Getting the Most from Your Laundry Straps
How to Organize Your Approach to Laundry Strap Management
In any athletic department, laundry is either a well-oiled system — or a daily scramble. The difference often comes down to one thing: laundry strap management.
When uniforms, practice gear, and travel sets are moving in and out of the laundry room every day, organization isn’t optional. It’s operational. Done right, a thoughtful laundry strap strategy reduces lost items, prevents mix-ups, speeds up sorting, and creates clarity for equipment managers, coaches, and laundry staff alike.
Here’s how leading athletic departments maximize their Laundry Straps for better efficiency and long-term organization.
1. Color-Coded Systems: The Foundation of Laundry Strap Management
The most common, and most effective, approach to laundry strap management is color-coding.
With 26 unique color options available from Texon, experienced Equipment Managers and Athletic Directors use a mapped-out color system to instantly identify sport, team, or uniform type at a glance.
A typical example looks like this:
If a school’s primary colors are Blue and Gold:
- Home football uniforms → Blue straps
- Away football uniforms → Gold straps
- Practice uniforms → White straps
This simple structure eliminates confusion before laundry even begins.
From there, departments expand the system across all sports.
For example:
- Women’s Lacrosse → Orange straps
- Men’s Lacrosse → Black straps
- Women’s Tennis → Sun Gold straps
- Men’s Tennis → White straps
When organized properly, the Athletic Equipment Manager builds a master color chart for the entire department and works with each coach to determine color selection and quantity.
The result? Staff can walk into a laundry room and immediately know what belongs where — without digging through tags or second-guessing.
Color-coded systems are fast, intuitive, and scalable — the cornerstone of effective laundry strap management.
2. Logo or Phrase Customization: Eliminate Guesswork
Color is powerful, but combining it with sublimation printing takes organization to another level.
Texon’s sublimation capabilities allow for nearly endless customization on the Laundry Strap Tag. This opens the door for departments to reinforce identification visually and textually.
Many Equipment Managers choose to:
- Print the school logo on the tag
- Add the sport name underneath (e.g., “Volleyball,” “Gymnastics,” “Softball”)
- Include a designation like “Travel,” “Practice,” or “Game”
When an athletic department grows to 15, 20, or even 25+ teams, complexity multiplies quickly. In these cases, a hyper-detailed color system can actually become harder to manage. Too many colors create confusion, ordering errors, and inconsistency from year to year.
That’s where a simplified structure becomes powerful.
Instead of assigning multiple colors within a sport, some large departments assign one color per sport — and then use printed identifiers like “WOMEN” or “MEN” on the Laundry Strap tag to distinguish teams within that sport.
This approach creates clarity at scale.
Here’s what that might look like:
- GOLF → Green straps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S GOLF” or “MEN’S GOLF”
- LACROSSE → Black straps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S LACROSSE” or “MEN’S LACROSSE”
- TENNIS → Yellow straps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S TENNIS” or “MEN’S TENNIS”
- HOCKEY → Whitestraps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S HOCKEY” or “MEN’S HOCKEY”
- BASKETBALL → Orange straps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S BASKETBALL” or “MEN’S BASKETBALL”
- BASEBALL / SOFTBALL → Red straps
- Tag printed with: “SOFTBALL” or “BASEBALL”
- VOLLEYBALL → Tan straps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL” or “MEN’S VOLLEYBALL”
- SOCCER → Navy straps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S SOCCER” or “MEN’S SOCCER”
- GYMNASTICS → Purple straps
- Tag printed with: “WOMEN’S GYMNASTICS” or “MEN’S GYMNASTICS”
This layered identification system makes it crystal clear to laundry room staff where each set belongs.
Instead of relying on memory or manual sorting systems, the information is embedded directly on the strap. That clarity reduces delivery errors and keeps gear flowing back to the right locker room.
When paired with color coding, sublimated logos and phrases create redundancy — which is exactly what you want in any operational system. Redundancy equals reliability.
3. Player Name or Number: Precision-Level Organization
For programs looking to dial in their laundry strap management even further, individual player identification is the next step.
With Texon’s custom sublimation, departments can print:
- Player last names
- Player numbers
At the Division I and Division II level, most programs prefer printing last names directly on the tag. This makes sorting individual uniform sets seamless and reduces the risk of mix-ups.
However, roster turnover presents a real challenge. If straps are ordered before final roster decisions, names can become outdated quickly.
That’s why many programs opt for printing player numbers instead. Numbers offer flexibility, allowing straps to be reused year after year even as athletes graduate or transfer.
It’s a strategic decision:
- Names = maximum personalization
- Numbers = long-term adaptability
The best choice depends on your roster stability and ordering timeline.
Building a System That Works for Your Department
Effective laundry strap management isn’t about buying straps — it’s about designing a system.
The most organized athletic departments:
- Map out their color assignments in advance
- Standardize how sports are labeled
- Align coaches and equipment staff on quantities
- Plan for roster changes before placing orders
Laundry doesn’t have to be chaotic. With the right structure, it becomes predictable, efficient, and scalable across seasons.
The most successful athletic departments treat laundry strap management like infrastructure. It’s not random. It’s mapped, documented, and intentional.
Whether you prefer detailed color coding across every team or a streamlined one-color-per-sport system with printed identifiers, the key is building a structure that matches the size and workflow of your department.
If you’re unsure which model makes the most sense for your operation, our team can help you design a system that reduces friction, improves sorting speed, and scales with your growth.
Because when your organization is built into the strap itself, your entire laundry operation runs more efficiently.
Let’s Design Your Laundry Strap Strategy
Every athletic department operates differently. That’s why there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to organizing your Laundry Straps.
Whether you’re managing a single team or an entire multi-sport department, Texon’s team can help you:
- Select the ideal color-coding system
- Determine the right customization approach
- Plan quantities for maximum longevity
- Create a repeatable, sustainable organization model
If you’re ready to bring clarity and efficiency to your laundry operation, connect with our staff. We’ll help you build a Laundry Strap order that’s not just customized — but strategically designed for your workflow.
Because when your laundry system works, everything else runs smoother.