How long custom corporate apparel takes.
Production takes three weeks, counted from the day you approve your design, and shipping within the US adds two. Design and approval come before that, at your pace. Count back 8 to 10 weeks from the day you need the pieces. The calendar below does that for a real show date.
The number most suppliers give you is a production figure. It's true, and it isn't the whole answer, because production sits in the middle of the job. Design comes before it, your own decisions come before design, and a truck comes after.
The short answer, stage by stage
| Stage | How long | Whose clock |
|---|---|---|
| Design and approval | About two weeks for most teams, though it can be two days. | Yours. It runs at the pace of your reviewers. |
| Paid sample set, optional | About two weeks | Ours, once you ask for it. |
| Production | Three weeks from the day you approve the design | Ours. |
| Shipping, within the US | Two weeks from the day production ends, which we count from the day you approve | Ours. |
| Buffer | One week | Yours. Don't spend it early. |
Add it up and you get 8 weeks without a sample and 10 with one, and that total is the figure to put in the plan. The three weeks of production and two of shipping are the detail underneath it, and they only start counting on the day you approve the design.
Why the clock starts at approval
Buyers get caught the same way each time. A marketing manager has a show seven weeks out. She reads "three weeks of production from approval, then two weeks of shipping", adds them up to five, and relaxes. Then the mockup goes to her boss, who wants the logo bigger. From there it goes to the founder, who wants it smaller and in the other blue, and two weeks pass.
She approves with five weeks left, which is the floor, and one late size list later she's short a week. She'll feel misled, and she'll be half right, because someone published a number that didn't describe her calendar. Because of that, every lead time on this site says what it's measured from, in the same sentence. The three weeks of production run from the day you approve, which is later than the day you enquire and later than the day you first saw a mockup.
The clock starts at approval because nothing gets cut, stitched or printed until the design is final, and the design is final when you say so. We can make the design stage quick, but it can't finish without you.
A calendar worked backwards from a show date
Take a show that opens on Monday, December 7. Work back from the day the pieces should be in your hands, a week before the show, because you can't check a box that arrives on opening morning.
| Date | What happens | Weeks before the show |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, Sep 28 | Send the logo and the headcount, and design starts. This is your start date if you want a sample first. | 10 |
| Mon, Oct 12 | The design is settled and you order the paid sample set, which takes about two weeks. If you're skipping the sample, start here instead. | 8 |
| Mon, Oct 26 | The sample is in hand. You approve the design today, and the three weeks of production start today. | 6 |
| Mon, Nov 16 | Production ends and the order ships. Shipping within the US takes two weeks, on the schedule set when you approved. | 3 |
| Mon, Nov 30 | The pieces are in hand. Count them and check sizes during the one week of buffer. | 1 |
| Mon, Dec 7 | The show opens and everyone matches. | 0 |
Your show has a different date, so put it into the lead-time planner and it lays out these rows for you. The booth-specific version, with quantities and a packing list, is in Trade Show Booth Apparel, and the trade show apparel page covers the capsule itself.
What slows approval down
Design and approval is the stage with no fixed length, and it's the one that decides whether 8 weeks was enough. The same five things stretch it on order after order.
- No named approver. If four people can say no and nobody can say yes, every round trip takes a week. Name one person who can approve before the first mockup exists.
- The logo is a screenshot. Send us the vector file if one exists. A designer on our team can redraw a 300 dpi PNG, but a JPEG lifted from the website costs a round of back-and-forth to confirm the shapes.
- Brand colors aren't written down. "Our blue" is three different blues on three monitors. A Pantone or hex value settles it in one message.
- Sizes come after approval. Collect them while the design is still being reviewed. The sizing guide has the process, and a size list that lands a week late moves the ship date a week.
- The sample arrives and starts a new conversation. A sample is meant to do that. Count its two weeks in the plan from the start.
Fix those five and the design stage takes a few days. The Design Studio helps with the first one, because a designed collection you can send around as a link gets a yes faster than a mockup in an email thread.
Reorders skip the design stage.
Once a collection exists, the slow part is gone, because your design and sizes are already on file from the first order. A reorder needs a quantity and an approval, and its three weeks of production start the day you approve it, with two weeks of shipping after that. A company that runs three fall shows can design once in July for that reason.
It's also the argument for ordering the first collection earlier than you think you need to, since only the first order carries the design stage. The size and reorder guide covers how to keep the roster current between orders.
If your date is closer than that
Send it anyway, with the date in the quote request. We'll tell you within one business day what fits and what doesn't. When an order can't reach you before the show, we say so at that point, because finding out in week six is worse.
Related reading.
- Trade Show Booth Apparel: Timeline and Quantities
- Managing Sizes and Reorders
- Minimum Order Quantities, Explained
Questions we get.
How long does custom corporate apparel take?
Once your design is approved, production takes three weeks and shipping within the US takes another two. Design and approval come before that, at your pace. Start 8 to 10 weeks ahead of the day you need the pieces in hand.
When does the production clock start?
The day you approve the design, not the day you enquire. Everything before approval, from the first mockup to the last revision, moves at your pace and sits outside the three weeks of production.
Does a sample add time?
About two weeks. We make a sample set when a buyer asks for one. It's paid, and it comes before the bulk run. Start at ten weeks instead of eight if you want one.
Do reorders take as long?
Reorders skip the design stage, because your design and size history stay on file. Tell us the quantity and approve it. From that approval the reorder needs three weeks to produce and two to ship.