WHY WE EXIST
Growth happens on the ice, the field, and in late-night meetings.
College and high school clubs, along with community organizations, are where real growth happens, on the ice, on the field, in rehearsal rooms, and in late-night meetings. But managing organization expenses is harder than it should be. Rising costs, limited time, and outdated merchandise sales processes force student leaders and organizers to act as full-time administrators instead of focusing on the teams and communities they care about.
At the same time, many groups want custom merch that actually represents them, but it either doesn’t exist, requires large upfront orders, or becomes another logistical headache to manage.
Club Shepherd exists to fix that. We make it easy for clubs and organizations to create and sell the merch they actually want, while simplifying the process into something clear, transparent, and sustainable, so leaders can spend less time chasing dollars and more time doing what they showed up to do.
Our Story
Club Shepherd started with a simple truth our founders saw up close: club sports, arts programs, and community organizations are expensive.
Our team has spent years involved in athletics, the arts, clubs, and community organizations. From playing club hockey through high school and college to supporting local arts programs, classrooms, and community groups, we kept seeing the same challenge show up again and again: the cost of staying active, organized, and moving forward.
Ice time, travel, gear, costumes, supplies, event costs, tournament fees, and everyday operating needs add up quickly. In many cases, those costs fall directly on the people participating, leading, coaching, teaching, or volunteering within the organization.
At the same time, we noticed that many organizations do not have an easy way to offer quality merchandise. It is not because they do not want it. It is because creating merch can be complicated, time-consuming, and financially risky. Traditional merch sales often require bulk orders, upfront costs, size guessing, payment tracking, order sorting, and manual distribution.
Year after year, the same pattern repeats. Someone volunteers to organize a sale, collect orders, manage payments, track spreadsheets, sort products, and coordinate delivery. Even when everything goes well, the process takes time and energy away from the organization’s actual work, whether that is competing, performing, teaching, creating, or serving the community.
We saw this problem from different sides, but it always pointed to the same conclusion: there needed to be a simpler way.
Club Shepherd was built to be that simpler way.
What’s Broken with Traditional Merch Sales
Time-consuming
Students and coaches spend weeks organizing events that barely move the needle. Selling door-to-door, tabling on campus, and running “one weekend only” drives takes a lot of energy for very little return.
Ambiguous impact for customers
When participating in merchandise sales, buyers often have no clear understanding of how much their purchase actually benefits the club. When margins are unclear, people are less likely to buy.
Too much work for too few people
Most merch sales rely on a small handful of students to do almost everything. The same names kept ending up on every sign-up sheet, leading to burnout.
More risk than reward
To “get a deal,” clubs place large bulk orders. Boxes of unsold sizes often ended up sitting in storage, tying up money that clubs can not afford to lose.
Messy finances
Treasurers are left juggling spreadsheets and cash boxes. Reconciling who paid, what is owed, and how much actually reached the club is time-consuming and error-prone.
Long wait times & expensive shipping
How many times have you placed an order through an organization and forgotten about it before it even arrives? Massive shipping costs only add to the frustration, making the overall experience feel even less worthwhile.
WHY CLUB SHEPHERD WORKS
Instead of asking students to gamble on bulk orders and outdated processes, we created a platform that runs on on-demand production. Every club gets its own online storefront with designs tailored to its identity. We automate the logistics, production, fulfillment, and delivery; and track funds clearly so treasurers get clarity instead of chaos.
The Solution: Club Shepherd
The Club Shepherd Promise
Always free shipping. No junk fees. No fulfillment fees. Ever.
Clubs never pay for inventory or take on financial risk.
No upfront costs
No inventory
Every item is produced on demand, eliminating waste and leftover stock.
Built-in transparency
Customers see the exact royalty payment to the club.
Minimal effort required
No sorting orders, no hand delivery, no managing spreadsheets. We handle everything.