When we were forming we had several debates about uniform options. It does make a difference and was ranked highly by our original parents as something to manage responsibly.
I remember my son playing for an academy team and having so many pairs of shorts that at the end of a season he still had two colors unused in packets, and in a season of 8-10 games three shirts was probably overkill.
Two of us are English and so growing up we were used to the concept of team kit (in a bag). Basically the club (team) owns the strip and you just wear it for the game. Some unlucky parent gets the washing duties but no cost associated for the parents. This way the team just updates the uniform when it is literally falling apart. Now of course we polled our moms and soon found out that this would not have a hope of seeing light of day for some of our parents who would see this as 'hand me downs' or dirty. For the record, as a kid, I never had a problem with it. Oh the good old days playing on a hillside in Sussex with rain blowing sideways across the 18 yard box. Trust me when you're that wet and cold as a 12 year old, the last thing you are worrying about is the brand or style of your jersey.
Actually we did sneak this in for our away jerseys last season and our boys didn't care. They actually loved getting a different jersey to wear and we didn't ask the parents for a dime.
Now we all know today uniform manufacturers court clubs with good incentives and freebies to select a style or brand and like any incentive, I suspect the higher the cost of the kit(and scale), the larger the incentive so to answer your original question on this topic I would say decisions are guided with a financial motive to some degree or other. Now on the other hand, if you are running an elite program and want to offer only the best and parents expect latest, greatest, and best kit, you always have to pay for that quality of service and that may be appropriate based on club goals and priorities.
