CHULA VISTA, Calif. (KGTV) -- As the demand for youth sports merchandise -- including shirts, hats, and sweatshirts -- remains strong, San Diego businesses are bracing for increased costs due to potential tariffs.
Sebastian Medina, owner of Six One Nine Screen Printing & Embroidery in Chula Vista, has been in the custom screen printing and embroidery industry for 12 years and is already noticing the effects of looming price changes.
Medina sources blank apparel wholesale from international suppliers and prints designs for various youth sports teams, dance troupes, and local businesses. Recently, he has begun receiving alerts from vendors about possible price hikes.
"We started getting some emails and messages from the vendors … letting us know about potential price increase,” he said. "I haven’t seen too many price increases go up yet. But they’ve been letting us know to start preparing around June."
Currently, Medina pays approximately $3 per shirt for a box of 100 T-shirts, but he expects those costs to rise to at least $5 each.
"It’s unfortunate. I know regardless of the tariffs being in effect or not, things are going to go up," he added. "That’s economics, but it’s unfortunate because we have to pass the cost down to the customers."
In hopes of minimizing the financial impact on customers, Medina's team is exploring alternative materials for printing and seeking cost-saving measures in labor.
“Because the prices of the blanks are going up, we’re trying to keep the labor of the screen printing down,” Medina explained.
For customers looking to order customized gear, Medina recommends conducting thorough research -- checking the types of materials being used and their country of manufacture -- while also inquiring about different alternatives that may be more affordable.
As businesses like Six One Nine Printing navigate these changes, the future of youth sports merchandise pricing remains uncertain, ultimately affecting local teams and organizations that rely on affordable gear.
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