What Does Mixed Sizes Actually Mean on an Order?
By The Velocity Wear Team
Mixed sizes means the minimum applies to the order as a whole, not to each size within it. At Velocity Wear the minimum is twenty pieces per order, so a run can be three small, eight medium, six large and three XL, as long as it is the same garment with the same artwork. You are not obliged to buy twenty of anything.
Where the Confusion Comes From
Plenty of manufacturers do apply minimums per size, particularly further up the supply chain where garments are made to order rather than pulled from stock. If you have been quoted on that basis before, a twenty-piece minimum sounds implausibly low, because you are mentally multiplying it by six sizes and arriving at a hundred and twenty garments. That is a reasonable assumption and it is the wrong one here. Twenty is the whole order.
What Has to Stay the Same Within the Run
Sizes are free to move because size does not change the setup. The press is set up for a design, not for a size, so a medium and a 2XL passing through the same run cost the same to decorate. What does matter is the artwork. Every distinct design needs its own setup, so twenty pieces split across four different prints is four jobs at five pieces each, and the maths stops being friendly. Garment colour matters too, though less: on screen printing, dark garments need a white underbase that light ones do not, so a run split between white and black tees is doing slightly different work on each half.
Splitting a Size Curve Without Guessing
If you can collect actual sizes, collect them. A shared form with a deadline will beat any estimate you make, and the people who do not reply are the same people who will tell you their size is wrong later. Where you genuinely cannot ask, the middle sizes carry most of any adult group, and the tails are thinner than people expect in both directions. The common error is ordering a tidy, even spread, which leaves you with unwanted extra smalls and a shortage of large.
- Ask first: a form with a closing date collects sizes faster than three rounds of chasing.
- Weight the middle: medium and large usually absorb the bulk of an adult group.
- Keep the tails honest: order a couple of the extremes rather than a symmetrical spread.
- Check the range: unisex and fitted cuts sit differently, so tell people which one they are choosing.
- Confirm where uplifts start: extended sizes are sometimes priced differently, and it is better to know before you build the split.
Should the Print Scale With the Garment?
This is the part almost nobody considers until the box arrives. A single print size across small to 3XL means the same graphic sits proportionally large on a small and slightly lost on a 3XL. Most runs keep one print size and it is perfectly acceptable, but it should be a decision rather than an accident. Where it genuinely matters is at the edges: children's sizes almost always want a reduced print, and a chest logo scaled for an adult will dominate a youth tee. Say what you want in the brief and it gets done. Say nothing and you get one size for everything.
Mixed Sizes and Mixed Everything Else
Mixing sizes is straightforward. Mixing garment colours within a run is usually fine. Mixing garment types is often fine as well, because the twenty is counted across the order. The line to watch is the number of separate setups you are creating, because that is where a small order stops being economical. One design across twenty mixed-size garments is efficient. Five designs across twenty garments is five short runs sharing a delivery.
“"Mixed sizes is not a concession. It is the difference between buying for the people in your team and buying for a stock list."”
Why This Changes What You Can Afford to Try
A per-size minimum forces you to commit before you know anything. A per-order minimum lets a first run double as a test: order the sizes your group actually needs, see the garment in the flesh, wash one, and then scale up with real information. Bulk discounts reach up to around 40% as quantities rise, so the second order is where the money is saved, and it is a much better order for having seen the first one.
Working Out Your Split Before You Order
The free instant price calculator shows live pricing as you change garment, method and quantity, so you can see exactly what an extra ten pieces does to the cost per piece before you finalise the size breakdown. The free Design Studio lets you preview the artwork on the garment. Between them you can settle both halves of the decision, the sizes and the design, without waiting on anyone to come back to you.