Shipping team apparel: what to expect (US only for now).
Our delivery covers the US only for now, and one order can go to a single address or to every home on your list. This page explains how the clock runs from the day you approve the design, when bulk beats split-to-home, and what a 40-person order looks like week by week.
A hoodie is the same hoodie in Chicago or Sacramento. What changes between the two is how the address is written, whether the carrier can find the door, and whether the person receiving it knows it's coming. With those three right, a split-to-home order behaves like a box at reception, and with any of them wrong the program's first impression is a card from the depot.
Where we ship, and what to do for staff abroad
One order can go to home addresses and offices in all fifty states, and nothing leaves the US yet. If part of your team sits abroad, the practical routes are a US office that forwards the kit or a piece held for that person's next visit.
That stays the rule until we can deliver abroad with the same name sleeve and the same remake guarantee at the other end.
How the clock runs from approval
Every order runs on the same two numbers. Production is three weeks, counted from the day you approve your design, and shipping is two weeks on top of that. Design and approval come first and move at your pace, and for that reason we tell buyers to begin 8 to 10 weeks out: about two weeks of design and approval, three of production, two of shipping and a week of buffer. If you want to see the pieces first, a paid sample set adds about two weeks to the front of the plan.
| Order type | Production | Shipping | Plan on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reorder, design on file | 3 weeks from approval | 2 weeks | 5 weeks, plus a week of buffer |
| First order | 3 weeks from approval | 2 weeks | 8 to 10 weeks |
| First order with a paid sample set first | 3 weeks from approval | 2 weeks | 10 to 12 weeks |
The two weeks in transit are a planning figure, and they apply to every US address. Most parcels land sooner, but plan on the full two weeks and treat an early box as a bonus.
Bulk delivery compared with split-to-home
There are two ways to deliver, and most distributed teams use both.
| Bulk to one address | Split to each home | |
|---|---|---|
| Use it for | Offices and events | Remote hires and onboarding kits |
| Labels | One address, one label | One label per address. We print all of them. |
| Cost | Lowest per piece | Per-address delivery is priced on the quote |
| Handout | Someone hands over name-sleeved kits | Nobody has to. The box arrives with the name on it. |
| The moment | A team unboxing together | A personal unboxing, which is where the photos happen |
The hybrid that works is bulk to any location with five or more people and someone willing to hand out bags, and split-to-home for everyone else. Every piece is sleeved with the wearer's name either way, so a bulk box arrives already sorted and the office contact hands over bags without sorting sizes.
Collect addresses and sizes with one link.
The Design Studio share link collects size and cut per person, and for split shipping it should ask for all five of these fields:
- Full name, as the carrier should read it on the label.
- Street address with the apartment or unit number and the ZIP code, typed by the person who lives there, because people move between offer and start.
- A phone number the carrier can text, which often decides whether the box is delivered or a card is left on the door.
- Delivery notes such as a gate code, a front desk or a safe place.
- Size and cut, chosen while looking at the garment. The hoodie is cut roomy and the tee runs true, and our sizing guide covers the rest.
Set a five-day deadline and name a default size. There's no default for an address, and one that's still missing on order day becomes a separate late parcel.
What to tell the team before dispatch
Most delivery problems start with someone not knowing a parcel is on its way, and one message before dispatch, along these lines, prevents nearly all of them.
The tracking link matters more than it looks, because a parcel nobody expects gets left with a neighbor, and a hoodie that spends a week next door starts its life as a chore.
A 40-person order, planned week by week
Say 40 people each get a hoodie and a tee, one DTF print on each, at $23.96 and $17.02. The hoodie is cut roomy, and anyone who wants a closer fit should size down, while the tee runs true. That's 80 pieces, which clears the 50-piece tier, and the order would be $1,639.20 at list. With 12% off every piece the hoodie drops to $21.08 and the tee to $14.98, so the 40 kits come to $1,442.40, or $36.06 for each person, before shipping, which is quoted per address. Tier mechanics are in the pricing guide. The plan below aims at an unboxing in week 8.
| Week | Milestone | Who |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1 to 2 | Brief the Studio. It designs a collection across all eight products and a designer on our team finishes it. Share link goes out with a five-day deadline | You, team |
| Week 2 | Sizes and addresses locked. You approve the design and the quote. The clock starts here | You |
| Weeks 3 to 5 | Production, three weeks from the day you approve. Every piece checked by hand and sleeved with a name | Us |
| Week 5 | Dispatch. Pre-dispatch message to the team | You |
| Weeks 6 to 7 | Shipping. Up to two weeks after the production run you approved | Carriers |
| Week 8 | Target unboxing week, with a week of buffer behind it | Team |
| Weeks 9 to 10 | Buffer. Where the plan lands if approval slips a week or two | Everyone |
The plan runs eight weeks when approval lands on time and up to ten when it slips. For a hard date like an all-hands, start at ten and hold the early boxes for the reveal.
Five common shipping mistakes
- Collecting addresses in a spreadsheet after sizes. Use the share link instead, which collects both at once.
- Skipping the phone number. A carrier with no number to text is the most common reason a parcel comes back.
- Planning to the average. Plan to the full two weeks, and let early boxes be early.
- Not telling the team. An unexpected parcel gets left with a neighbor or sent back.
- Assuming we ship abroad. A kit for someone outside the US has to go to a US address that can forward it.
Distributed technology teams meet all of this at every hiring wave. The programs that last keep one collection and reorder it by email to each new hire's home. The design stays on file with us, and a reorder needs only the new sizes and a quantity. Vantage Systems runs its field engineer kit that way across nine states, with one design on file and one name-sleeved bag per person.
Related reading
- Team Onboarding Kits: ship before day one
- Managing Sizes and Reorders for Growing Teams
- Shipping and the remake guarantee
Questions we get.
Do you ship team apparel outside the US?
Not yet. We ship within the US only for now, to one address or to every home on the list from a single order. For someone abroad, ship the kit to a US address that can forward it, or hold it for their next visit.
Should I ship team apparel in bulk to an office or directly to each employee?
Ship in bulk to one address when most of the team is in one place and someone can hand out kits. Choose split-to-home when the team is distributed or the unboxing itself matters, as with onboarding kits. Per-address delivery is priced on the quote. Many teams do both, with bulk boxes to the hubs and split parcels for everyone else.
How long does shipping take?
Two weeks, anywhere in the US. Those two weeks follow three weeks of production, which start the day you approve your design. A first order needs 8 to 10 weeks in all before the date you need it, because design and approval come before production. A reorder skips the design stage, which leaves five weeks from approval plus a week of buffer.
What do you need from me for split-to-home delivery?
Accurate addresses, a phone number the carrier can text, delivery notes for gates and front desks, and each person's size and cut. The share link collects all of them at once, so nothing lives in a spreadsheet.