What a UK Brand Should Settle Before Its First Bulk Order
By The Velocity Wear Team
A first production run rarely fails because a factory made a mistake. It fails because a shared assumption turned out not to be shared — the brand meant one navy and the mill meant another, the mockup implied a print position nobody measured, and the size split was decided by whoever typed the order form. Everything below is a way of not doing that.
Lock these down first
- 1Colour as a Pantone reference. "Black" is a family, not a colour, and two blacks from different batches will not hang together on a rail. A reference number ends the argument before it starts.
- 2The blank specification: weight in GSM, fabric composition, fit and construction. Written down, not described.
- 3Print placement in centimetres from a fixed point, normally down from the high point of the shoulder. A mockup shows intent; a measurement is an instruction.
- 4Label content. In the UK, fibre composition on the label is a legal requirement, and the wording has to exist before production because labels are made with the garments.
- 5The size split — actual quantities per size, which is a forecast and deserves to be treated as one rather than defaulted to an even spread.
The labelling rule that catches UK brands out
Fibre composition labelling is mandatory in the UK. Care labelling is not — which surprises people who assume the two travel together, and surprises them in the opposite direction from American brands, where care labelling is the legally mandated part.
So a UK garment must carry accurate fibre content in the prescribed terms. Care instructions are voluntary, and you should still include them, because they reduce returns and stop customers ruining the print. There is more in the UK labelling guide.
The size split is where the money hides
An even split across five sizes feels neutral and is almost always wrong. Most UK brands sell a middle-weighted curve, and the shape depends entirely on who is buying — a menswear streetwear label and a women's studio brand do not share a curve, and using a generic one leaves you short in the middle and stuck at the ends.
On a first order you have no data, and no amount of thinking will produce it. What you can do is keep the order small enough that being wrong costs little. Our minimum is 20 pieces per design with mixed sizes included, which exists so a first run can be a real test instead of a leap.
What you can leave until later
- Branded packaging. Worth doing, not worth doing first. The money is better in the garment while you are still finding out which garment people want.
- A full size range. Four sizes now and an extension later is a normal path and it halves the forecasting problem while you have nothing to forecast from.
- Second and third colourways. Colour multiplies inventory risk without multiplying your market.
- A second product category. Running tees and hoodies together on a first order means learning half as much about each.
Sample, wear, wash, then order
A sample that stays in its bag has told you almost nothing. Wear it, put it through the wash the way a customer will, and look at it afterwards — that is when you find out whether the print cracks at the fold, whether the neck relaxes, whether the fit you liked flat is the fit you want on a body.
It costs a couple of weeks. A bulk run you did not sample costs the run and the couple of weeks anyway.
The commercial details
Confirm the invoicing currency — we invoice in seven, GBP among them, so a UK brand can hold a quote against its own budget without applying a conversion. Confirm the lead time and what it runs from: ours is 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval, before freight, and "from artwork approval" is the clause that decides your launch date, because approval is the step you control.
And settle the delivery basis. If you are buying delivered, import formalities sit with the supplier. If you are not, they sit with you. Neither is wrong; not knowing which you agreed to is what goes badly.
