Oct 3, 2026
Names, Numbers and Spelling: Proofing Personalised Orders
Where errors enter a personalised order, how to format the roster file, number font and placement standards, and who owns the cost when a name ships wrong.
Short answer: whoever's document the error is in — which is why the signed, dated roster matters more than any other line in a personalised order. A jersey arrives with the team name printed "M" where the roster says "N". One letter. The garment is unwearable in public, it cannot be resold, and the player's parents have already been told the kit arrives this week. Personalised orders turn a one-letter typo into a full-cost loss — and almost every error enters through the roster file, not the production line. That is good news: the fix is administrative.
Below: where errors enter, the roster format that removes interpretation, the accent gate, the three personalisation standards, the proofing workflow, and the fault-and-cost rule.
Where do errors enter a personalised order?
The production log has four doors, and errors come through three:
1. The roster itself. Typos in the source list, two players named identically with different numbers, nicknames vs legal names, missing letters a spreadsheet quietly carried for weeks.
2. Character handling. Accented letters (á, ç, ñ) dropped or substituted because the font or system did not support them — a recurring failure for Latin American rosters, where accents are part of the name.
3. Late changes. A name corrected after the roster was locked — the fix reaches some of the run but not all, and nobody re-checked the ones already printed.
4. Production itself does make errors, but a formatted, proofed, locked roster eliminates the two doors you actually control.
Take away: treat the roster as a specification, not a list. A clean file is the cheapest quality control in personalised apparel.
What does a roster file that "just works" look like?
Suppliers do not fail on names; they fail on interpretation. The format removes it:
• One row per person, fixed columns: full name as it should print, jersey number, size. Nothing free-form — "Chris / 8 / M" in a comment cell is where orders go wrong.
• Spell out the print version. If the roster says "Michael Fernández" but the jersey should print "MIKE FERNÁNDEZ", the roster must say so. Print exactly what is in the column.
• Respect character limits before collecting. Name fields have print-width limits ([XX] characters on your template) — a fifteen-character name in a ten-character print area guarantees an abbreviation nobody approved.
• File format as specified — a spreadsheet, not a whiteboard photo and not a message chain.
Take away: ask for the supplier's roster template before you collect names, then collect into it. Collecting first and reformatting later is how two spellings of the same team enter the system.
How do accents and special characters survive the run?
Accents fail silently — the print system renders a substitute instead of stopping:
1. Confirm accent support at quote stage: does the decoration font include the accented characters your roster needs? Spanish and Portuguese rosters hit this constantly.
2. Decide uppercase and diacritic rules once — "FERNÁNDEZ" with the accent or "FERNANDEZ" without? Both defensible; inconsistency across the run is not.
3. The supplier returns the formatted roster for sign-off — the proof step that catches dropped accents, because someone who knows the names reads it back.
Take away: run the returned roster against the source with a second reader. Ten minutes of cross-reading is the difference between a clean kit and a reprint week.
What are the three standards that prevent the "different sizes" complaint?
The most common jersey complaint after spelling is inconsistency — mismatched styles, fronts and backs sized differently, numbers placed higher on some shirts. Three standards set before production:
• One font, stated in the spec — name and number use the same declared font, confirmed for how it renders at print size.
• Sizes in centimetres — number height [XX] cm, name height [XX] cm, front/back per the spec ([XX]). "Standard size" is not a standard; numbers vary by sport and league.
• Placement measured like any print — from a named landmark, within a tolerance band, per the
placement tolerance rules
.True or false
✔ True: three lines in the spec — font, sizes, placement — make the inconsistency complaint disappear. Each is a decision made once, in writing, instead of an impression judged per shirt.
✘ False: personalisation quality is the printer's problem. The printer executes the roster; the spec, the proof and the lock date are buyer-side instruments — and most errors enter through them.
What does the proofing workflow look like?
Proofing fails on roles and dates, not on effort:
1. Supplier returns the formatted roster (print-ready) within a stated window.
2. One named person reads it against the source — a single responsible reader, not a committee forwarding five opinions.
3. Sign-off in writing — the approved roster version is named and dated; from this point, changes are change requests, not corrections.
4. Roster lock date, set at PO — after it, edits cost money or time; a late roster is the classic self-inflicted delay (the
lead-time timeline
gives the lock date its slot).5. Changes after lock — a formal amendment: what it costs ([XX]), what it delays, who approves.
Take away: one reader, one signature, one lock date. Every personalised-order horror story involves a committee, a verbal change, or a roster never actually locked.
When an error ships anyway, who pays?
Fault determines cost — and fault is only determinable if the paper trail exists:
• Error in the approved roster as signed — the print matched the roster: buyer-side. Replacements re-ordered at buyer cost; this is what the proof step exists to prevent.
• Print deviates from the approved roster — production error: supplier cost to reprint, within the remedy terms of the order.
• No proof trail — nobody can say which version was approved; the dispute becomes unsolvable, which is why the signed roster is filed the way a signed pre-production sample is filed for the
bulk run
.Take away: agree the rule in the PO in one sentence: "Errors in the approved roster are buyer-side; deviations from the approved roster are supplier-side and reprinted at supplier cost." One sentence, written early, saves the relationship when the letter arrives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is responsible if a name is spelled wrong?
It depends which document the error is in — and that is why the signed, dated roster matters. A misspelling inside the approved roster is buyer-side; a print that deviates from it is a production error, reprinted at supplier cost.
Can I use accents or special characters in names?
Yes, confirmed at quote stage: the decoration font must include the accented characters your roster needs. Verify accents on the returned proof — particularly for Spanish and Portuguese rosters.
What format should I send my roster in?
The supplier's template, one row per person: print-exact name, number, size — in a spreadsheet, not in messages. Ask for the template before collecting names.
Can I change a name after production has started?
Only as a formal change after the lock date — expect a cost ([XX]) and a delay, and understand pieces already printed may not be recoverable. The lock date exists so this conversation happens before production.
Why is the number on the front but not the back?
Fronts and backs are separate placement specs; if the PO only specified the back, the front was never ordered. State both — or explicitly "no front number" — with sizes and landmarks for each.
Ordering named-and-numbered kits?
Request a Quote
— roster template, proofing steps and lock dates are set at order confirmation. Or browse the teams and clubs range
first.FACTS
