Wholesale Polo Shirts for Trades
By The Velocity Wear Team
A trades polo needs to work as a base layer under hi-vis and as a standalone company shirt in front of a customer. Performance knits handle the first job, cotton piqué the second, and most firms order one garment that compromises sensibly between them. Polos start at $18 a piece at our 50-piece minimum, with sizes mixed freely.
What makes a polo work on site?
Three things. It has to layer without bunching, because a bulky knit under a vest is uncomfortable within the hour. It has to cope with being worn hard and washed hot. And the branding has to stay legible when half the shirt is covered by a vest or a harness, which is an argument for a chest logo positioned high and a mark on the sleeve rather than a large back print.
Performance knits win on the first two points, and a mid-weight piqué wins on appearance. If your crews are customer-facing — domestic installers, maintenance teams, anyone standing on a doorstep — the piqué is usually worth the compromise.
Where should the branding go?
High on the left chest, above the line a vest typically sits, plus a name or role on the sleeve if you need to identify crews. A large back print looks good in photographs and is invisible on site, so treat it as secondary. Embroidery is the durable option for a small mark; print handles larger artwork and detailed logos.
If hi-vis garments carry your branding too, keep the logo identical across both so the crew reads as one company. The considerations for branding hi-vis specifically are in our construction shirts with logo guide.
What does a trades order cost?
From $18 a piece at the 50-piece minimum, with the discount rising to up to 35% as quantity increases across the tiers at 50–99, 100–249, 250–499, 500–999 and 1,000 plus. A firm with fifteen on the books kitting each person out with three shirts clears 50 without stretching. A £150 sample, credited against the bulk order, lets a foreman wear one for a week before you commit.
That week is worth more than any spec sheet. Site wear either survives or it does not, and one shirt through a real working week answers the question. Production then runs 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval, before delivery transit.
How do you handle sizing across a crew?
Ask, do not assume. A construction workforce spans a wider size range than an office, and the tail sizes are genuinely needed rather than nominal. Collect actual sizes from the crew, then add a reserve weighted towards the middle for new starters — turnover means the run sized exactly to today's headcount runs short within months.
Note that a top-up is a new run of 50 rather than a few extra pieces, so the reserve is less expensive than the reorder. Our construction and trades page covers the wider workwear picture, the polo shirts page has the knits and collar options, and the US polo guide compares fabrics and fits in more depth.
Should a trades firm order more than one colour?
Only with a reason. Each colourway that needs its own screens counts as a separate design with its own 50-piece minimum, so a second colour doubles the entry commitment. Where firms do it, it is usually to separate supervisors from crew or one trade from another on a mixed site, and that is a legitimate operational reason rather than a preference.
If the aim is only to look smart, one colour ordered deeper is the better buy. The volume tiers are measured from the 50-piece price, so 100 pieces of one shirt sits in a better tier than 50 each of two, and every person on site still gets more shirts than they would otherwise have had.
