Clay is a year-round customer,
and there are hundreds of grounds
Game shooting gives a brand its four selling months. Clay shooting gives it the other eight. Britain has a large network of registered grounds and clubs, most of them shooting every weekend of the year, and every one of them has members who want a vest with the ground’s name on it. It is a smaller ticket than a shooting coat but it reorders constantly, it is far less weather-dependent, and it puts your logo in front of exactly the people who buy field-sports clothing.
The mirror image of the game calendar. A brand carrying both never has a dead quarter, and the factory slot you book in winter is the cheapest one of the year.
A ground ordering member kit places one purchase order for thirty or sixty pieces rather than chasing individual sales. That is exactly the shape our 30-piece minimum is built for.
Nobody buys a club vest for the fabric. They buy it because it says which ground they shoot at. Embroidery quality is therefore the whole job, and it is done in-house here.
Nine points that decide
whether a vest gets worn twice
Shooting vests are the largest single category we manufacture. These are the specification points we set on every one, and the ones we will argue with you about if the brief gets them wrong.
| Point | What we build | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Recoil pad | Suede, leather or moulded synthetic, stitched through to a reinforcement patch, not to the shell alone | A pad sewn to the face fabric alone tears out inside a season |
| Shoulder panel | Smooth and seam-free where the stock sits; seams routed away from the mount line | A seam under the butt catches the gun on every mount |
| Cartridge pockets | Sized to a boxed slab of 25, rubberised lining, bar-tacked corners | A pocket that will not take a box is a returned garment |
| Hull pocket | Mesh or drop-in pouch with a drain eyelet at the base | Wet hulls need somewhere to go, and water needs somewhere to leave |
| Side adjusters | Elastic and buckle or hook-and-loop tabs at both sides | One vest then fits over a shirt in July and a fleece in November |
| Armhole | Cut deep and bound, not bagged, with the front edge shaped clear of the arm | Restriction here is the single most common complaint on a cheap vest |
| Body fabric | Mesh for summer, cotton drill or canvas for traditional, softshell for winter | Grounds shoot in all weather; one fabric will not cover the year |
| Front closure | Full zip, half zip or open-fronted, with a garage at the top of the zip | Open-fronted sells to competitive shooters, full zip to club members |
| Branding area | Left chest embroidery, back yoke placement kept flat and stable | A logo stitched across a seam or a pocket will pucker |
Different disciplines,
different garments
A vest that suits an English Sporting shooter is not the vest a trap shooter wants. If your range is aimed at a specific ground, match the cut to what they actually shoot.
| Discipline | Gun position | What the garment needs |
|---|---|---|
| English Sporting | Low gun on most stands | Free shoulder, generous armhole, larger cartridge capacity, walking between stands means a lighter body fabric |
| Down-the-Line | Pre-mounted | Flat smooth shoulder panel, slim profile, minimal bulk under the stock |
| Skeet | Low gun (ISSF) or pre-mounted | Fast mount clearance, close-fitting body, pockets kept clear of the swing |
| Olympic Trap | Pre-mounted | Structured shoulder, often a full shooting shirt rather than a vest |
| FITASC | Low gun, hip position | Maximum shoulder freedom, long days, breathable body panel |
| Club and practice | Mixed | One forgiving cut with side adjusters, layered over whatever the member is wearing |
A ground kit programme
from thirty pieces
The simplest profitable thing a UK shooting ground can do is sell its own branded kit at the counter. Here is how it runs.
A vest and a gilet, or a gilet and a softshell, in one colour each. Thirty of each is sixty pieces total and covers a season of counter sales at most grounds. Range breadth is what kills a first order; depth in two good pieces is what sells.
Vector artwork is ideal but a clean photograph of an existing embroidered badge is enough to work from. We digitise it, send a proof showing thread colours against your actual fabric, and stitch a physical sample before bulk runs.
The first sample reaches you in 7–10 working days. Most brands take a fortnight over review and one revision, then bulk runs 28–35 days. Book winter slots for a spring launch.
Send a name list with the order and each piece is stitched, bagged and labelled individually. Members collect their own bag from the counter rather than rummaging through a box, which is a small thing that sells the next round of kit for you.
DDP to the ground’s address. Freight, UK clearance and duty are inside one landed price, and Pakistan-origin apparel currently carries a 0% preferential rate under the UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme where the preference is correctly claimed.
What grounds and clubs ask us
Do you make skeet vests as well as sporting vests?
Can you put our ground or club logo on the kit?
What is the minimum for a club order?
Can you add individual names or initials?
Is clay kit seasonal like game clothing?
What fabrics do you use for shooting vests?
Ready to kit out your ground?
Send your logo and a vest you like, or a rough brief. We reply within 24 working hours with per-piece pricing, an embroidery proof and a sampling date.