How Trades Buy Hoodies Wholesale
By The Velocity Wear Team
Trade firms buy hoodies wholesale at 50 pieces per design, from $31 each, made in 10 to 15 working days from artwork sign-off. The useful way to look at the number is per man per year: a crew of twelve getting three hoodies a year each is 36 pieces, so a 50-piece order covers the crew and leaves spares for the lads who start in spring.
What weight does site work actually need?
Heavier than an office hoodie and lighter than a jacket. Our brushed-back fleece runs 280 to 450 GSM, and site crews are almost always better served at 350 and above. The reason is mechanical rather than thermal: a heavier knit resists the abrasion of a tool belt, a scaffold tube and a van seat, and the cuffs and hem hold their shape after the wash cycle that a site hoodie gets. A 280 GSM piece will keep a man warm; it will just look finished sooner. Where the heavier fabric costs you is drying time, which matters if the kit gets wet on a Thursday and is needed on a Friday.
How does a hoodie layer under hi-vis?
Badly, if you order oversized. A hi-vis vest has to close over the top, and an oversized fit in a 450 GSM fabric will fight it. For crews who wear vests all day, take the classic fit and let the layer under it do the warming. Hood bulk is the other thing to think about: a hood sitting under a vest collar rides up and pushes the vest forward. Some firms solve it by keeping hoodies for travel, breaks and the yard, and running a lighter layer for under the vest. That is a decision about the working day, not about the garment, and it is worth making before you commit the sizes.
None of our hoodies are a substitute for certified high-visibility clothing. Where a site requires hi-vis, the hoodie sits underneath it. The construction and trades page covers what we can and cannot decorate for site use.
What does it cost a firm per year?
Start with the 50-piece from-price on the wholesale hoodies page and work out the replacement rate honestly. A site hoodie lasts a season of hard wear, sometimes two. Firms that order annually and order once rather than twice land a better tier, because the discount steps at 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1,000 pieces and reaches up to 35% off the entry rate. A ten-man outfit that orders 50 every year pays the entry rate every year. The same outfit ordering 150 every three years pays the 100 to 249 rate and keeps the spare stock in a store. The trade-off is cash tied up in a cupboard, which is a real cost for a small firm.
Which decoration survives a site?
Embroidery for the chest logo and for anything that has to still be legible after a year. Screen printing for a large back mark, which is what actually gets seen on a site and in traffic, and which is cheap per piece at trade quantities. Avoid fine line work and small type in print: dust, abrasion and hot washing take it apart faster than a solid shape does. Phone numbers on the back should be set larger than looks necessary on screen. The same logic applied to US crews is in work hoodies for construction and trades.
