Ordering Hoodies for Leavers Season
By The Velocity Wear Team
Leavers hoodies should be ordered in spring, roughly eight weeks before the garments are needed. The 10 to 15 working day build is the predictable part. What runs these orders late is the name list on the back: collecting it, spelling it correctly and closing it, which routinely takes longer than the production it precedes.
When does a leavers order need to go in?
Count back from the date the hoodies are handed out, which is usually a week before the last day so people can actually wear them. Subtract delivery. Subtract the 10 to 15 working day build, which on a calendar is closer to three weeks than to two. Subtract a fortnight for collecting names, sizes and payment, because that will not go faster by being asked nicely.
That lands the order in the first half of spring term for a summer handover. Schools that leave it until after the Easter break are relying on nothing going wrong, and with a hundred names on the artwork something always does.
How do you handle names on the back?
Treat the list as artwork, because that is what it is. Collect the names in one spreadsheet, in one column, spelled the way each person wants them. Do not accept names by message, because that is how a list ends up with three spellings of the same surname and one entry that is a nickname nobody will admit to choosing.
Then have someone other than the collector proofread it against the register. Set a closing date and mean it, because once the list is set into the design the layout is balanced around the number of entries, and adding two names afterwards means resetting the whole panel. A name list also has to be checked for anything inappropriate before it is approved; that responsibility sits with the school, not the printer.
Send the finished list as text rather than as a picture of text, so it can be typeset cleanly at print size. The general requirements are in artwork setup for custom hoodies.
Who collects the sizes and the money?
One person, with one form, and a deadline. Sizes and names should be collected in the same submission so they cannot get out of step, and payment should close at the same moment. Splitting those across three systems is how a year group ends up with 94 paid orders and 101 names.
Publish garment measurements rather than just letters, because pupils size themselves inconsistently and most will choose something oversized deliberately. The fit and returns detail is in apparel sizing and fit. Order a handful of spares across the middle sizes; there is always someone who missed the form.
What about pupils who order late?
A late order is a new order, and the minimum is 50 pieces per design, so six stragglers cannot be added as a top-up. That is precisely why the spare pieces matter, and why they should be ordered as part of the main run rather than hoped for afterwards.
Keep the surplus rather than discounting it on the last day. It covers a garment damaged in transit and anyone who joins late in the year. Build the quote on the wholesale hoodies page, and if the school wants to see the garment and the print quality before committing a year group budget, the £150 sample credited against the order is set out on the samples page.
