Schools: Ordering T-Shirts in Bulk
By The Velocity Wear Team
Schools order t-shirts in bulk from 50 pieces per design, from $13 a piece, with sizes mixed freely inside that 50. The part that catches schools out is not the price, it is the calendar: production runs 10 to 15 working days from artwork approval, plus delivery, and a leavers date does not move. Place the order with several weeks of float ahead of it.
When does a school order need to be placed?
Work backwards from the date the shirts are handed out. Subtract delivery transit, then the 10 to 15 working day production window, then however long it takes to collect sizes from a year group, chase the late returns, and get the artwork signed off by whoever signs things off at your school. That last stretch is usually the longest and the least predictable. A half-term holiday sitting in the middle of it removes a week of chasing time without removing any of the work. The general planning shape is set out in apparel production lead times explained.
How do name lists work on a leavers design?
A name list printed on the back is one design, not thirty, as long as every shirt carries the same list. That keeps the whole year group inside a single 50-piece order. What makes it a different design is personalisation — a name or a number unique to each shirt — which changes the job substantially and should be discussed before you promise it to pupils. Get the list spelled correctly and signed off by a named member of staff, because a misspelled surname on 120 shirts is not a fixable problem after production.
Set a hard cut-off for adding names and hold it. Every school order that runs late ran late because someone was added after the artwork was approved.
What weight should a school t-shirt be?
Combed ring-spun cotton between 150 and 240 GSM covers everything a school needs, but the right point on that range depends on the use. A leavers tee is a keepsake worn occasionally, so a mid-weight around 180 GSM feels substantial in the hand without adding cost. A house or sports day shirt is worn hard in a single afternoon and washed with everything else, so durability matters more than hand-feel. A shirt that will be signed in marker pen on the last day benefits from a lighter, smoother surface that takes ink cleanly.
How should the sizes be collected?
Publish the flat chest measurement next to each size name on the form rather than just the letters, because a Year 11 cohort contains adult sizes that a child size chart will not cover. Collect on paper or a single online form with a deadline, order to what you have on that date, and add a small buffer in the two most common sizes rather than one of every size. Ordering a few spares is cheaper than a second run, since a top-up order carries its own 50-piece minimum.
Who pays, and how does that change the order?
Three models turn up and each shapes the quantity differently. Where the school funds the shirts, you order for the full cohort and the numbers are settled. Where pupils pay individually, you only have firm numbers once the money is in, and the 50-piece minimum means a low uptake becomes a problem the school has to cover. Where a parent association or a fundraising effort covers it, you usually have a fixed budget and need to work backwards from it to a quantity and a specification.
For the second of those, collect payment and size together on the same form and close both on the same date. A school that collects sizes early and money late ends up ordering on a guess, and the difference between the guess and the outcome is the shirts nobody pays for.
Weights, fits and current from-prices are listed on the wholesale t-shirts page, and the schools and leavers page covers hoodies and the rest of the leavers range alongside the tees. If the year group is fundraising towards the cost, the approach in booster club spirit wear transfers well.
