Events: Ordering T-Shirts in Bulk
By The Velocity Wear Team
Event t-shirts run from 50 pieces per design, from $13 each. Everything else about an event order follows from the date. Production takes 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval and delivery sits on top, so the artwork freeze date — not the event date — is the deadline that actually governs the job. Fix it, write it down, and hold it.
Crew shirts or merch shirts, and are they the same order?
They are two different jobs wearing the same name. Crew shirts have a known headcount, a known size list and a single purpose: making staff identifiable across a site. They are usually one colour, one design, and easy to quantify. Merch shirts are sold, which means they need a size curve based on a guess, a design that someone would pay for, and enough stock that you do not sell out on the first morning. If the two designs differ, they are two orders of 50, and it is worth deciding whether the crew tee is really a distinct design or the same graphic in a different colourway — a colourway needing its own screens also counts separately.
How many merch shirts should you order?
Enough to look stocked at the end of day one without warehousing the remainder for a year. Weight the curve heavily to the middle sizes and keep the tails short, because event buyers self-select and the extremes move slowest. If the event repeats, record what sold and in what size — the second year's order should be shaped by the first year's data rather than the same flat guess. A boxy cut absorbs a wider range of body sizes in fewer sizes, which reduces the leftovers.
What goes wrong on event orders?
Almost always the calendar, and almost always at the approval stage rather than in production.
- Artwork signed off late because a sponsor or headline act had not confirmed
- A delivery address that is a venue with a narrow receiving window, or no receiving at all
- Crew sizes collected in the final week, after the order should have gone
- A last-minute colour change that resets the production clock
Ship to an office or a warehouse rather than a venue wherever possible, and plan the whole thing backwards using the method in apparel production lead times explained. For conference and corporate formats specifically, conference and corporate event t-shirts covers the differences.
Is a sample worth it on a one-off event?
What weight suits an event tee?
Lighter than you would choose for uniform, in most cases. Event shirts are worn once or twice in warm, crowded conditions and then go into a wardrobe, so the durability argument that justifies a heavy tee for staff kit does not apply. A combed ring-spun cotton at the lower end of the 150 to 240 GSM range is comfortable on a long day and keeps the unit cost down, which matters more on merch that has to carry a margin. Crew shirts are the exception: they are worn across a full build and de-rig, often for several days running, and deserve a heavier body.
If the event is repeating, yes — the £150 is credited against the bulk order and the approved garment becomes next year's reference. If it is genuinely a single date and the schedule is tight, the sample loop may not fit, in which case fix the specification tightly in writing instead: garment weight in the 150 to 240 GSM range, fit, exact colourway and Pantone references for every ink. Weights and from-prices are listed on the wholesale t-shirts page, and the events and festivals page covers the rest of an event kit list.
