Every year, our team gets together to do Murph. We’ve done it for the past couple of years, and I’ll just say this: if you saw some of our finish times, you might seriously reconsider doing business with us. We’re apparently a lot better at making Murph shirts than we are at completing the workout.
Jokes aside, doing Murph ourselves has given us an appreciation for what the event means to a gym and its members. And after producing more than our fair share of Murph shirts over the years, we’ve learned a few things about what works. Which designs people actually want to wear, which garments make sense, and a handful of logistical tricks that can make the whole ordering process a lot smoother.
Every spring, we get some version of the same message: “Murph is in two weeks. Can you still do shirts?”
Sometimes we can. But here’s what we’ve learned: the biggest obstacle usually isn’t how fast we can print the shirts. It’s everything that needs to happen before we print them. Designs, approvals, collecting sizes, closing preorders, getting the invoice paid. All those little things can eat up a surprising amount of time.
So rather than simply telling gym owners to order earlier, I thought it would be more useful to explain how we’d actually plan a Murph shirt order from beginning to end, including the dates, quantities, garment decisions, and a few things we’ve learned the hard way.
UNITEE recommends starting about 11 weeks before Memorial Day and sending your printer final sizes and payment about 4 weeks out. For Murph 2027 (Monday, May 31), that means starting design around March 15 and placing the final order by May 5. Order what members commit to in a preorder, plus a 5–10% buffer in medium, large and XL.
Ordering as a member, not a gym? Your deadline is your gym’s preorder close, which typically falls one to three weeks before Memorial Day. Ask at the front desk, and don’t wait for the last call.
Key Dates for Murph 2027
| Date | What happens |
|---|---|
| Mon, Mar 15 | Start design |
| Fri, Apr 16 | Artwork approved on the actual garment color |
| Mon, Apr 19 | Preorder opens |
| Sun, May 2 | Preorder closes |
| Wed, May 5 | Final sizes and payment to UNITEE |
| Around Tue, May 18 | Target ship-out (9 business days after payment) |
| Fri, May 21 | Target delivery to your gym |
| Sat, May 29 | Saturday Murph, for gyms that run it before the holiday |
| Mon, May 31 | Memorial Day Murph |
Memorial Day is the last Monday in May, so these dates shift every year.
01 / The timeline
Work Backward From May 31, 2027
Memorial Day 2027 falls on Monday, May 31. That’s the latest date the holiday can land, which gives you an extra week compared with most years. Don’t spend it.
Why “Order 2–3 Weeks Ahead” Doesn’t Work for Gyms
Most printer guides tell event buyers to order two to three weeks out. That works when you’re buying 150 identical shirts for a company picnic and the sizes are already on a spreadsheet.
A gym Murph order isn’t that. Before a printer can start, you need artwork your members actually want, a proof you trust on the right garment color, a preorder window long enough for every class to notice, and someone to chase the stragglers.
The 2–3 weeks only covers what happens after you hit send. The gym-side work is what eats the calendar.
Where the 11 Weeks Go
- Design and revisions (about 4 weeks, Mar 15 to Apr 16): Concepts, feedback, one or two rounds of changes, garment colors. Rushing here is how a gym ends up with the same shirt as the box across town. It’s also why we believe more design ideas lead to better shirts.
- Approval and sample (by Apr 16): Approve the artwork on the actual garment color, not a white background. Order a sample only if the blank or print effect is new to you. Sampling a garment you already know just slows everything down.
- Preorder window (2 weeks, Apr 19 to May 2): Long enough for members to hear about it in class at least twice. Short enough that nobody forgets.
- Tally and pay (May 3 to May 5): Close the sheet, total the sizes and styles, pay the invoice. UNITEE’s production clock starts when the invoice is paid.
- Production (9 business days): UNITEE’s standard turnaround is nine business days from payment to ship-out, not delivery, and our recent tracked average has been under seven days.
- Shipping (2–3 days): Allow an additional two to three days for ground transit in many destinations; the actual delivery estimate depends on the carrier and destination.
- Hand out and wear (the week before): Shirts in hand by Friday, May 21 means members wear them all week, and you’re covered whether your gym runs Murph on Saturday the 29th or Monday the 31st.
Our Design Lab begins Murph research and development as much as 90 days before February. We test new patterns, garment colors and print effects in the off-season, so gyms aren’t paying for that experimentation in April. See what that work has taught us in Murph Designalytics.
02 / The cutoffs
Three Dates That Matter More Than Memorial Day
Memorial Day is the date on the poster. These three decide whether you make it.
- Artwork locked: April 16: Every change after this pushes back every step after it. Gather feedback from your coaches early, then commit.
- Preorder closes: May 2: Announce it in class huddles, post it, put it on the whiteboard, and mean it. A soft deadline guarantees a stream of “can I still get one?” texts after your order is already in production.
- Shirts in members’ hands: May 21: Not delivered to the gym. In hands. Plan the handout before the boxes arrive: bag preorders by name, set up a table at the front desk, and finish it in a day or two.
That last week before Murph is your buffer. Carriers have bad days. So do printers, ours included. A gym that plans to receive shirts the Thursday before Murph has no room for either.
03 / Quantity
How Many Murph Shirts Should Your Gym Order?
Order what members commit to, plus a small buffer in the sizes that always sell. Don’t order for attendance.
Step 1: Start With Preorder Commitments
Fifty people doing Murph doesn’t mean fifty shirts sold. Some members already own five Murph shirts. Some will “grab one later” and never do. A preorder turns interest into a number, with a size and a style attached.
Webstores feel easier because nobody at the gym has to collect sizes. But in our experience, about 80% of gym webstores don’t reach the order minimum. A link alone rarely creates demand. That’s why preorders collected at the gym are usually our first choice. We compare the options in How Should Gyms Order Custom Shirts?
Step 2: Add a Buffer Where It Will Actually Sell
A 5–10% buffer is a reasonable starting point for most events. For a gym, put those extras in medium, large and XL, not XS or 3XL.
The extras cover the coach who forgot to order, the member who signs up a day late, and the visitor who drops in for Murph weekend and wants a souvenir. If you keep a retail rack at the front desk, a couple of core sizes will keep selling well after Memorial Day.
Step 3: Check the Minimum
UNITEE’s standard minimum is 16 pieces per design, not per garment or color. Tees, tanks and long sleeves printed with the same design all count toward it. Below 16? Ask us. Below-minimum requests are reviewed separately.
Example: A Size Breakdown for a 50-Shirt Murph Order
Say 46 members preorder. Here’s how we’d build the final order.
| Size | Preorders | Buffer | Final order |
|---|---|---|---|
| S | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| M | 14 | +2 | 16 |
| L | 14 | +1 | 15 |
| XL | 9 | +1 | 10 |
| 2XL | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Total | 46 | +4 (about 9%) | 50 |
Run the same exercise for each style. If 12 of those 50 are women’s racerback tanks, size that group on its own, since women’s cuts need a different size mix than unisex tees.
No Preorder? Start With a Size Curve
If you’re stocking retail without preorders, start from a published curve and adjust it for your members.
| Size | General event baseline (BlueCotton) | Average across one printer’s orders (Real Thread) |
|---|---|---|
| S | 10% | 19.6% |
| M | 30% | 28.4% |
| L | 30% | 27.2% |
| XL | 20% | 16.2% |
| 2XL | 8% | 5.2% |
| 3XL+ | 2% | 1.3% |
Neither curve was built for gyms. Fit changes things too: people often size up in athletic performance shirts. Your own sales history beats any chart. Write down what sold out and what was left over every year.
04 / Garments
Tees, Tanks and Long Sleeves From One Design
Give members choice through garments, not designs. Every extra design splits your orders across more artwork and makes each one harder to justify. UNITEE recommends no more than two designs per run. Within an order, you can mix up to three styles in four colors each, or four styles in three colors each.
A strong Murph lineup usually looks like this:
- A unisex tee: for most of the gym.
- A women’s racerback tank: sized on its own.
- A long sleeve: for members who’ll keep wearing it into the fall.
- Youth sizes: if families join your Murph.
Two more decisions are worth making early. American flag designs have consistently been our best-selling Murph direction, and we break down why in Murph Designalytics. And a name printed on the back adds a few dollars per shirt but turns event merch into something that feels made for that member. Offer it as an optional upgrade on the preorder form, and confirm spelling before you close.
Pre-Made Templates vs. a Custom Design
You’ll see “add your gym name” Murph shirts at low prices with fixed artwork. They have a place. If it’s mid-May and the shirt is a simple giveaway, a template gets something on people’s backs.
- Here’s what you give up: the shirt looks like the one at the gym across town, because it is. A Murph shirt designed for your community is the one members wear to the grocery store in July, and that’s the whole point of the program.
- There’s a middle path: Start from a proven concept in our Murph portfolio and make it yours with your gym’s identity, colors and year. Artwork is included with every UNITEE order, so a custom look doesn’t mean paying a separate designer.
05 / Getting the name right
Your Gym’s Murph Shirt Isn’t the Official Murph Challenge Shirt
Anyone can do Murph, anywhere, and plenty of gyms make it their biggest community day of the year. The Murph Challenge is something more specific. It’s the official annual fundraiser of the LT. Michael P. Murphy Memorial Scholarship Foundation, presented by Forged, and the organizers say it has raised more than $2.25 million for the Foundation since 2014.
Gyms can register as Official Hosts. In 2026, host registration opened March 2 and participant registration opened March 16. If you want to host officially in 2027, make that decision in early March, alongside your shirt plans.
Your own gym shirt is a separate thing, and that’s fine. Just keep it honest:
- Don’t call it the official Murph Challenge shirt or design it to look affiliated.
- If part of the price goes to a cause, say exactly how much and where. “Five dollars from every shirt goes to [named organization]” builds trust. “Proceeds support the cause” doesn’t.
- Treat the story with care. Murph honors U.S. Navy Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy, who was killed during Operation Red Wings in Afghanistan on June 28, 2005, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor.
If you’re unsure about wording, ask the organizers before you print. It’s a lot easier than reprinting.
06 / Running behind
Already Late? What Still Works
It’s late April and you have nothing. Don’t panic, and don’t open a webstore and hope. Shrink the project until it fits the time you have left.
- Ask about rush first: UNITEE offers rush turnaround for orders that need it. Confirm the date with us before you promise members anything.
- Cut the scope. One design, one or two garments, colors that are in stock.
- Adapt a proven concept: Instead of starting from a blank page. Our Murph flag designs are a fast starting point because the direction is already tested.
- Choose Digital DTF for small, mixed runs: It handles detailed art across different garments without screen setups. Digital DTF vs. screen printing explains when each one makes sense.
- Run a one-week preorder: And promote it in every class, every day.
- Skip the webstore: It’s the slowest way to get a firm count.
Common Murph Ordering Mistakes
- Opening preorders before the artwork is approved, then changing the shirt after people have paid.
- Guessing sizes instead of collecting them.
- Three or four designs “so everyone has a choice.” One strong design across several garments sells better.
- A soft deadline that turns into two weeks of late add-ons.
- Leaving promotion to Instagram. A coach holding up the sample in a class huddle sells more shirts than another post.
- Forgetting women’s fits and youth sizes, then finding out at handout.
- Not writing down what sold. Next year starts from zero again.
Pick the Date. We’ll Handle the Shirts.
UNITEE designs and prints custom Murph shirts for gyms nationwide from Lafayette, Louisiana. Tell us your members, your garments and your date, and we’ll plan the order backward from Murph, with artwork included.
