Last checked October 2026
Trekking and activity centres have a problem most equestrian businesses do not: your customers are members of the public who have never met a horse, often children, frequently in poor weather on open ground. Staff need to be identifiable at distance, which means the centre name across the back in a colour that stands out against hillside. Everything else follows from that.
A riding school teaches the same twenty people every week. A trekking centre takes thirty strangers out onto a hill and brings them back. The kit requirement is genuinely different, and copying a riding school's uniform list gets it wrong.
Key takeaways
- Identifiable at a hundred metres matters more than looking smart up close
- Name across the back, in a colour that contrasts with landscape
- Waterproof outer layers do most of the work and need durable marks
- Seasonal staff means buying for roles and sizes, never for named people
- Customers buy souvenir kit at the end of a trek — a real revenue line
- Order the season's kit in February, not in the week before Easter
Visibility is the design brief
A customer halfway down a string on a hillside needs to be able to find a member of staff at a glance, and so does a parent at the yard watching their child leave. That means the centre name large across the shoulders, in a thread colour chosen for contrast against grass, bracken and grey sky rather than for matching your website palette.
Navy on navy looks elegant in a mockup and is close to useless at fifty metres in drizzle. Cream, white or a strong accent colour on a dark garment is what actually reads. This is one of the few situations where the practical requirement should beat the brand guideline, and a good supplier will tell you so.
What to order
| Piece | Role | Marking |
|---|---|---|
| Waterproof jacket | The main layer most of the year | Name across back, crest on chest |
| Softshell | Shoulder season and dry days | Name across back |
| Fleece | Under the waterproof; worn in the yard | Chest crest |
| Polo | Summer, reception, booking desk | Chest crest |
| Beanie and cap | Year round | Crest only; cheap and highly visible |
The waterproof is the piece that matters, because it is what staff are wearing during the activity your customers are paying for. It is also the hardest garment to embroider well — membranes, taped seams and slippery faces all affect how a mark sits, and placement has to avoid compromising the waterproofing.
Seasonal staff
Trekking centres run on summer staff, students and working holidays. A meaningful proportion will be there for one season only, which makes named kit an expensive mistake.
How to buy around it
- Sizes, not people — hold a spread of sizes and issue on arrival
- Centre property — returned at the end of the season, written into the contract
- Crest only on outer layers — so a jacket serves five seasons and five people
- Top up small — no minimum means replacing three jackets in July is straightforward
- One colourway, held long term — so kit bought across four years still matches
Customers will buy kit
People who have just spent a morning on a horse for the first time in their lives are in a buying mood, and a hoodie with the centre's name on it is a better souvenir than a fridge magnet. Centres with a reception or cafe routinely find this is a worthwhile revenue line rather than a marketing cost.
The practical approach is a small held stock of the two or three most common sizes in one or two items, plus an ordering page for anything else so you are not guessing. Souvenir kit also does something useful afterwards: it advertises you in towns a hundred miles away.
Getting the mark right for outdoor kit
Centre logos often include a horse, a hill, a tree and some text, which is a lot of detail to carry at any size and far too much at the small end. For outdoor use the mark usually needs two versions drawn: a full one for the back, and a simplified one that still reads on a cap front or a chest at 70mm.
That is the work described in how we draw a mark, and you can commission the Mark directly. Both versions come from one commission and are reused free on every order afterwards.
When to order
February. Kit needs to exist, be checked and fit before Easter, which is when the season starts in earnest for most centres. Ordering in late March means paying for rush turnaround on something that was entirely predictable, and discovering a sizing problem in the week you most need staff out on the hill.
Rowley & Bowes works with trekking centres, riding schools, clubs and livery yards alongside the racing yards and studs around Newmarket. No minimum order, so you can replace three jackets mid-season without a bulk run.
Planning next season's kit?
Tell us how many staff you run in peak season and send your logo in whatever form it exists.
Send an enquiryFrequently asked questions
What should trekking centre staff wear?
A branded waterproof jacket is the key piece, since it is what staff wear during the activity customers are paying for. Add a softshell for dry days, a fleece underneath, polos for summer and reception, and caps or beanies. The priority is being identifiable at distance on open ground, so the centre name goes across the back rather than only on the chest.
What colour should the lettering be on outdoor staff kit?
Something that contrasts strongly with landscape — cream, white or a bright accent on a dark garment. Tonal marking, such as navy thread on a navy jacket, looks good in a mockup and is close to unreadable at fifty metres in poor light. For trekking centres this is a safety and customer-confidence requirement, and it should override brand palette preferences.
Can waterproof jackets be embroidered without affecting the waterproofing?
Yes, with care over placement. Stitching passes through the fabric, so marks are positioned away from taped seams and critical panels, and a backing is used appropriate to the membrane. Many technical jackets have a lined chest panel intended for exactly this. Tell your supplier the garment is waterproof before ordering rather than afterwards.
When should a trekking centre order staff kit?
February, so kit exists and has been tried on before Easter. Leaving it to late March means paying for rush turnaround and risking a sizing problem in the week staffing matters most. Because there is no minimum order, mid-season top-ups for replacement or extra staff can be handled in small quantities as needed.