What to Check When Your Custom Clothing Order Arrives
By The Velocity Wear Team
Check quantities and the size breakdown first, then inspect print or embroidery quality on several pieces from different parts of the box, and compare colours against your references in daylight. Do this immediately on arrival, before the order is distributed, sold or stored.
Why Immediately Matters
An order that is checked on arrival can be discussed while everything is intact and traceable. An order that is opened, distributed to a team, half sold and then found to have a problem is much harder to resolve — pieces have been worn, washed, mixed with other stock, or given away. The inspection is quick; the cost of skipping it appears weeks later.
The Checklist
Work through it in order, because the early items are the ones that most affect what you do next.
- Total quantity against your order confirmation, and the breakdown by size and colourway — not just the total.
- The garment itself: correct product, correct colour, correct fabric weight. Confirm against the codes on your specification rather than by eye.
- Decoration quality on several pieces pulled from different parts of the box, not just the one on top.
- Placement and size of the print or embroidery, measured rather than judged — compare against the figures you approved.
- Colour against your Pantone references, checked in daylight rather than under artificial light.
Sample From Throughout the Box
The single most common inspection mistake is checking the top item and assuming the rest match. Pull pieces from the middle and bottom, and from each size and colourway. If there is an inconsistency anywhere in a run, this is how you find it — and finding it now, across the whole order, is far more useful than discovering it piecemeal as items are sold.
“"Check the one at the bottom of the box. That is the one that tells you about the run."”
The Wash Test
If this is a new specification or a first order, sacrifice one piece and wash it as a customer would. It reveals shrinkage, colour bleed and print durability in a way visual inspection cannot. One garment is a small price for knowing what your customers will find out a week after buying — and if there is an issue, you want to know before the order is distributed rather than after.
Photograph Anything Wrong
If you find a problem, photograph it clearly before doing anything else: the issue itself, the garment label showing the product code, and the affected quantity. Note how many pieces are involved and whether it is consistent across them. That documentation makes any conversation about resolution straightforward and factual, and it is much harder to reconstruct later.
Record What Was Right
Inspection is also an opportunity to capture your specification accurately. Measure the actual garments, note the exact logo dimensions and placement as produced, and record the product codes and colour references. That record is what makes your next reorder reproduce this order rather than approximate it — and it is easiest to compile while the delivery is in front of you. Orders start at 20 pieces with mixed sizes allowed, so a first run is a natural point to establish that documentation.