Your First Bulk Towel Order, Step by Step
By The Velocity Wear Team
A first bulk towel order runs enquiry, quote, artwork, sample, production, delivery. The minimum is 50 pieces per design, production takes 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval, and a sample costs £150 credited against the bulk order. Towels are quoted per job, so the process begins with a specification rather than with a price list.
What does the enquiry need to contain?
Four things move an enquiry straight to a real quote: the towel size in centimetres, the weight band you have in mind, the quantity, and the branding method with artwork attached. A rough date for when you need the stock helps as well, because it determines whether sampling fits in the calendar or has to be skipped.
If you do not yet know the weight, say what the towel is for. Gym floor, treatment room and hotel bathroom each point at a different specification, and describing the job is more useful than guessing at a number. Start from the wholesale towels page, which sets out the weights and branding options available on a bulk run.
How does the quote turn into an order?
The quote comes back with a unit price at your quantity, the decoration cost, the sample fee and delivery. Read it against the tiers rather than as a single number: the minimum is 50 pieces, and the discount climbs to a ceiling of 35 per cent as quantity rises through the bands, so the price you were quoted at 50 is not the price at 500.
Confirming the quote moves you to artwork. At that point the specification is locked into an order confirmation, which is the document everything is later measured against, so check the finished size, the weight figure and the branding position on it before you sign. The volume bands themselves are laid out on the pricing page.
Should you take the sample before production?
On a first order, yes. You are buying something you have never handled from a specification you have never used, and £150 credited against the bulk order is a small price for knowing. The sample also becomes your reference piece for checking the delivery, which is worth more than most buyers expect.
Skip it only when the deadline genuinely will not take it and you are prepared to accept the production run as it comes. Build the sample into the calendar rather than treating it as an optional extra at the end. A broader checklist for anyone placing a first bulk order is in what a UK brand should settle before its first bulk order.
Use the sample for more than a yes or a no. Wash it several times, hand it to the people who will actually be using the towels, and measure it after drying so you know the real finished size. Then keep it sealed in a bag as a reference piece and photograph it in daylight so the record does not depend on one towel surviving in a cupboard. When the bulk delivery arrives, an approved towel next to a production towel settles most questions in seconds.
What happens during the build and delivery?
Production is 10 to 15 working days from the moment artwork is approved, and that clock does not start while anything is still in revision. Towels are made, decorated, finished, labelled and packed to whatever bagging you specified, then boxed by specification and palletised if the quantity warrants it.
Delivery transit sits on top of the build, so count it separately when you are working back from a date. Delivery runs to the UK, USA and Europe, and invoicing is available in seven currencies. Getting the enquiry itself right is the single biggest saving of time, and briefing a supplier for towels covers exactly what to send.
