Command Store Season: From Results Day to Pinning
CPO results land in August and pinning follows in September, which gives a command a matter of weeks to get gear designed, printed and shipped without anyone fronting money.
Results come out in August. Initiation season starts almost immediately after, and pinning is in September. Between those two dates a command has to get gear designed, produced and into people's hands, usually while doing everything else the season demands.
That is a matter of weeks, not months, and the traditional way of working it is rough. Somebody collects sizes on a spreadsheet. Somebody else fronts the money to a local printer. A minimum order gets met by guessing high, and the extras sit in a closet until someone inherits them.
A command store instead
A command store is a real storefront under your unit's name. Sailors order what they want in the size they want. We print each order in-house in San Diego, ship it directly, and answer every question that comes back. Nothing is bought in advance, nothing is left over, and nobody puts a unit order on a personal card.
COMSURFDEVGRU ONE CPOA runs one. Crest gear, selectee season pieces, and association merch, all handled the same way and available for as long as the store is open. CSDG-1 FCPOA runs a store on the same terms on the First Class side, so the arrangement is not specific to the Chiefs Mess.
What it costs
For active-duty commands, the Military Command tier is free, permanently. Not a first-year promotion and not a trial. There is no build fee and no monthly fee, and there never will be for a command store.
Association stores raising funds keep the standard arrangement: 20 percent of every sale, paid every Monday, straight to the association. Our side pays for the design, the printing, the packing, the shipping and the customer service.
We are veteran owned and operated, and we are in San Diego, which means we understand both the calendar and the fact that a pinning date does not move because a vendor is behind.
The timing that actually matters
Design approval is the long pole, not production. A store can be standing and taking orders quickly once the artwork is settled, so the useful thing to do early is decide what the crest gear looks like. Everything after that is on us.
If your command is heading into selectee season, start with the military page or see the storefronts we already run.