Ordering Jackets & Outerwear for Freshers
By The Velocity Wear Team
Freshers jackets should be ordered in July for a September arrival. The production build is 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval, transit follows, and committee sign-off over the summer is the step that reliably runs long. July leaves room for all of it. An August order can work, but only if the artwork is finished and one person has authority to approve it.
What date does a September drop have to hit?
The first week of term, and ideally a few days before it. Jackets that arrive in the second or third week miss the moment when new students are buying everything at once, and a society that has to sell the remainder through October will be working much harder for it. Set the target as the day before the freshers fair, then treat every stage before it as fixed rather than flexible. That single date is what makes the July order obvious rather than cautious.
Why is July the month to sign off artwork?
Because summer is when approvals stall. Committees change over, members scatter, and a design that needed one reply sits for a fortnight because the person who can approve it is away. The build itself does not care about any of that, but it does not start until approval lands, so every day of silence is a day added to the end. Name one approver before you begin, send vector artwork with the fonts outlined, and the rest is arithmetic. Artwork setup for custom jackets lists exactly what to send.
How do you size a run you cannot count yet?
Order conservatively and weight the middle. You are buying before you know who is joining, so the safest structure is a first run of 50 in a tight size range built around the central sizes, with the intention of reordering once demand is proven. Avoid spreading fifty pieces thinly across every size available, because the extremes are where unsold stock accumulates and a student society cannot carry that. Jackets are worn over hoodies, so lean one size up across the curve rather than ordering to bare chest measurements.
What do societies and unions usually order?
Something recognisable across a crowded room. Varsity styles and coach jackets both carry a large back print well, which is what makes them work as visible society kit, while a softshell suits committee or crew roles where the jacket is worn all year. A custom woven neck label or a printed swing tag turns the piece into something that reads as a product rather than merch, and that is often what justifies the price to a student buying it. The full style list is on the wholesale jackets page.
How do you keep the price defensible?
Order in one run rather than three. Fifty pieces is the minimum per design and the discount grows from there, reaching up to 35% off the 50-piece price at the top band, so consolidating two societies or two roles into a single design does more for the price than negotiating ever will. If the jacket has to be right before you commit student money to it, a sample at £150 is credited against the bulk order and the samples page explains the process. For the summer end of the calendar, ordering jackets for summer events covers the other half of the academic year.
