Whether it’s a charity 5K, a school spirit week, a sports tournament, or a company retreat — events and custom apparel go hand in hand. But event orders come with their own set of challenges, and they’re almost always easier when you start early.

Here’s how to think through the process from start to finish.

Start with a head count — then add a buffer.

You’ll never have a perfect count until the week of the event, and by then it’s too late to add more shirts. Get your best estimate early, then add 10–15% for late registrants, volunteers, and staff who “forgot” to sign up. Running out of shirts is a far worse problem than having a few extras.

Get your sizing distribution right.

A common mistake is ordering too many smalls or too many 2XLs. For a general adult event, a rough starting point is something like: 5% S, 20% M, 35% L, 25% XL, 10% 2XL, 5% 3XL. That shifts depending on your audience — a youth sports event looks completely different from a corporate golf tournament. Think about who’s showing up and plan accordingly.

Lock in your design early.

The design is usually the thing that holds everything up. Get it approved well before you’re ready to order, not at the same time. If your design needs revisions, that adds days. If you need a vector file cleaned up, that adds more time. A finalized design in hand before you talk numbers is the ideal situation.

Understand your lead time.

Standard production time plus shipping needs to be accounted for on your timeline. Larger orders can take a bit longer. If you have a firm event date, work backwards from it — not forwards from when you get around to ordering.

Think beyond the event-day shirt.

Some events benefit from a second item: a hat for volunteers, a different color shirt for staff, a hoodie for coaches or organizers. If you want tiered apparel for different groups, factor that into your planning from the start.

One point of contact makes everything smoother.

If you’re coordinating an order for a large group, designate one person to manage approvals and communication. Orders that get routed through ten different people for sign-off almost always run into delays.

Ready to plan your event order?

Sunshine State Threads handles event apparel all the time — from small local races to large-scale company events. Get in touch early, give us the details, and we’ll make sure your shirts are ready when you need them.