Societies: Leavers Season Order Deadlines
By The Velocity Wear Team
Raise a leavers order in early spring for kit that has to be worn in the final term. Counting backwards from the last week of term you need transit time, a production window of 10 to 15 working days from approval, and a realistic allowance for collecting names, sizes and money from a cohort that is sitting exams. March is comfortable. May is a gamble.
Why does spring feel early for a summer deadline?
Because the production window is only one of four stages, and it is the only one with a published figure. The others are collection, approval and transit, and all three are run by people with other priorities. A leavers order that looks like a three-week job on paper takes eight to ten weeks in practice, almost all of it before production begins.
Exam timetables make it worse. The weeks where a committee would normally chase sizes are the weeks nobody answers. Get the sign-up sheet closed before revision starts and the rest of the schedule looks after itself. The schools and leavers page sets out how these orders are handled, and the wholesale range shows the garments that suit a final-term run.
Which garment suits a leavers run best?
Hoodies from $31 and tracksuits from $53 per set are the usual choices because they get worn after the term ends. Jackets are quoted per job rather than carrying a published from-price, so ask for a figure early if that is the direction, since a jacket quote changes the budget conversation more than any other decision on the list.
Whatever you choose, remember the minimum is 50 of one design. A cohort of 30 cannot split into two colourways without becoming two orders of 50. One design, one colourway, mixed sizes is almost always the right answer for a leavers group.
What goes wrong in the last fortnight?
Three things, in order of frequency. Somebody notices a spelling mistake in a name list after approval. A size is added late and the order has to be re-cut. Or the delivery address is a hall of residence that closes for the holiday before the box arrives. Fix the third by shipping to a departmental address that is staffed year round.
The first two are why approval is a hard stop rather than a formality. Understanding lead times and what delays a clothing order lists the changes that reset the clock, and building a launch calendar that does not slip is a useful template even for a one-off society order.
How should the budget be agreed?
Collect money against a confirmed per-piece figure, not an estimate, and collect it before approval. Committees that order first and collect later end up covering the gap from society funds. Quantity bands start at 50 to 99 and the discount reaches 35% at the largest runs, so if two year groups are ordering together it is worth combining into one design and one run.
What needs checking on the proof?
Four things, and read them aloud rather than scanning. The spelling of the society name in full. The year, which is the single most common error on leavers kit and the one that makes the garment worthless if it is wrong. The orientation of any crest. And the print dimensions against the smallest size in the run, since a chest graphic sized for extra large can run into the seams on a small.
Have two people check it independently rather than passing it round a group chat where everyone assumes somebody else looked properly. Approval is the point after which changes cost you the production window, so the ten minutes spent here is the best value in the entire process.
Keep the approved proof somewhere the whole committee can see it, too. Once the box lands, the only fair test of whether the order is right is whether it matches what was signed off, and an argument about that in June is unwinnable if the proof lives in one person at an address that stops working when they graduate.
