Briefing a Supplier for Tracksuits
By The Velocity Wear Team
Send six things and the first quote will be the real one: the number of sets, the size split, the fabric weight you want, the artwork in vector form, the exact colours, and the date the kit has to be in your hands. Leave any of those out and what comes back is an estimate that moves later, which is where most of the frustration in a first order comes from.
What turns an estimate into a firm price?
Quantity and decoration, in that order. The per-set figure depends on which band your number falls into, and the decoration cost depends on how many print colours or how many stitches your artwork actually needs. Without those two, any figure is a starting point rather than a price. Our pricing page shows the bands, and the tracksuits page shows the from-price they are measured against.
Be precise about the number even if it is not final. "Around a hundred" and "108" produce the same band, but "fifty or so" and "48" do not, because 48 is below the minimum and needs a different conversation. If the figure depends on how many people sign up, say that — a quote can be built at two quantities so the committee can see both.
Which artwork files are actually useful?
Vector: AI, EPS, PDF with live paths, or SVG. Those scale to any size without softening, and they let a print separation or an embroidery file be built directly. A high-resolution PNG is workable for a DTF transfer if the background is genuinely transparent. A logo copied from a web page, a screenshot, or an image with a white box behind it will all need redrawing first.
Send every element you want on the garment, including the small ones. A sleeve mark, a hip badge and a hood-lining print each carry their own setup, and a brief that mentions only the chest logo produces a price that changes once the rest appears. How do I brief a clothing supplier properly goes through the file question in more depth.
How should colours be specified?
By reference, not by name. "Navy" covers dozens of shades and "our brand blue" covers exactly one, which nobody else can see. Give a Pantone reference for garment colour and for each ink or thread, or send a physical swatch if you have one. If your brand has never been pinned to a reference, do it now rather than during production.
The number of colours in a print drives cost directly, because each one is a separate screen. A four-colour chest design costs more to set up than a one-colour version of the same mark, and at 50 sets that setup is spread thinner than it would be at 500. How many colours should your design have works through the trade-off with real examples.
What gets left out of a first email?
Four things, almost every time. The delivery address, which decides transit time and whether a pallet is practical. The deadline, which decides whether the schedule works at all. The size split, without which the quantity is only half an answer. And whether you want private labelling, which has to be specified before cutting rather than after.
Write the brief once, properly, and keep a copy. When the quote arrives you can read it against what you asked for, and when the proof arrives you can check it against the same document. Most disagreements later in a project are really disagreements about what was in the brief.
Say what the garment is for, too. A set that will be worn to travel to fixtures, a set that will be trained in twice a week and a set that will be sold to the public all point towards different fabric weights and different decoration choices. A supplier who knows the use case can suggest the version that suits it; a supplier given only a quantity can only quote what was asked for.
