Restocking Branded Kit for Retailers
By The Velocity Wear Team
A repeat run uses the artwork and specification already approved, so the slow part of a first order does not happen twice. What stays the same is the 50-piece minimum and the 10 to 15 working day production window. What needs attention is colour consistency between batches and the point in your sell-through at which you raise the next order.
What carries over from the first run?
The approved artwork, the print positions and sizes, the garment specification and the colourway reference. That removes the proofing round, which on a first order is often the longest stage. A restock placed against a previous job number typically moves straight into scheduling once the quantity and size breakdown are confirmed.
What does not carry over is the quantity band. Pricing is set by the size of the run you are placing now, so a 250-piece restock is priced at that tier and a 50-piece top-up at the entry one. The wholesale range sets out the tiers, and the comparison page covers how the decoration choice affects repeatability.
Will batch two match batch one on the rail?
Close, and closer if you plan for it. Dyed garments move slightly between production lots, which is normal across the industry rather than a defect. The mitigation is to reference the previous job rather than describing the colour again, and to keep one piece from the first run as a physical reference held back from sale.
If exact continuity matters more than cash flow, the answer is a bigger single run rather than two smaller ones, since everything from one lot matches itself. Can I reorder the same design later covers what to record so a repeat order behaves predictably.
What restock rhythm suits a shop?
Set a trigger rather than a date. Take weekly sell-through, multiply by the full cycle length including transit, and add a buffer for the weeks that beat the average. That number is your reorder point. For a design moving ten a week on a six-week cycle you are raising the next order at around 60 remaining, not at 15.
Because the minimum is 50, the trigger and the order size interact. If the reorder point is near 50 you are effectively always in the market, which is a good sign the run should be bigger. Reordering stock and the rhythm that gets a brand to year two covers how that settles over a trading year.
Should a restock change anything?
The size curve, almost always. The first run tells you which sizes cleared and which sat, and the second is where that gets corrected. Keep the artwork fixed while you do it, because changing both at once means you cannot tell which decision worked. One variable per run is slower but it is the only way a small shop learns anything from 50 pieces.
What does a repeat run cost compared with the first?
Less in time and effort, and the same in per-piece terms unless the quantity changes. There is no proofing round, usually no sample, and no decision about which blank to use, so the administrative load drops to confirming a quantity and a size split. The garment price itself is still set by the band the new run lands in.
That makes restocking a cash flow question rather than a sourcing one. The decision is how much working capital to tie up in a design that is already proven, and for most shops the honest answer is more than they are comfortable with, because the alternative is an empty rail during the weeks it sells best.
There is a middle route worth knowing about. If the design is clearly working, placing one larger run and releasing it in phases costs less per piece than two separate runs and removes the batch variation question entirely. The trade-off is that the money goes out sooner, which is a decision about the shop rather than about the product.
