Practice vests for a squad: sizing, numbering and washing

Pinnies are the least glamorous purchase a team makes and the one that gets used at every single session. A few decisions at the point of buying decide whether the set is still usable in three years.

Buy for the largest player, then check the smallest

Practice vests go over kit, so they run generously. The usual mistake is buying youth sizes for a youth team and finding they do not go over a winter layer.

Two practical rules:

• Size so the vest clears the largest player’s shoulders comfortably over a jacket.
• Check the smallest player is not swimming in it to the point where it catches on their arms.

Most squads are best served by one size for the whole group and a handful of a size up. Two sizes across a squad is manageable; four is chaos on the touchline.

Mesh weight

Lightweight mesh — cool, packs small, and thin enough that it snags and tears at the seams within a season of hard use.

Mid-weight mesh — the sensible default. Survives being pulled, dries fast, still breathes.

Heavy mesh with reinforced seams — for contact sports, and the only ones worth buying for anything where players grab each other.

Colour choice

Two contrasting colours in a set of 24 covers most drills. Bear in mind:

• Avoid a colour close to either team’s match kit, or the point of the exercise is lost.
• Fluorescent yellow and orange are the most visible on a green field and in low light.
• Dark colours are hotter in a Houston summer than light ones, measurably.
• If you have three groups, buy three colours rather than trying to manage bibs and no-bibs.

Numbering

Numbered vests are useful for coaching and a nuisance for laundry, because you have to keep the set complete. If you number them, number them for the drill groups rather than for individuals — 1 to 12 in each colour — so a missing vest is a gap in a group rather than a player without a shirt.

Washing, which is the whole lifespan question

Vests come off sweaty, go in a bag, and sit in a car boot until the next session. That is why sets smell, and it is why they fail.

• Never bag them wet. If nothing else, tip them out onto a garage floor to dry.
• Cold wash, mild detergent. Hot water and heavy detergent break down the mesh.
• No fabric softener. It coats the fibres and stops them wicking.
• Air dry. A tumble dryer will shrink and embrittle mesh faster than anything else.
• Wash colours separately for the first few washes — bright practice colours bleed.

A system that works for a volunteer coach

One mesh laundry bag per colour. Vests go straight into their bag at the end of a session, the bag goes in the machine, and the bag comes out with a complete set. It takes the counting out of the job, and counting is what does not happen at nine at night after a session.

How many

Two colours, one and a half times your largest squad. If you routinely train 18, that is 27 vests — enough to run two teams and to lose a few without a problem. Sets of 12 and 24 are the standard packs.

Ordering for a season

Order before the season rather than during it. The desk here is weekday hours and colours go out of stock in August when every team in Harris County has the same idea. Email us the squad size and colours in July and it is a straightforward order.

Heat, and mesh weight in a Houston August

A vest over a training shirt in August is an extra layer, and mesh weight decides how much it matters. Lightweight open mesh in a light colour is measurably cooler than a mid-weight vest in navy, and on a 95 degree afternoon that difference shows up in how the last twenty minutes of a session go.

For summer squads, buy light. For contact sports and autumn seasons, buy the mid-weight and accept the heat for the durability.

Replacing a set gradually

Sets fail unevenly — the same six vests are always at the top of the bag and always taken first. Rotating the pile so the bottom vests get used spreads the wear, and buying six replacements each year rather than twenty-four every four years spreads the cost.

If you do mix old and new, keep the same colour and brand. A set where a third of the vests are visibly newer looks careless from the sideline.

Storage between seasons

Wash, dry completely, and store in a breathable bag rather than a sealed plastic tub. A set stored damp in Houston humidity will grow mould over a summer, and the smell does not wash out.

Numbering after the fact

If you decide you want numbers on a set you already own, iron-on numbers work on polyester mesh at a low temperature with a cloth between the iron and the vest. Test on one vest first — mesh melts easily, and the difference between the correct setting and a hole is not large.

Vinyl numbers applied by a local shop last longer and cost more. For a set that will be used for four seasons, that is usually the better arithmetic.