What Is the Minimum Order for Custom Clothing?
By The Velocity Wear Team
The minimum order is 20 pieces per order, and sizes mix freely within that 20. It is not 20 per size and not 20 per design. Twenty garments on one order, split however you like across the size range, and you are through the door.
The Number People Misread
Almost everyone who asks about minimums has been burned by a supplier who quoted "20 minimum" and then meant 20 smalls, 20 mediums, 20 larges. That is a different business model, usually one built around imported stock rather than decoration. Ours is a floor on the order, not on any individual line inside it. Three smalls, eight mediums, seven larges and two extra larges is a perfectly normal order of 20.
That distinction changes what is realistic for a small team. A ten-person office cannot buy 20 of each size. It can very comfortably buy 20 garments that fit ten people twice over, or 20 that fit ten people plus a few spares for new starters.
Why Minimums Exist in the First Place
Decoration has a fixed cost that does not care how many garments follow it. A screen print needs artwork separating, a screen exposing and a press setting up per colour. Embroidery needs the logo digitising into stitch data, then test-stitching on a scrap of the same fabric so the density is right. That work is identical whether the run is one piece or two hundred.
At 200 units the setup disappears into the per-unit price and nobody notices it. At one unit, the setup is the price. Minimums are not a way of refusing small customers. They are the point below which the number on the quote stops looking like clothing and starts looking like a studio invoice.
What Your Twenty Can Contain
- Any mix of sizes across the standard range, including the odd 3XL that one person on the team needs.
- Men's and women's cuts of the same style, provided the garment brand offers them as a matched pair.
- Individual names or numbers added on top of the main design using vinyl, so each piece is personalised.
- More than one print position on the same garment, such as a left chest logo and a back print.
- Different garment colours in some cases, though this interacts with the decoration method in ways worth checking first.
The Trade-Off Nobody Mentions
You can technically split 20 pieces across two different designs. Whether you should depends entirely on the method. With DTF there is no per-colour setup, so ten of one design and ten of another costs roughly what 20 of one design costs. With screen printing you have just doubled your setup and halved the run it is spread across, which is the worst possible shape for a screen print order.
So the practical rule is this: if you are at or near the minimum and you want variety, ask for DTF. If you are at the minimum and you want the lowest possible price, commit to one design and one colour count. People who understand this get much better value out of a first order than people who treat all 20 as interchangeable slots.
“"A minimum is not the supplier being difficult. It is the point where setup stops being most of what you are paying for."”
Minimums and the Bulk Curve
Twenty is the entry point, not the sweet spot. Discounts build as quantity rises and reach up to around 40% at volume, and the steepest part of that curve is early. Going from 20 to 50 usually moves the per-unit price more than going from 200 to 250 does.
If you are ordering for a team, a club or a shop, it is worth pricing 20, 50 and 100 before you decide. The instant price calculator updates live as you change quantity, so you can see exactly where the curve flattens for your particular garment and method rather than guessing.
Making a First Order of 20 Actually Useful
The common mistake is treating a minimum order as a throwaway test. It is not. Twenty garments is enough to clothe a small team, stock a market stall, or kit out a five-a-side squad with spares. Spend the same care on it that you would on 200.
Get the size split from real people rather than assuming. Decide the print position before you see the proof, not after. And if you are testing a garment style you have never handled, order the 20 in the style you actually intend to scale with, so what you learn transfers to the reorder.
Ordering Online, Start to Finish
There is no shop to visit. Everything happens online: you brief the job, lay the design out in the free Design Studio to see it on the garment, approve a proof, and the finished order is delivered on tracked shipping to the UK, USA, Europe or worldwide. UK delivery is typically 2 to 5 working days after dispatch.
That means the minimum is really the only gate. Clear 20 pieces and the rest of the process is the same whether you are ordering your first run or your fiftieth.