How to Plan a Clothing Drop: Timeline and Checklist

Work backwards from your launch date. Production runs around 10–15 working days from artwork approval for screen printing and embroidery, or nearer 15–20 for sublimation and complex jobs, plus 2–5 working days tracked UK delivery — and you need stock in hand before photography, which happens before marketing.

The Sequence That Actually Works

Most drop problems come from doing things in the wrong order. You cannot photograph a product you do not have, you cannot market convincingly without photography, and you cannot build anticipation in three days. The dependencies run in one direction, and the whole timeline is determined by production lead time at the front of it.

Six to Eight Weeks Out

Finalise the design and specification. Decide garment, fabric weight, colourway, decoration method and quantity. If this is a new design or a new blank, this is when to order a small run at the 50-piece minimum to check the product in hand — that step is far cheaper now than a correction later. Establish your Pantone references and prepare vector artwork.

Four to Five Weeks Out

Approve artwork and place the main order. Remember the production clock starts at artwork approval, so proofing delays come out of your buffer. Model your quantity in the free instant price calculator first — bulk discounts reach up to around 35% as volumes rise, and the difference between your planned quantity and a slightly larger one is often smaller than expected.

Two Weeks Out: Stock Arrives

This is when the rest of the plan becomes possible.

• Shoot the product properly — on a body, in natural light, showing scale and fabric. Flat-lay-only photography consistently undersells apparel.
• Check the delivered order against your specification before announcing anything.
• Write product descriptions with actual garment measurements, not just size letters.
• Prepare packaging and test your dispatch process on a dummy order.

One to Two Weeks Out: Build Anticipation

Anticipation cannot be created on launch day. Tease the product, announce the date and time explicitly, and give people a reason to be there at the start — limited quantity is the honest one if it is true. Collect emails from anyone interested, because an owned list is the only launch-day channel you fully control.

“"A drop that nobody knew was coming is just a product going on sale."”

Launch Day

Be available. Things go wrong on launch day — a listing with the wrong price, a size that sells out immediately, a payment issue — and being present to fix them within minutes rather than hours is worth more than any pre-planning. Dispatch quickly; the gap between purchase and delivery is where early customer goodwill is won or lost.

After the Drop

Record what actually happened: which sizes sold out first, which colourway moved, how long it took, what people asked about. That data shapes the next order far better than instinct will. If a design sold through, reorder at a quantity that benefits from bulk discounts — and preview any changes in the free Design Studio before approving artwork again.