'Necessity is the mother of invention,' and that's how SquadLocker and PlayyOn were born.
As a father of three children who played and enjoyed sports, SquadLocker founder and CEO, Gary Goldberg experienced what many managers and coaches deal with firsthand, a messy uniform process. Getting uniforms was a logistical disaster negotiating long lead times, chasing down payments, handing out items from the trunk of a car, and struggling to fix orders gone wrong after the window had closed. Both contemplative and motivated, Gary saw a better way:
“I was walking back to my car after enjoying seeing my son play one of the 15 or so tournament games that he was signed up for that weekend and I was overwhelmed by the enormity of the participation at the event. Tailgating, flags being flown, parents carrying gear, and a sea of volunteers and coaches, all invested in a singular purpose, to create a rewarding experience for the kids involved in the day. I remember returning home with a nagging sense of opportunity having witnessed the tournament firsthand, all of these kids, trying to look sharp and on their game, a vast landscape of names and numbers and logos, an infinite combination of outcomes and a range of sizes and colors that further complicated the possible outcomes.”
With 3 generations of textile manufacturing experience and an entrepreneurial spirit, Gary set out to make a change. Gary’s vision: to transform how sports and other organizations develop and distribute custom goods. What followed: SquadLocker.
Founded on this vision, SquadLocker does custom apparel better. As a web application, it provides teams and organizations the ability to run their always-open digital store(s). Everything from item curation to apparel design, to ordering and payment processing, is managed online in one place. Gary explained that SquadLocker was designed to,
“Simplify a historically complex process. SquadLocker was created to save time for coaches and organizers with an efficient process. I saw firsthand how disappointed kids would get when they didn’t have a uniform because they signed up late or lost one.”
Having seen this firsthand, Gary focused SquadLocker operations on the delivery process. Determined to get uniforms always on time to every player, SquadLocker developed proprietary technology and a single-unit decoration and fulfillment process. This ultimately led to the fastest delivery in the industry. With SquadLocker each uniform is made to order and shipped directly to the athlete in 2 weeks or less.
Across the country in California’s Silicon Valley, PlayyOn founder and CEO SallyAnn Reiss experienced her own pain with athletic programs. A sports enthusiast, former collegiate athlete, mother of three children (now young adults), and an athletic coach, SallyAnn found herself overwhelmed by the ad-hoc processes and myriad of tools she had to use to keep track of all the rosters, schedules, communications, registrations, and exchange of payment for activities and gear. 
“As a coach and organizer, I found it overwhelming to handle the administrative side of managing players (and their parents), programs, and events. It was a huge time sink that took me away from doing the work with my players that I loved. And, as both a parent and a participant in activities I was frustrated by less-than-ideal communications and cumbersome processes, too. ”
Leveraging her 25+ years of experience founding teams for 5 successful startups (including TiVo and Bina Technologies) SallyAnn founded PlayyOn and a better way to manage sports and recreational groups,
“I decided it was time to do something about it so I collaborated with fellow coaches, admins, and parents to figure out the core needs of sports programs and managing events. I didn’t want to just build another complicated software app, I wanted to create an affordable, modern, solution that was super functional but easy to use. What you see today with PlayyOn represents the next generation of software that serves the recreational sport and activities industry by providing a modern platform on which they can communicate and financially transact.”
PlayyOn software was created to take the time and frustration out of managing sports and recreational programs while building a community online. The software helps teams and organizations create an instant web profile and manage their registrations, payments, schedules, and communications all in one place. Until recently managing team apparel and merchandise was a missing piece
PlayyOn + SquadLocker
PlayyOn announced Friday, November 18th its partnership with SquadLocker, bringing custom apparel stores to thousands of sports organizations on the PlayyOn platform. Stores have begun to launch just in time for the 2022 Holiday Season.
“As a company, we focus on making the experience better for both organizers and participants of sporting programs and events. We help them get through their ‘to-do’ list and we know getting uniforms and apparel is one of them. So we partnered with SquadLocker because they are the best of class for providing custom uniforms, apparel, and swag. We trust them to deliver to PlayyOn customers quality products quickly and within affordable price ranges. “
The partnership between these solutions creates a complete 360º pain-free way to manage and outfit sports organizations, athletes, and trainers.
More About PlayyOn
PlayyOn is the premiere community-building platform for sports and recreation enthusiasts. Through its technology, organizers can easily manage communications, events, registrations, transactions, and more. The platform serves both leaders of recreation activities and professionals offering coaching and training camps and workshops across a broad range of sports. To learn more, visit www.PlayyOn.com
