) with your team logo, though some design and color limitations apply.
Minimums: None. Produced on demand, although higher quantities yield higher team discounts.
2) Fully Designed and Customized Performance Gear
How it works: We completely design something for you. Just about any design or image can be printed using sublimation with any number of colors and patterns. This is one of the clearest ways we separate ourselves from many apparel partners. Our products are printed through dye-sublimation, then cut and sewn. This level of customization is pretty intensive. While the pricing doesn’t change per unit, the minimums are higher.
Minimums: Every cut and design combination must hit 15 units, though some products have a higher minimum such as hats and socks.
3) Custom Printed Lifestyle Apparel
How it works: Bakline performs all screen printing in-house, giving us complete control over the quality of our products. We were frustrated with contract printers who simply didn’t care about the end result because they compete on price. Our hand-crafted production process is flexible. We’ll work with you to create a team collection so that all team members can support the team wherever they are.
Our process allows Bakline to create an on-demand store for your team depending on the design. This small batch approach is more sustainable, environmentally and financially friendly. We would discuss details with you once we know what you want!
We aim to build long-term relationships with our clients, and if you have a specific need or request, ask us.
ORDERING AND OPERATIONS
We take pride in customizing the experience for each club. Some clubs we’ve partnered with for years have multiple collections and need to differentiate them on their team store. Others simply want to set up pre-orders for an upcoming event. Many fall somewhere in between. Regardless, our process and team store setup are flexible.
Generally, there are two ordering options:
1) Bulk Order
You place a single bulk order, priced according to our schedule. We ship the gear to you, and you handle all individual sales and distribution. Simple as that. 🙂
2) Team Store (Time-Limited or Ongoing)
We set up a team store with a standard 2-week order window. Athletes order directly through our site, selecting their sizes—no admin work on your end!
After the window closes, we notify you whether the minimums have been met. If not, you're responsible for ordering the remaining items to reach the agreed-upon minimum. You may also choose to order extras for new joiners. These additional items can be shipped to you, or held by us to support an ongoing store. For indefinite team stores, we ask that you maintain a rough minimum inventory level to ensure consistent orders. We handle all exchanges and returns. We can also support team fundraising if you opt not to pass the team discount on to your athletes.
The Process And Timeline
Agreeing on the Design (0-4 Weeks)
Understanding what you want
Getting going is as simple as an emailing support@bakline.com. What we’ll need from you is as much detail as you can describing what you’re looking for. During this initial phase we may set up a meeting or two to understand what you’re asking for and to answer any questions you may have.
If you just want us to replicate exactly your existing team singlet, we prefer that you bring or mail us one so that we can color match to it.
This takes as long as it takes! But usually 0-4 weeks.
Pre-Production (1-4 Weeks)
Bringing It To Life
Here, we get to work and provide you with final confirmation of everything. We then translate everything into technical specifications with our manufacturing team, including pre-prints (which you can see), color confirmations, and artwork proofs. For customized orders, we provide digital mock-ups for approval before moving into production.
This takes 1-4 weeks.
Ordering (2 weeks max)
Team Store Ordering (If relevant)
If you use a team store, we have a hard rule that team store windows are limited to two weeks maximum. At the end of that window, you as the team leader are expected to communicate to us any additional quantities to order, whether that is to hit a minimum, or to have extra on hand for new joiners to the club.
As stated in the Ordering section, you can also submit a bulk order. And of course, we do not limit you to two weeks if you are taking care of it yourself.
This takes 2 weeks (If Bakline is facilitating the team store).
Production (6-8 Weeks)
Making It All Happen
Custom sublimated production is a technical process that we've perfected in the context of our team clients. If we're doing in-house printing, our screen printing team will get to work moving ink from the container to your team wear. We ensure every detail is checked before shipping things out.
This takes about 6–8 weeks for custom sublimation and 2-4 weeks for in-house production. Rush timelines are possible.
Shipping (1-2 Weeks)
Getting It To Your Door
Our performance wear is made overseas and usually takes about 10 days to arrive at our facility by air. Once we receive it, we verify everything is in order before shipping it to your athletes or to you for your event.
The Captain's Guidebook
General
What does it mean to hit a 15 count minimum? Is that across every size?
Minimums are per item style and per cut—but not per size. That means you need at least 15 units of each cut (e.g., Straight Cut and Contoured Cut), but you can split that as needed across sizes.
For example, if you're offering singlets in both cuts:
- 15 total Straight Cut singlets (any mix of sizes—could be 15 smalls or a mix of S, M, L, etc.)
- 15 total Contoured Cut singlets (again, any mix of sizes)
As long as each cut hits the 15-unit minimum, the specific size breakdown is completely up to you.
Can we get samples or try on gear at a Bakline location?
Making sure your athletes are comfortable with the sizing options available is critical. You can purchase samples at 40% of the price (60% off). Those can be worn and run in so that you don't have to worry about returns. Or you can return them for a refund provided the return occurs within three months.
If you want to come to Bakline HQ, we would love that! We have many clubs come to our production offices in Gowanus, Brooklyn. You can see, feel, and try things on to be sure you get what matters most to the club. Fair warning: clubs often leave wanting to double their collection!
What are your best-selling items for recreational teams?
The McCarren Original Singlet is our best seller so far, but the new Astoria Tank may take that crown soon. Other popular items include the Riverside Race Crop and the new Queen Short Cut Muscle Tank—great options for all levels of recreational runners.
Next up would be our shorts, where clubs have liked that we can do in-house customization, which means that we can offer a range of short options, all in the color black, without worrying about minimums because athletes can be very particular about their shorts!
Do you have a product catalog with details on sizing, color, and price breaks?
Our website is effectively our catalogue. Virtually anything you see you can customize. As it relates to color, see the section on customization. If you're customizing something that we have in-house, then you will be limited by the quantities we have or are expecting to receive. If something appears out of stock, ask us! If you're customizing, then you don't need to worry about our in-stock colors.
As for price breaks, this is in our standard pricing schedule which we can share on request.
Do you work with clubs outside of the US?
Heck yeah! While we always need to contemplate the logistics of import/export processes, we are happy to work with you, no matter where you are.
Shipping and Fulfillment
What does fulfillment cost either to the club or the athlete?
We add $2 per item to the base price. That covers storage space, labor, packing materials, postage, exchange handling, and overall fulfillment service. It doesn’t fully cover all costs on our end, but it helps make the process smooth and sustainable.
Who pays for packaging? Can it be customized?
Packaging is covered by the $2 per item fulfillment fee. While we don’t offer custom packaging, we can include custom inserts (like cards or notes) if you'd like. Orders are packed and shipped just like our other online orders.
Who pays for shipping?
Customers pay a $5 flat rate if their order is under $75. Orders over $75 ship free. Expedited shipping is also available for an added cost—we’ll upgrade to UPS or similar for 1–3 day delivery.
Where can Bakline ship to?
We can ship almost anywhere, but we block some countries where there is a higher fraud risk. If you have legitimate customers in a specific country, just let us know—we’ll make sure shipping is enabled for them if needed.
What’s the longest turnaround time for an athlete to get their gear?
About 3 months in a worst-case scenario: ordered on day one of a two-week pre-order, 8 weeks manufacturing, 1 week shipping to us, and 1 week shipping to the customer.
Payments, Deposits, & Fundraising
Can Bakline facilitate team fundraising?
Yes. We know this is an important element to any club. A markup can be added to the pricing on the website with an agreed portion or percentage passed back to the club. We require that fundraising be through an official team account. If you have further questions on this, let us know.
How and when are clubs paid out for merchandise sold?
That depends on pricing. If you charge more than what we charge you, we’ll send you the difference. For example, if your price is $50 and ours is $45, you get $5 per item sold. We can settle up periodically.
Do I or does the team need to pay a deposit?
Generally, no, if we are facilitating a team store because we capture payment at the time of the order. If you are placing a bulk order or you need to supplement a team store order with more than 50% of the quantity minimum, then we do ask for a deposit. The starting point is 50%, though we will work with you if this poses a challenge.
Are there extra charges like screen fees or setup costs?
Nope! No hidden fees. Pricing is all-in, based on volume, MSRP, and customization method. If a project is especially complex (multi-color screen printing or intricate design), MSRP may change, but we’ll always be transparent.
Returns and Exchanges
Do you facilitate returns for bulk orders?
No. We do not facilitate returns with respect to bulk orders outside of defective or damaged products, where the damage occurred before or during transit to you.
What’s your return and exchange policy for custom team stores?
The default is that we handle exchanges just like any regular Bakline order. Most clubs prefer this, since it gives athletes confidence in sizing and an ability to exchange (provided the club ordered additional quantities or someone else exchanged/returned the size requested). That said, leftover/exchanged stock is your responsibility. You can opt for a “no exchanges” policy (no club has chosen this yet). Our standard return policy is here: Return Policy.
Are there fees for handling exchanges and returns when part of a team store?
Exchanges are expensive—they involve three shipments (original, return, replacement), plus manual handling. The $2 per item discussed in our pricing section, which is applied to all items we facilitate, regardless of whether they're returned or exchanged, helps offset that cost and allows us to maintain a high-touch customer experience without extra fees. Plus, we invest a lot in sizing tools to minimize returns in the first place!
Team Store Setup
Can we password-protect and customize our team store?
Yes. All team stores are password-protected. You can control who gets the password or we can customize the welcome message to include the passcode. The passcode is a Bakline requirement in order to ensure that team products are locked from view unless you are a member of that team. Each store includes your team name, discount code, and a custom banner photo. Once someone enters the password, the store stays unlocked for them unless they clear cookies or use incognito mode.
Do we need to carry inventory or pre-purchase every size for running kits?
No, you can run a pre-order model where we batch produce only what’s ordered. This helps avoid leftover inventory.
What do team stores look like? Can we see a sample?
A video is just below this FAQ to show you what a team store looks like.
Feel free to share this link to your team as appropriate.