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For kit on the floor in the first week of January, place the order in November. The build runs 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval, delivery transit sits on top of that, and artwork rarely gets signed off on the first attempt. November gives you room for one round of changes without the date moving.
When is the last safe date to order for January?
Work back from the day new members walk in, not from the first of the month. If your intake really starts on 2 January, you want stock in the building before Christmas, because nobody is unpacking cartons on New Year's Eve. That pulls the delivery target into the third week of December. Subtract transit, subtract 15 working days of build, subtract a week for approval, and you land in the first half of November.
The end of the year compresses this further than most buyers expect, because working days are not calendar days and December has fewer of them. A November order is not caution, it is arithmetic.
What does the November timeline look like week by week?
- 1Early November: decide the garments and the size split, and send artwork.
- 2Mid November: approve the artwork, which is the moment the 10 to 15 working day clock starts.
- 3Late November to early December: the run is built and finished.
- 4Mid December: transit, delivery and a size check against your order before the holidays.
If you want a physical sample in that sequence, add it at the front rather than the back. The £150 sample is credited against the bulk order, so it costs you time rather than money, but only if you ask for it in October.
What usually slips, and how much buffer covers it?
Artwork. Almost always artwork. A logo supplied as a screenshot rather than a vector, a colour nobody can agree on, or a version that has to go past an owner who is on holiday. Two weeks of slack at the front of the schedule absorbs all of that; two days does not. The wider pattern is covered in planning lead times so you never air freight.
The second common slip is quantity. A gym decides in late November to add a second colour, which is a second design and therefore a second 50 pieces, and the new run starts its own clock rather than joining the one already moving.
Should staff kit and member merch go in together?
If the artwork is identical, yes, and the combined quantity pushes you further down the tiers, where the discount reaches up to 35% of the 50-piece price. If the staff version carries a different mark or a different colourway, it is a separate design with its own minimum, and you should still place both in the same week so they run side by side rather than a fortnight apart.
Most gyms split the January order into a heavier staff layer and a lighter member piece. Our gyms and fitness page lists what we hold in each, and the wholesale range shows where the from-prices sit before the tiers apply.
