Bulk Order Guide
Ordering merchandise for a whole team, school, or company is mostly a logistics problem, not a product problem. This is how to make it a small one.
How Many Should You Order?
There is no hard minimum. We do not screen print, so there are no screen setup fees to spread across an order — which is what creates minimums everywhere else. Twelve pieces is a normal order here.
Pricing does improve at 25 pieces and up, and most projects land between 25 and 150. Above that the improvement flattens out, because the saving comes from shipping spreading across the order rather than from cheaper production. Worth knowing before you talk yourself into 300 shirts to chase a discount that is not there.
A more useful question than “how do I hit the next price break” is “how many will actually get worn.” Fifty shirts people wear beat two hundred in a closet.
Sizing Across a Roster
The single most common source of regret on a bulk order is the size breakdown, not the design.
- Collect actual sizes if you can. A two-question form to your team takes ten minutes and beats any estimate.
- If you cannot, weight the middle. A rough general-adult starting point is roughly 10% S, 25% M, 30% L, 20% XL, 10% 2XL, 5% 3XL — then adjust for who is actually on your roster.
- Order a few spares in the middle sizes. New hires, a guest, someone who spills coffee on day one.
- Ask about the fit before you commit. Garments differ — a relaxed heavyweight tee and a fitted performance polo do not run the same. We will tell you which way a particular product runs.
Planning the Timeline
Standard turnaround is 7–10 business days from design approval to delivery. For a bulk order the part worth planning is everything before approval: collecting sizes, getting the logo signed off internally, and whoever needs to approve the spend.
Three to four weeks from first inquiry to delivered boxes is comfortable. Two is workable. Under two, ask us before you assume. Full detail on Shipping and Turnaround.
Reorders That Match
Most organizations order twice. The second order is where things usually go wrong — a slightly different blank, a logo that has drifted a few millimetres, a color that is close but not the same. Two batches that do not match is worse than either batch alone.
We keep your artwork, product, color, and placement on file, so a reorder is a message rather than a project. If a blank has been discontinued, we tell you and propose the nearest match instead of quietly substituting one.
Splitting the Delivery
A bulk run ships to one address — an office, a school, a coach. If your group really needs items going to many individual addresses, the better tool is a hosted online merch store, where each person orders their own size and shipping is built into the price.
Shipping to more than one address
A standard bulk order ships to a single address. If your team, league or company genuinely needs gear delivered to many individual addresses, that is exactly what our hosted online merch stores are built for — each person orders their own size and it ships straight to them, with shipping baked into the item price. If your situation does not fit either shape, describe it on the quote and we will tell you honestly what is possible.
If your people would rather order and pay individually — different sizes, different products, no one collecting money — that is a different setup entirely. See Online Merch Stores.
Before You Send the Quote Request
Have these four and your quote comes back accurate the first time: roughly how many, the date you need them, your logo in whatever form you have it, and what it is for — staff, an event, a team, a giveaway. That last one changes what we recommend more than anything else.