We frequently get asked, "What's the deal with your T-shirts?" So, here is the deal:
T-shirts are a love ‘em or hate ‘em item for runners. At Silver Circle Sports Events, we look at T-shirts differently. T-shirts should be worn as a display of accomplishment. Whether it’s a 140.6-mile triathlon you trained a year for, or a mud run you did with your kids, it’s all about the memories created.
We are also athletes and don't appreciate a two-bit shirt that is thrown in as an afterthought. Therefore, we spend a lot of time on designs and provide a high-quality shirt. You know, the kind that doesn't rub you in all the wrong areas. That means we have longer lead times and much higher costs.
Trying to forecast participant registration after our t-shirt lead time is slightly easier than predicting the weather, but only slightly. The result used to be thousands of surplus shirts at the end of the year stacked in our warehouse. We found that wasteful and, frankly, not very Earth-friendly.
Due to lead time, cost, and waste factors we now set a date that participants must register by in order to be guaranteed a shirt. After that, remaining shirts are put into an online inventory. In addition, we give participants the ability to opt out of a t-shirt to receive a discount on registration instead. It’s a win-win: you get a cool t-shirt, or you save a few bucks. It’s not the traditional model, but it’s better for the planet because we aren't dumping surplus running shirts into landfills!
That being said, we always order a few extra shirts. Any extra shirts are available after the race on a first come, first served basis, but once they are gone, they are gone.
Unfortunately, we don't warehouse extra or unclaimed shirts - we simply don't have room for all those boxes.