2027 decoration pricing — the prelim list vs what A2000 actually books

The preliminary 2027 Decoration Options list (Josh Peyser email, 7/6/2026 — effective 8/1/2026, "we may still update some prices") makes a very different call than the garment side. Where the printed blank pricelist raises garment EQPs ≈114% of the two-year cost increase, the decoration list holds every carried-over process price exactly flat vs 2026 — verified line-for-line against the "2026 Decoration Options" tab of the pricing workbook. The pricing action is entirely structural: a new premium ladder (Oversized Color Direct "CDMAX", four Color Edge™ 3-D print sizes, silicone 3D, Color Direct laces) and one deletion (Spectrum Mini). This page tests that decision against divison-V booking data — every decorated order line's service charges (NKW.ORDER_LI_SERVICES), 2023 → June 2026, canceled orders excluded.

2025 booked decoration revenue
M decorated units · ~14% of division bookings
Carried-over prices raised
0 of 46
every 2026 process price reappears unchanged in 2027
New premium processes
booked in H1 2026 already
H1 2026 vs H1 2025
decoration bookings, on units — mix is doing the raising
The decision, in one line: hold the published price of every existing decoration flat for a third straight year, and take decoration price mix up instead — sell the new oversized/3-D/silicone processes at $5.25–$8.00 against a $2.00 Color Direct baseline. The booking data below says that strategy is already working: realized decoration $/unit is up +9% H1-over-H1 and booked margin went from 19% to 25% with no list increase.

What the 2027 list changes (and doesn't)

Three changes against the 2026 list; everything else is price-identical, tier-identical:

LogoPlus™ woven labels stay on the list unchanged ($2.50/$1.50/$1.00) — Mike Gaudioso's call on the email thread: "doesn't cost us anything to keep it… people may want the look and feel of the woven labels," with ColorEdge positioned as the successor.

List price vs booked reality — who actually pays list

For each process, the marker shows the qty-weighted realized price across 2025 bookings; the bar spans the 2027 published tier range (small-qty tier down to large-qty tier). A2000's service master (SERVICE_M.LINEPR) is loaded at the large-qty tier on every code — unlike the garment side, this list is operative in the system.

Grey band = published 2027 tier range (unchanged from 2026). Colored dot = qty-weighted realized $/unit, 2025 bookings. × = A2000 standard cost. Realized sits below the band on the workhorses (P1 $0.41 vs $0.75 list; CD $1.61 vs $2.00 floor) — but not because customers negotiate discounts.
Price discipline is strong where decoration is billed. The modal billed price equals the master list price on nearly every process — paid decoration almost never gets discounted. The gap between realized and list is almost entirely units billed at $0.00: 44% of P1 screen-print units, 47% of Fusion Applique, 22% of Color Direct. Those aren't leaks — they're the college-program channel (Follett M units, Lids U M) and internal To The Game transfers, where decoration is bundled into the garment program price. At list value that comped decoration is worth over 18 months — the real cross-check is whether program garment prices carry it, which is the garment-side pricing question, not a decoration-list question.

The premium ladder is the real price increase

New processes launched in A2000 September 2025. Six months later they book ~$30K/month — at essentially zero discount (97% of units at full list), versus a Color Direct baseline that is drifting down in realized price as volume booms.

Color Edge™ (CES/CEM/CEL/CEX) will join this chart from August — the codes went into A2000 on 6/24/2026, priced $2.50–$8.00 with 25–30% standard margins loaded.
Watch Color Direct. CD is the single biggest decoration line ( booked 2025) and its realized price is eroding — $1.66/unit H1 2025 → $1.52 H1 2026 while volume grew +30%. Every CD unit that upgrades to CDMAX is worth +$3.25–3.75; the ladder exists to reverse exactly this mix slide. If CDMAX/Color Edge stall, holding the CD list at $2.00 for a third year locks the erosion in.

Where flat pricing does bite: below-cost processes

Booked margin on decoration (revenue minus A2000 standard service cost) was 25% in H1 2026. But a handful of carried-over prices sit at or below cost — and the 2027 list re-publishes them unchanged:

Flock is the one place the 2027 list arguably needed an action — either reprice the resort flock program (~$185K/yr booked at ≈$0.50–2.25/unit below standard cost) or re-cost it. Publishing $7.50/$8.50 while 95% of volume books at $3.00–3.75 makes the printed number fiction for this process. Everything else on the list is either disciplined (embroidery/applique: 96–98% of units at full list) or strategically bundled (college programs).

Full 2027 decoration list vs booking history

Revenue = booked decoration service charges (service price × line qty) by order date, div V, canceled excluded. "% at list" / "% at $0" measured over Jan 2025 – Jun 2026 bookings against the A2000 master price (= the list's large-qty tier). 2026 covers Jan–Jun only. Rows with no revenue are new or rarely-billed processes.

Bottom line

  1. This is a mix strategy, not a price strategy — and the data supports it. Decoration bookings grew +16% H1-over-H1 on +6% units; realized $/unit rose 9% and booked std-cost margin went 19% → 25%, all before this pricelist takes effect. The premium ladder (launched Sep 2025) did that; the 2027 list just publishes it.
  2. List discipline where it matters is excellent — embroidery, applique, chenille and the new premium codes book 96–98% of paid units at exactly list. A future across-the-board decoration increase would actually stick in these channels; holding flat is a choice, not a constraint.
  3. The bundled-decoration channel is the garment side's problem. ~$1.7M/yr of decoration at list value is billed at $0 into Follett/Lids U/internal programs. No decoration-list change touches it — it's recovered (or not) in program garment pricing, which is where the 114% garment pass-through matters.
  4. Two follow-ups for the final version of the list: reprice or re-cost the resort flock program (only systematically below-cost paid decoration), and confirm Color Edge/CDMAX uptake fast enough to offset Color Direct's realized-price slide ($1.66 → $1.52 H1-over-H1).
Sources: "MV Sport 2027 Decoration Pricelist - PRELIM 070626.pdf" (7/6/2026 email); "MV Sport 2027 Pricelist.xlsx" Decoration tab (2026 list + internal cost build-ups); A2000 NKW.ORDER_LI_SERVICES × ORDER_LI_M × ORDER_HEADER_M (DIV_NO='V', bookings by order date, canceled excluded) and NKW.SERVICE_M master prices/costs, extracted 7/6/2026.