Custom Clothing Printing in Farnborough: Aerospace and Airshow
By The Velocity Wear Team
Velocity Wear supplies printed and embroidered clothing to Farnborough businesses and exhibitors online, with tracked UK delivery. Two very different buyers dominate here. Aerospace and precision engineering sites want durable, low-risk garments with nothing loose on them. Exhibitors want stand kit that reads across a hall and still looks presentable on day five. Minimum order is 20 pieces per order with sizes mixed freely.
A Show Date That Will Not Move for You
Exhibition work has an unusually unforgiving deadline. The hall opens whether or not your shirts arrived. Production starts at artwork approval, not at order placement, and screen printing and embroidery run to around 10 to 15 working days from that approval, with sublimation and complex jobs nearer 15 to 20. Add proofing, at least one revision, and 2 to 5 working days for UK delivery.
Then count backwards from build day rather than opening day, because your team needs kit before the public does. The trap is waiting for final headcount. Approve artwork early and top the quantity up later. Numbers can be added. Approval time cannot be reclaimed.
Five Days on a Stand Changes the Colour You Should Choose
This is the detail exhibitors learn the hard way. A stand is warm, you are on your feet all day, and you are talking constantly. Pale blue, light grey and pastel shirts show sweat within an hour, and they show it in photographs. Mid to dark tones, and heather or marl fabrics, hide it. So does a garment with a bit of texture rather than a flat smooth surface.
Order enough for a clean shirt every day per person, plus spares. Two shirts for a five-day show is not a saving, it is a false economy your prospects will notice. And pick a fabric with some polyester content if the hall is warm, because pure cotton holds moisture and looks tired by early afternoon.
Legibility Across a Hall, Not Across a Table
The purpose of stand kit is that someone walking a busy aisle can tell at a glance who works there. That means the mark needs to work at several metres, not at arm's length. A small chest logo disappears into the visual noise of a trade hall. Put a legible name across the back and keep the chest mark for close conversations.
Resist the urge to print the show name and year on stand kit. It looks committed and it makes every leftover garment useless the following cycle. Undated kit gets worn again at the next event and at customer visits in between.
A Sensible Exhibition Kit List
- Embroidered polos in a mid or dark tone for the core stand team, one per day per person plus spares.
- A matching softshell or gilet for anyone working outdoors or on static displays, where wind and temperature are real factors.
- Printed tees for build and derig crew, screen printed in one or two colours because that is where volume gets cheap.
- A quieter version of the same identity for senior staff and hospitality, small tonal embroidery rather than a full-chest logo.
- Vinyl role or name badges applied per garment, useful when the stand runs shifts and visitors need to find the right person.
Aerospace Floors Care About What Comes Loose
On the manufacturing side, the constraint that shapes garment choice is anything that can detach and end up where it should not be. That pushes sites towards simple garments without external chest pockets or loose fastenings, and towards embroidery finished cleanly rather than transfers that can lift at a corner over time.
Specific sites will have their own rules covering fasteners, fibres and static, and some areas require garments with properties a standard branded polo does not have. Confirm what the site's own procedures and the relevant current official guidance require before ordering, and treat any branded item as an addition to that specification rather than a substitute for it.
“"Five days on a stand will tell you whether you chose a shirt or just chose a colour."”
Ordering, Proofing and Pricing
Twenty pieces per order with sizes mixed freely covers a stand team comfortably without forcing 20 of one size. The free Design Studio shows artwork laid onto the actual garment, which is the fastest way to catch a back print that is far smaller than you imagined. The instant price calculator updates live as you change garment, method and quantity, and bulk discounts reach up to around 40% as volumes rise. Delivery is tracked across the UK, and to the USA, Europe and worldwide if kit needs to travel with a stand.