Choosing Right Uniform Size Breakdown For A Bulk Merch Order
Every customer’s procurement department has a dilemma the first time they need to place a bulk order for wholesale uniforms - sizing! The dilemma also presents itself when you buy branded merchandise or company logo shirts for a large event. The problem is amplified if you have casual or seasonal staff as the sizes will be changing.
In this post, we will guide you through the typical size spreads that are recommended for purchasing.
Don’t Guess Wholesale Uniform Size Breakdowns
When faced with an order size difficulty, believe it or not, most clients resort to guessing with a random decision to order, for example, fifty or forty of each.
This gives you extra ‘useless’ inventory, affecting your margins and turning into ‘stuff’ stored in forgotten boxes.
It also gives you a more important problem - you run out of shirts in the sizes you actually need.
If your wholesale order was not for uniforms but merchandise, then your attendees or fans will not be able to buy what they need - you lose sales.
If you have unwanted wholesale uniforms or merchandise, please consider donating them to Dress For Success in Brisbane. It is a non-profit that takes workwear and non-workwear.
Guideline Uniform Size Breakdowns For Wholesale Orders
A merchandising retailer, Dizzyjam, created a graph of sizing breakdowns based on global sales data, and it is spot on.
Source: Dizzyjam
If you are purchasing for the United States, the data shows more XXL sizes are needed more than in other countries. Australia follows in second place on this graph. The USA is number twelve, and Australia is number twenty-seven in the countries ranked by the section of the population that is obese (The data is derived from Central Intelligence Agency and published in The World Factbook). So Australia, for example, needs a lower percentage of XXL than the USA but a higher percentage than the UK.
Here is another example chart. This one is from RushTees in the USA and shows the volumes for average sizes typically purchased:
Source: USA company Rush Order Tees
Do you see that the majority is medium and large? It would seem that people who are placing bulk orders are predominantly buying medium or large. This is a costly assumption mistake to make.
We have put together an example of an order we would recommend for a bulk wholesale uniform shirt order. You will see that the spread leans towards the larger sizes:
The biggest quantity is still large (as that is the average size). There is an increase in XL and fewer medium shirts. This is an example, and we recommend that you check with us for guidelines that are specific to your business. A gym filled with bodybuilders will have a different curve to this.
Remember, though: a too-small shirt sits in storage while a too-big short can still be used.
Welborne Corporate Image provides wholesale uniform solutions direct to businesses, and we provide our corporate clients with stock holding solutions to ensure there’s always additional backup stock of your main uniform at our Brisbane warehouse.
(CTA) Call our helpful wholesale uniform team to get your order right.