Sublimated vs Tackle Twill vs Roller: Which Hockey Jersey Should Your Team Buy?

Sublimated hockey jerseys cost $65 each and tackle twill costs $99, and for most beer league teams sublimation is the right call. Sublimated is the heavier fabric at 220 GSM against tackle twill's 210 GSM, it ships in 4–5 weeks instead of 5–6, and it prints unlimited colors at no extra cost. Tackle twill buys you stitched letters and embroidered logos.

Every team has this argument. Someone felt the stitched letters on a tackle twill sweater at a tournament, and now the group chat has forty-seven unread messages and one guy campaigning hard for a jersey that costs more than his stick.

Here is what nobody in that chat has: actual numbers. Every other custom shop will tell you tackle twill is "premium" and sublimation is "versatile," then hand you a quote form. So here is the sublimated vs tackle twill hockey jersey comparison done properly — fabric weight, price, turnaround, and exactly what the upgrade costs your team.

Then you can go back to arguing about the team name.

Sublimated vs tackle twill vs roller: the full comparison

Puck Drop Prints builds four jersey types. Roller is $55 at 110 GSM, sublimated is $65 at 220 GSM, and reversible and tackle twill are both $99, at 160 GSM and 210 GSM respectively. Every type includes custom names and numbers, has a six-jersey team minimum, and ships worldwide free.

Team order pricing, six jersey minimum. Custom names and numbers included on every type. Matching socks are $20 a pair with a team order. Full detail on the custom hockey jersey pricing page.

Read that table twice, because it contains the thing the rest of the industry will not tell you: the $99 jersey is not made of heavier fabric than the $65 one. Sublimated is 220 GSM. Tackle twill is 210 GSM. You are not paying the extra $34 for a thicker sweater. You are paying it for stitching.

That is a completely reasonable thing to pay for. It is just not what most people think they are buying.

What is a sublimated hockey jersey?

Sublimation is a printing process that turns dye into gas under heat and bonds it directly into the polyester fibre, so the design becomes part of the fabric instead of a layer sitting on top of it. A sublimated jersey at Puck Drop Prints is $65, weighs 220 GSM, and ships in 4–5 weeks.

Because the color is in the fibre and not on it, there is nothing to crack, peel, or flake off. Run your hand across the crest and you feel fabric, not plastic. There is no screen print sitting on the chest waiting to split down the middle in year two.

The other thing sublimation gives you is design freedom that costs nothing extra. Gradients, fades, full-bleed sleeve patterns, twelve colors, a repeating pattern across the whole shoulder yoke — all the same $65. With any stitched method, every additional color is another piece of fabric someone has to cut and sew, and the price climbs with it.

At 220 GSM this is also the heaviest fabric on the list. If your league plays on real ice and your guys wear real shoulder pads, that matters more than the decoration method does.

What is a tackle twill hockey jersey?

Tackle twill is a decoration method where letters, numbers, and crests are cut from separate twill fabric and stitched onto the jersey, so the design is a physical layer you can feel with your fingers. The Puck Drop Prints tackle twill Pro jersey is $99, 210 GSM, and takes 5–6 weeks — the longest lead time we run, because someone is physically sewing it.

This is the pro-shop look. It is what NHL sweaters use, it is what everyone means when they say a jersey feels "real," and there is no printed jersey on earth that replicates the weight and shadow of a stitched twill nameplate. It is also the only Puck Drop Prints jersey that comes with embroidered logos.

The trade-offs are honest ones. It costs $34 more per player. It takes a week or two longer. Complex, multi-color, gradient-heavy artwork does not translate to cut-and-sew — twill wants bold shapes and clean edges, which is exactly why classic hockey crests look the way they do.

Buy tackle twill when the jersey is the point. Anniversary sweaters, alumni games, a team that has been together nine years and wants something that will outlast the roster.

What is a roller hockey jersey, and should you consider it?

A roller jersey is a lighter-weight sublimated jersey built for inline and ball hockey, where there are no shoulder pads underneath and heat is the real opponent. It is $55, 110 GSM, and ships in 4–5 weeks. It has no double-layered shoulders or elbows, and it can be ordered with mesh ventilated armpits and a laced collar.

110 GSM is half the weight of the sublimated ice jersey. On a roller rink in July that is the entire point. On ice in February, over a set of shoulder pads, it is the wrong tool — there is no reinforcement where a jersey actually takes abuse.

Roller is the cheapest jersey we make and it is genuinely great at the job it was built for. Just do not buy it because it is the cheapest jersey we make.

What about reversible jerseys?

Reversible jerseys are $99, 160 GSM, ship in 4–5 weeks, and have double-layered shoulders and elbows. A reversible jersey is one garment with a complete design on each side, so a single sweater covers both the light and dark end of a scrimmage. They cannot be ordered with a laced collar.

The math on these is simple and it is why they exist. Two separate jerseys at $65 each is $130. One reversible is $99. If your team genuinely needs a light and a dark — practice squads, learn-to-play programs, tournaments that assign colors on the morning of — you save $31 a player.

If your team plays in one set of colors all season, you are paying $34 over sublimated for a second side nobody will ever see. Buy it for the use case, not for the feature.

Sublimated vs tackle twill: which one wins for a beer league team?

Sublimated wins for most beer league teams. It is $34 cheaper per player, one to two weeks faster, heavier fabric at 220 GSM against 210, and it lets you print artwork that stitching physically cannot reproduce. Choose tackle twill when the stitched look is worth $34 a head to your room.

Here is the honest way to run it. A twelve-player team on sublimated jerseys pays $780. The same team on tackle twill pays $1,188. The upgrade costs $408, and unless every single guy is in on it, the captain ends up covering the difference for two or three of them. Ask how that conversation goes before you commit.

The $408 conversation happens in this room. A twelve-player team pays $780 on sublimated and $1,188 on tackle twill.

Now run it per season. Nobody — including us — can promise you exactly how long a jersey lasts, because that depends on how often you play and whether your winger throws his bag in the trunk wet. But the arithmetic is simple, so pick your own number:

Straight division on team-order pricing. Add $20 a pair if you order matching socks.

Three seasons in, the gap between sublimated and tackle twill is $11.33 a player per season. That is less than one round after the game. Framed that way, plenty of teams talk themselves into the stitching — and honestly, they are not wrong to.

What is GSM, and why does it matter more than the decoration?

GSM stands for grams per square metre, and it is the standard measure of fabric weight. A higher number means a denser, heavier, more substantial fabric. Puck Drop Prints jerseys run from 110 GSM on roller to 220 GSM on sublimated, and the socks are 220 GSM too.

Here is why this is the number to argue about. Almost nobody in this industry publishes GSM. We checked ten competitors in 2026 and only three published any fabric weight at all. So when a shop tells you their jersey is "premium heavyweight," there is no number attached and no way to check it.

Rough guide, and you can hold us to it:

• 110 GSM — light. Correct for roller and ball hockey with no pads underneath.
• 160 GSM — mid. Reversibles have to be wearable both ways, so they stay lighter on purpose.
• 210–220 GSM — game weight. What you want on ice, over pads, in a league that plays a full season.

Fabric weight is measured in grams per square metre. Puck Drop Prints jerseys run 110 GSM on roller up to 220 GSM on sublimated.

Fabric weight is the thing you feel every skate. Stitching is the thing you notice in the parking lot photo. Both matter. Only one of them is on the ice with you.

How do you decide in under a minute?

Answer four questions and the jersey picks itself. Ice or roller, one colorway or two, complex artwork or simple, and whether stitched lettering is worth $34 a player.

1. Are you on roller or ball hockey with no shoulder pads? Roller, $55.
2. Do you need a light and a dark? Reversible, $99. Two sublimated jerseys would cost $130.
3. Do you have gradients, fades, photo elements, or more than about four colors? Sublimated, $65. Twill cannot do it.
4. Is this a sweater you want to hang on a wall in fifteen years, and will everyone happily pay $99? Tackle twill.
5. Everything else, which is most teams. Sublimated, $65.

Sublimated, roller and reversible jerseys ship in 4 to 5 weeks. Tackle twill takes 5 to 6 because every letter is stitched.

If you are still stuck, order sublimated. It is the heaviest fabric we make, it has the widest design range, and it has the shortest path from your group chat to your locker room. Check the size charts before you collect orders, and read what custom hockey jerseys actually cost if you need to sell the budget to your treasurer.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is sublimation or tackle twill better for a beer league team?

Sublimation is better for most beer league teams. A sublimated jersey from Puck Drop Prints is $65 with 220 GSM fabric and a 4 to 5 week turnaround, while tackle twill is $99 with 210 GSM fabric and 5 to 6 weeks. Tackle twill is the better choice only when stitched letters and embroidered logos matter more than the $34 per player difference.

What GSM should a hockey jersey be?

For ice hockey worn over shoulder pads, look for 210 to 220 GSM. Puck Drop Prints sublimated jerseys are 220 GSM and tackle twill jerseys are 210 GSM. Lighter weights have their place: 160 GSM for reversibles and 110 GSM for roller and ball hockey, where there are no pads underneath and breathability matters more than durability.

Do sublimated hockey jerseys crack, peel, or fade?

Sublimation bonds dye into the polyester fibre rather than layering ink on top of it, so there is no printed surface that can crack or peel away the way a screen print can. The design is part of the fabric. Wash cold and hang dry to keep the colors deep and the fabric intact for as many seasons as possible.

How much more does tackle twill cost than sublimation?

Tackle twill costs $34 more per jersey than sublimation at Puck Drop Prints: $99 against $65 on a team order of six or more. For a twelve-player team that is a $408 difference, taking the total from $780 to $1,188. Names and numbers are included on both, and shipping is free worldwide on every team order.

Which jersey types come with embroidered logos?

Tackle Twill Pro is the only Puck Drop Prints jersey type that comes with embroidered logos. Roller, sublimated, and reversible jerseys carry their designs as sublimated print bonded into the fabric. Custom logo design itself is free with a team order on every jersey type, and the team keeps the artwork for future orders.

How long does each jersey type take to make?

Roller, sublimated, and reversible jerseys ship in 4 to 5 weeks. Tackle twill takes 5 to 6 weeks because the letters, numbers, and crests are individually cut and stitched. All four types have a six-jersey minimum on a team order, and reorders of three or more pieces return to base pricing.

Ready to pick one?

Most teams land on sublimated, a few land on twill, and nobody regrets asking the fabric weight first. Whichever way your room votes, custom names and numbers are included, logo design is free with a team order, and shipping is on us.

Start your team order, or take a look at how the process works before you bring it to the group chat.