Wholesale Hoodies for Agencies
By The Velocity Wear Team
Agencies order client hoodies at a 50-piece minimum per design, from $31 a piece, produced in 10 to 15 working days once artwork is approved. The part that catches agencies out is not the build. It is that the approval clock does not start until the client has signed off the proof, and a client who takes eight days to respond has spent eight days of your campaign window.
How closely can a brand colour be matched?
Closely, but not identically, and the difference is worth explaining to a client before it becomes an argument. Ink on fabric and thread on fabric both behave differently from a colour on a screen or on coated paper, and the same reference will read slightly differently on a dark garment than on a light one. Supply the colour reference rather than a screenshot, and if the brand guardian is strict, take a sample first. Samples cost £150 and that figure is credited against the bulk order, which turns a subjective argument into a physical object everyone can look at. Agencies who skip this stage are the ones renegotiating after 50 hoodies have already been printed.
Who approves the artwork, and when?
Name the person before you start, not after the proof goes out. Campaign merch fails on approvals more than on anything else: the proof reaches a marketing manager who forwards it to a brand team who refer it to legal, and a week disappears. Set a single named approver, give them a dated deadline in writing, and make clear that the production window begins at sign-off. Agencies that run this properly build the approval round into the client timeline as its own line item rather than folding it into production.
Brand guidelines are worth reading properly before the proof rather than after it. Most sets specify a minimum clear space around a logo and a minimum reproduction size, and both are routinely broken by a sleeve placement that looked fine in a mockup. Knowing the rules before you propose a position saves an entire approval cycle, which on a six-week campaign is the difference between comfortable and frantic.
How do agency deadlines fit a 10 to 15 day build?
Work backwards from the moment the hoodies must be in someone's hands, which for a campaign is usually earlier than the launch date, because photography and seeding happen first. Subtract transit, subtract the 10 to 15 working days, subtract the approval round, and subtract the time your studio needs to prepare print-ready artwork. Six weeks is a comfortable total for a campaign with a real client in the loop. Where the merch is also going into an event, the event build date binds before the campaign date does; bulk hoodies for events covers that sequencing.
How should an agency price this to a client?
As a total for the run, with the quantity tier stated. The per-piece cost falls as quantity rises, up to 35% below the 50-piece rate at the top of the scale, and clients who understand that will often increase the order rather than shave it. Present the 50-piece figure alongside the 100 and 250-piece figures so the decision is theirs and the arithmetic is visible. Current from-prices are on the wholesale hoodies page, and the wider corporate range agencies tend to buy across is on the corporate page. Build your own handling into the quote openly rather than into the unit price, since clients compare unit prices.
