Teacher & Staff Spirit Days
Spirit days, theme weeks, testing week, field day, the PTO fun run — the shirts teachers and staff actually want to wear, printed in Delaware, Ohio with no screen setup, full color, every name if you want it, and a staff store so nobody hands a size sheet around the lounge.
What school staff shirts get ordered for
- Spirit Fridays — the building tee everyone wears the same day. Usually one design a year, reordered as staff changes.
- Theme weeks — Red Ribbon Week, Right to Read Week, Kindness Week, Homecoming week. Different design each time, small run, tight turnaround.
- Testing week — "You've got this" tees for the proctors and the hallway. Often the first order a new principal makes.
- Field day and the fun run — staff in one color, volunteers in another, kids in a third. Same design, three garments.
- PTO and booster events — carnival crews, book fair volunteers, the concession stand.
- First day, last day, retirement — the one-off tees that make a building feel like a team.
Why DTF is built for staff orders
Most staff orders are the opposite of a team order: small, full-color, and nobody wants the same shirt. Direct-to-film printing is the method that makes those orders sensible:
- No screen setup. A twelve-shirt order costs what a twelve-shirt order should, not what a screen run costs to set up.
- Full color, one pass. The gradient in the theme-week logo, the photo of the mascot, the four-color kindness design — printed as designed.
- Every staff member can have their name. "Mrs. Rivera · 3rd Grade" on the sleeve or back, per shirt, no extra artwork.
- Mixed garments and colors in one order. The PE teacher wants a performance tee, the office wants a crewneck, the librarian wants a cardigan-friendly fitted tee. One design, one order, everyone happy.
Big building-wide orders with one or two colors still go on the screen-print press — that's the sensible method for two hundred matching Spirit Friday tees. We'll tell you which is which when you send the design.
A staff store: each teacher orders their own
The spirit-wear size sheet in the teachers' lounge is a known problem. A private online staff store fixes it. You approve the design and the garment options once; each teacher opens the link, picks their own garment, color and size, adds a name if the design allows, and pays online — or the building covers it with an allowance you set. We print, sort by name and deliver to the office in one box, labeled.
Want to open it to families too? Run it as a straight store at your quoted pricing, or as a fundraiser: a set amount from every eligible item — $5 standard — goes back to the PTO or the building fund when the store closes.
Timeline: three weeks ahead of the event
- Three weeks out: send the design (or the idea — we'll build it), the date, and roughly how many staff. Mockup and quote within a few business days.
- Two weeks out: approve artwork. A staff store opens and runs about a week.
- One week out: production, sorted by name, delivered to the office.
- Event day: everyone matches, and the principal gets the photo.
Missed the window? DTF is the method that can still move. Tell us the date and we'll be straight with you about what's realistic.
Why Central Ohio schools print with Strive-To-Be
- Local. Delaware, Ohio — pickup available, problems fixed in person, delivered to the office by arrangement.
- Small runs are normal here. Fifteen shirts for the kindergarten team is a real order, not a favor.
- One contact. One email, one person, one answer — for the principal, the secretary or the PTO president who volunteered.
- The design is part of the job. Send a sketch or a screenshot of something you liked; you'll get a proof on the actual garment before you approve anything.
Request a staff shirt quote → · Launch a staff store →