Budgeting a Bulk Tracksuit Order
By The Velocity Wear Team
Four lines make up a tracksuit budget: the sets themselves at $53 and up per set from the 50-set minimum, the decoration, the £150 sample if you take one, and freight to your address. Add ten per cent on top for the thing that changes. A group buying 50 sets with a single chest crest can hold the whole project in one figure on one page.
How do you build the total from the bottom up?
Start with the quantity, because everything else scales from it. Multiply the sets by the per-set figure for the band that quantity falls into, then add the decoration cost for each position you want. Do not average the decoration across the order in your head — list it per position, since that is how it is quoted and how it will appear on the invoice.
The bands run 50 to 99, 100 to 249, 250 to 499, 500 to 999 and 1,000 upwards, with a reduction of up to 35% against the 50-set price at the top. Work out the total at your number and at the next band up before deciding. The pricing page sets out the structure, and the set price it applies to is on our tracksuits page.
What does the sample do to a first budget?
It moves £150 forward in the calendar rather than adding it to the end figure, because the fee is credited against the bulk order when it goes ahead. The wrinkle is cash flow rather than cost: a committee that has raised exactly enough for the sets has to find the sample money before any of the subscription income arrives.
Budget for it as a separate early line with its own date, and treat it as spent until the bulk invoice arrives showing the credit. Groups that fold it into the main figure are the ones that end up short in the week the sample is ordered.
Where does delivery belong in the figure?
On its own line, quoted to the address the kit is actually going to. Freight to the UK, the USA and Europe varies by destination and by consignment size, and it does not scale the way the garments do — the difference in shipping cost between 50 sets and 100 is much smaller than the difference in garment cost. That is one reason the total per set falls faster than the garment price alone suggests.
Currency is the other item to pin down early. Invoicing is available in seven currencies, and budgeting in one while being invoiced in another quietly introduces an exchange rate into a number you told people was fixed. Decide at the quote stage. Broader planning of an annual clothing spend is covered in how to budget annual workwear spend.
How much headroom should be kept back?
Ten per cent of the total, held separately and not mentioned in the figure circulated to members. It covers the extra sets somebody remembers at the last minute, the change of mind about a second print position, and the difference between the size split you collected and the one people actually need.
The habit worth building is reading the quote line by line against the budget before approving anything, since that is the moment a missing line is cheap to fix. Reading a wholesale quote for tracksuits sets out what each line on that document means.
Record the budget as a per-set figure as well as a total. Totals are what get approved, but per-set numbers are what let you answer the question that always comes next: what would fifteen more cost. Keeping both on the same page means a change in headcount takes a minute to price rather than a return to the supplier.
