Back-to-school spending hits record $146.8 billion as apparel demand rises

By Conor Smart · Published July 22, 2026, 8:20 a.m. ET

Back-to-school spending will reach a record $146.8 billion this year, and the clothing share of that budget is pulling team and spirit-wear orders forward on the calendar.

The National Retail Federation expects families of K-12 students to spend $43.3 billion, up from $39.4 billion in 2025. College spending is forecast at $103.5 billion, the first time that figure has cleared $100 billion. Together the two seasons reach $146.8 billion, compared with $128.2 billion a year ago.

Clothing is a big piece of it. NRF puts average K-12 spending on clothing and accessories at $250.29 per family, or about $12.5 billion in total. For schools, booster clubs and youth sports programs, that money moves early. The survey found 62% of shoppers had already started by the first week of July.

That timing matters more than the headline number. A booster club ordering hoodies for a fall season cannot wait until the first game to place an order. Decoration, sizing and delivery all take time, and the programs that lock in early are the ones that have gear ready for opening day.

Arklavo, a custom apparel company that works with schools and small businesses across the country, sees the same pattern in its own order flow. Inquiries for team and spirit-wear climb sharply from late July through August, and the buyers are rarely big athletic departments. They are parent volunteers, coaches and small program directors ordering a few dozen shirts, not a few thousand.

"The people placing these orders are usually doing it on top of a full-time job," said Conor Smart, founder of Arklavo. "A team mom needs 30 hoodies in three sizes, not a pallet of 500. The old minimums pushed those orders away. We built the company to say yes to the small run."

That gap is where the record spending gets complicated. The NRF figure counts what families spend at retail, but a large share of school and team apparel runs through custom orders that never show up in a store aisle. A single spirit-wear run for one grade level can move hundreds of dollars per family into embroidered fleece, printed tees and caps.

Smart said the shift toward smaller, faster orders has been building for a few years. Programs that once ordered once a season now place two or three smaller runs, adjusting counts as rosters change. No-minimum ordering makes that possible, and it lets a coach reorder six jerseys for late signups without eating a setup fee.

Families are also spending earlier to spread the cost. NRF found that 62% of back-to-school shoppers had begun by early July, down slightly from 67% the year before, but still one of the highest early-start rates the group has recorded. For apparel buyers, earlier shopping means earlier ordering, and the programs that plan ahead avoid the August crush.

The record total is a reminder that back-to-school is no longer a single August weekend. It is a two-month buying window that now starts in the summer, and for the schools and teams filling it with custom gear, the clock is already running. Programs weighing spirit-wear options can compare custom hoodies, tees and caps in the Arklavo spirit-wear collection before the season starts.