Reordering Wholesale Caps in Colour
By The Velocity Wear Team
Reordering caps is faster than the first run because the artwork is already digitised and the specification is on file. What does not change is the fifty-piece minimum per design, which applies to a repeat exactly as it did to the original. Lead time stays at 10 to 15 working days from approval, and colour is matched against the previous run rather than started from scratch.
Does a reorder still need fifty?
Yes. A repeat order is a fresh production run through the same machines, and the economics that set the minimum in the first place have not moved. This has a planning consequence worth taking seriously: if your first order was fifty and you sold thirty-five, you cannot top up with fifteen. You either wait until you need another fifty or you carry an awkward gap on the shelf. The way round it is to order the first run slightly long, which is also how you land in a better price band. The general case is covered in can I reorder the same design later.
Will the second run match the first?
Closely, and closer still if you ask for it explicitly. Thread colour is consistent between runs because it is a manufactured product with a fixed reference. Fabric is where drift appears: dye lots vary, and a navy twill batched six months apart can read very slightly different in daylight even against the same specification. It is rarely visible on a single cap and can be visible when two are side by side. If matching matters — a uniform where old and new caps are worn together — say so at order stage and keep a cap from the first run to compare against. Colour matching and Pantone explains why exactness is not on offer anywhere in apparel.
What is kept between runs?
- The digitised stitch file or the screen separations, so setup is not repeated from the logo.
- The approved position and size of the mark, in millimetres from the peak and the seam.
- Thread colour references and the blank specification, including crown structure and closure type.
- Any private-label detail: woven labels, tear-out labels, swing tags and bagging.
How often should you restock?
Work from lead time rather than from how the shelf looks. Four weeks between deciding and receiving is a fair planning number for a UK delivery, so your reorder trigger is four to five weeks of average sales still in stock. For staff kit, reorder when your spares drop below about ten per cent of headcount, not when they run out. Anything larger is worth timing against the tiers: if two restocks a year would each be fifty, one run of 100 is cheaper per piece, and the bands are set out on pricing. The current headwear range is on wholesale caps.
What should you record after the first run?
Write down four things while the order is still fresh, because in eight months nobody will remember them. What actually sold or was worn, by colour, rather than what you ordered. Any complaint about fit, weight or the sweatband, since those point at the blank rather than the branding. How long the stock lasted, which is the number your reorder trigger is built from. And whether the delivered caps matched the sample closely enough, because if there was drift you want a physical reference kept aside for the next comparison. Keep one cap from every run, labelled with the date. It sounds excessive until the third run, when someone says the navy looks different and there is finally a way to settle the question. Store it with the approved proof and the order reference so the whole history of a design lives in one place rather than across three people's memories.
