Are BE able to print my school's logo on our apparel?

Sharing information about college licensing and the process to get approval for licensed designs.

The short answer is: likely, but proceed with caution!

School licensing varies a lot school-by-school. You'll find that often smaller schools are a lot more lax on their restrictions about how their logo can be printed. With these schools, we'll still need permission to print any trademarked or licensing logos, but oftentimes you (as the captain of the team) can simply share a final preview of the design for the school club sports admin to approve. 

For larger schools, or for schools who have a more formal process for licensing their logos, there are many steps that have to be completed before we are legally allowed to print.

A lot of US based schools will be members of the College Licensing Company (CLC) or a similar body. We are registered with most of the big ones and can generally complete the process to become a licensed vendor in around 2-3 weeks. After approval there, we are required to have each individual design reviewed and approved by the school, to ensure that we're following their brand guidelines and not printing anything incorrectly. This process can take anywhere from a few days to a few months, depending on how well you know the school's branding guidelines and how quick the school are to review and approve the final designs.

We would strongly suggest familiarizing yourself with the school branding guidelines before working with us on designs if the intent is to include the school logo. You can often find these in documents supplied by school sports club HQ, or by simply googling the school name plus 'sports branding guidelines'. That way we can avoid potentially wasting time on designs that will not likely be approved by the school. Pay particular attention to colors (is there a specific school pantone, like California Gold?), fonts, and any other specifics. 

We're generally very happy and able to assist in this process but it does require you and the team to be very aware of the potential pitfalls and time sinks so that we both stay on the correct side of the school's branding guidelines. If we are not 100% certain what we're printing is legal or within the spirit of the school's preferred guidelines, we will not go to print.

Don't hesitate to reach out to your sales rep early and often about the possibility of getting approval for printing your school's logo, or for a design review to ensure we're all doing things correctly.