Can you define what constitutes full price (i.e. jersey or bib short cost?).
Champion Sports will sell you a jersey for $45 plus shipping, about $50 total.
Verge Sports, for a 3 color, will run a bit more - $68 for a small order, with extra for some other stuff, usually they give you a break, so call it $68 even with the extras. Not sure about shipping.
Even if the team ordered the same looking gear from the two different companies and sold it at "cost", the "price" would be different to the end user.
The difference? My Champion stuff I bought in the last two years is wrecked. My Verge stuff from 5 years ago is fine - in fact I wear the Verge stuff regularly since my CS bibs ripped at some bib seams, my SS jerseys ripped at seams, and my knickers bib area is also ripping. The only thing that hasn't ripped is the jacket. And before you crack the fat jokes, they're the same size as the Verge stuff. But believe me, when I first put the stuff on and it disintegrated on me, I thought "wtf I didn't gain that much weight".
Have you considered helping out your current team? Help with the team clothing order or promote a race or something? Figure out why the team needs to charge "full price" for their kit. See what goes into trying to organize a team, handle various racer's requests for reimbursement or whatnot. Or worse, go after a fellow racer for not paying for the $500 in team gear they picked up but haven't paid for. It's amazing what slackers some of those really nice riders end up being.
Until you've done all that, I'd stick with whatever friendly team you seem to have found. Join a team for the racers, not for the shwag. You want schwag? Ask for stuff you can't really ever get like a pass through the shop to Interbike. And bring a big backpack for schwag in Sept, and cash for all the race DVDs you could ever want (and socks and whoever else sells stuff at the show without checking if you have an account). But from the team? I wouldn't worry about it too much.
Personally I don't think even Cat 2s should be comp'ed. I think a racer should be comp'ed only if they can generate as much or more revenue to the comping agent. In other words, if a racer gets $1000 in goods from a sponsor, it's because the racer can generate the team $1000 in net profit, either from tv or newspaper appearances (they have a definitive value per second or per column inch), in additional sales (need $2-3k of sales to cover $1k in clothing), or in bringing in additional customers to the sponsor (equal to spending $1000 for direct mail coupons or an ad in a local paper). Can the racer get 100,000 eyeballs a day on the sponsor's name? Well, then they could justify asking for $1000. If not, then not.
And if the flip off a motorist or run a light... well, what's negative publicity cost?
If it sounds pro it's because it is. If you don't generate your sponsors money, don't ask for any. Gear, equipment, it costs a bit less (say 40% below the retail value, maybe 60-80% if they get it at employee/team price), but it still costs the sponsors money.
I joke that my kit cost me about $4000 because that's what I shelled out to buy it all - my teammates paid me for whatever they wanted, and since I ordered extra, I'm probably sitting on $2k worth of team clothing.
Um, hey, you want to buy a kit
The good thing is that I have a few extra jerseys which don't have holes in them.
If you make your sponsor money or you help run the team or you put a lot of sweat equity into the team and they still don't comp you, then you go elsewhere.
been on both sides of the sponsor table,
cdr