Sizing a Clothing Order for Sports Clubs
By The Velocity Wear Team
Sizes mix freely within the 50-piece minimum at no extra cost, so a club can order exactly the curve it needs. The difficulty is never the factory, it is collecting sizes from a squad. Measure once against a physical garment, record the answer against each name, and keep that list as the basis for every future order.
How do you collect sizes from a squad without chasing?
Put a real garment in front of people. A sizing session before training, with the actual item on a table, produces a complete list in twenty minutes where an online form produces two thirds of one over a fortnight. Members pick better when they can hold the garment, and the club stops guessing.
Then set a deadline that the order genuinely respects. A club that waits for the last three returns delays fifty people, and the three usually turn up when the kit does. Order on the deadline and cover the stragglers from spares. The garments we produce for clubs are on the sports clubs page.
What does a typical club size curve look like?
It depends on the sport far more than on any general table. A rugby squad and a running club wearing the same hoodie produce entirely different curves, and neither matches a retail distribution. If the club has ordered before, last season's issue list beats any published guidance.
For a first order with no history, avoid the instinct to order one of everything. A curve weighted to the middle with real depth in the two sizes your squad actually wears will leave less dead stock than a flat spread across eight sizes. Apparel sizing and fit covers how cut changes the same nominal size.
How do junior and senior sections differ?
They differ enough that the curve should be built separately even when the design is shared. A junior section stretches the small end of the range and turns over quickly as children grow; a senior section is stable year to year. Both can sit inside one run of fifty, because sizes mix freely, but the quantities per size are not interchangeable.
- Build the junior and senior lists separately, then combine into one order.
- Expect juniors to need replacements inside a season as they grow.
- Hold junior spares one size up from the modal size rather than at it.
On hoodies in particular, fit is the main source of complaints and the easiest thing to settle in advance. A hoodie fit and sizing guide covers what changes between cuts.
How many spares should a club hold?
Enough to cover a season of joiners and replacements, which for most clubs is around a fifth of the run. The reason to be generous is structural: a top-up is another fifty pieces and another 10-15 working day build, so a shortfall cannot be fixed quickly. Ordering deeper at the start also improves the tier, where the discount reaches up to 35% from the 50-piece rate. The tiers are listed on the wholesale overview.
Who should own the size list at a club?
One person, named, for the whole season. Size collection fails when it is everyone job, because each coach assumes another has it and the list arrives three weeks late and two thirds complete. A kit secretary with the authority to close the list on a stated date is the difference between an order that goes in on time and one that does not.
That person should also hold the record of what was issued. A spreadsheet of names against sizes, updated at every handout, becomes the starting point for the next order and removes the collection exercise almost entirely the second year. It is fifteen minutes of work per season and it saves several weeks of chasing.
