Lead Times Salons Should Plan For
By The Velocity Wear Team
A salon uniform order runs 10-15 working days in production once artwork is signed off, with delivery on top of that. Add a week or two at the front for artwork, colour decisions and a sample if you want one. For a fixed date such as a refit, a second site or a January intake, put the order in six to eight weeks ahead and you can absorb one delay without drama.
How long does a salon uniform order actually take?
Production is measured from artwork approval, not from the day you first email a supplier. The 10-15 working day window covers cutting, decoration and finishing, which lands between two and three calendar weeks depending on where your approval falls in the week. Transit is separate and depends on the address, since delivery runs to the UK, USA and Europe. The salons and barbers page sets out the kit most salons buy, and the full wholesale range shows what else can travel on the same booking.
Quantity barely moves that window. Fifty units of one design takes roughly the same time as five hundred, because the setup work behind it is identical either way: screens burned, embroidery files digitised, colours matched to your reference. What does move it is adding a second design after approval, because that design starts its own cycle rather than joining the one already running.
What has to happen before the clock starts?
Three things gate the start date, and all three sit with the buyer rather than the factory. Most of the delay salons complain about happens here, in the fortnight nobody schedules.
- 1Artwork supplied as vector or a high-resolution file, with the version you actually want rather than the one on the window.
- 2Colour references confirmed, including the shade of black or navy you expect on a dark garment.
- 3The size split agreed across the 50-piece minimum, which is per design and can be mixed freely across sizes.
- 4The optional sample at £150, credited against the bulk order, ordered and reviewed before bulk is released.
When should a salon place the order for a fixed date?
Count backwards from the day the kit needs to be on the floor, not the day you open. Allow a week for delivery, three calendar weeks for the build at the top of the 10-15 working day range, and three to five days for artwork and approval. That is five weeks before you have added anything. A sample stretches it by another two weeks once you include post in both directions and your own review time, so eight weeks out is the comfortable answer and six is the tight one.
Towels are worth settling at the same moment. They are quoted per job rather than carried at a published from-price, so the towel line on a quote takes a little longer to firm up than a jogger or a polo does. Get the sizes and weight discussed in the first conversation and both halves of the order can be approved together, as covered in our guide to towels for salons and spas.
What slows a salon order down most often?
Artwork, then colour, then late additions. A logo that exists only as a JPEG from a sign-writer needs redrawing before anything can be printed or stitched, and that conversation eats days if it starts after the order is placed. Colour is the second one: salons tend to want a brand shade that also survives bleach splash and tint, and choosing between a true brand colour and a darker tone that hides staining is a decision worth making before approval rather than after it.
The third is scope creep. A salon that adds an apron design in week two has started a second 50-piece order with its own production cycle, and the two will not necessarily land together. If there is any chance of a second design, put it in the first quote. The broader picture on scheduling is in apparel production lead times explained, which is worth a read before you commit to a date in front of clients.
