Questions to Ask a Company Apparel Vendor
A vendor volunteers fabric weight, a mockup round, the setup fee and the reprint policy before you have finished describing the event. A vendor waits to be asked which lead time clock the order is on, whether the date in the quote is a ship date or a delivery date, and who keeps the digitized embroidery file once the invoice clears. Ask the second set. Six questions move the number and the calendar, and the published lists skip every one of them.
Ask which clock, ship or delivery, stock color or dyed, who holds the file, where the size run comes from, and what arrives in the box. Those six answers are the quote. Everything else on the call is housekeeping.
The clock
Decoration on stock goods is about 14 days. A garment built from the fabric up is about 45 days door to door.
The file
The digitized file and the color record are what let the reorder match the first run eleven months later.
The box
Bulk by size, or kitted by name with an insert card. That gets decided at order time, not on the dock.
The industry publishes the easy list
what everyone else asks
Search the phrase and you get the same page from a dozen decorators. Garment material. Print placement and quality control. How many mockup rounds. Cost transparency. What happens if a box arrives damaged. The Fresh Prints version covers exactly that ground and stops there. Every one of those questions is reasonable. Not one of them changes your delivery date or your invoice.
The six below do. They are the questions PILLAR gets asked by the buyers who have run a program before, the ones who have already been surprised once. We build for AO, the WM Phoenix Open and Progressive Roofing, and the first call with each of them was a calendar conversation before it was a fabric conversation.
A buyer brings three things to the first call
before you dial
Write these down. A vendor who has them in the first four minutes can quote. A vendor who does not will guess, and a guessed quote gets revised.
The date
Not the order date. The date the goods have to be in the building, with the distribution day named.
The headcount
Heads, plus the people who get two, plus the spares you will hand out at the door.
The intended use
Uniform worn five days a week, or a gift handed out once. Those are two different garments.
The vendor knows which clock this order runs on
question one
There are two clocks and they are not close together. Logo decoration applied to stock polos runs about 14 days. A garment built from the fabric up, woven or knit to spec and dyed to your color, runs about 45 days door to door, with 30 to 35 of those days in production alone.
Put today against it. From Thursday October 1 2026, the 14 day clock lands Thursday October 15 2026. The 45 day clock lands the week of November 16 2026. Same phone call, same logo, five weeks apart.
So ask the question plainly, and listen for one number or two. A vendor who answers with a single lead time covering both paths is quoting a product nobody has chosen yet. The difference between decorating stock and building a garment is the whole reason the two clocks exist.
On the 14 day clock
David Polo, Navy
$76
84 percent nylon, 16 percent spandex. Four way stretch, sweat wicking, classic athletic fit, firm collar, U cut hem, pre shrunk. This is the shirt to decorate when the date is tight and navy will do the job. Chest crest, sleeve hit or applied graphic, and the goods already exist.
The carrier decides the last five days
question two
A quote names a date. The date is usually the day the goods leave the floor, and the vendor is not hiding that, they are just answering the question you asked. Freight is days on top. The lane and the service level decide how many.
Ask which one the quote names. Ask for both. The only number you can build a distribution table against is the door to door date, because the table happens in your building and the factory is not in your building. A ship date mistaken for a delivery date is how a Friday event discovers on Wednesday that the pallet is still in transit.
Good answer sounds like a sentence with two dates and a transit window in it. Weak answer is a single date with no carrier attached.
The dye house gets involved the moment you name a brand color
question three
Stock palettes are finite. A mill offers the colors it offers, and your brand blue is almost certainly not one of them, which is the quiet reason no stock polo comes in your actual brand color.
So the third question is whether the color you want already exists as fabric or has to be made. If it has to be made, you are on the 45 day clock whether or not you meant to change products. That is not a problem, it is a decision, and it needs to be made before the quote is written rather than after the date is promised.
PILLAR dyes fabric to an exact color and builds all over print from original repeat patterns, so the color question has real answers on both sides. The answer you do not want is a cheerful yes with no mention of what yes does to the calendar.
When color is the point
Steven Polo, Brew print
$76
88 percent polyester, 12 percent spandex. Textured feel, four way stretch, sweat wicking, classic athletic fit, U cut hem, pre shrunk. A print carries a brand without putting a logo in the middle of the chest, which is the move when the shirt has to work off the clock too. See the rest of the polo range.
The embroiderer keeps a file you paid for
question four
Your logo arrives as a vector or a flat image. Before a machine can sew it, somebody converts it into stitch instructions, and that digitized file is a separate object from the art you sent. It has a thread list attached to it. Those two records are the reason year two can match year one.
Ask who holds the file after this order and ask what happens when you reorder in eleven months. The useful answer names a party, a location and a copy you can have. The answer to walk away from is a reassurance with no owner in it.
While you are there, ask what format the shop actually wants from you, because the file you send sets the quality of the stitch you get. PILLAR digitizes for chest crests, sleeve hits, chenille and 3D puff, and keeps the record on file against the reorder.
The whole post in one line
Every soft answer on the first call is a decision the vendor is going to make for you in week six, without calling to ask.
Real employees produce a real size run
question five
A size chart is a document. A size run is data. The two get confused constantly, and the confusion arrives in a box as forty mediums for a crew that wears large.
Ask where the vendor gets the run. If the answer is a standard curve spread across your headcount, you are gambling. The method that works is dull: collect sizes from the actual people, publish a deadline, assign a default size to everyone who ignores the email, then order a buffer over headcount so the last person in line still gets a shirt. Sizing a company polo order is mostly administration, and it is the administration that decides whether the program lands well.
Settle the other half of the quantity question at the same time, which is how many shirts each person actually needs. One for an event, several for a uniform.
The collar question
David Polo, White
$76
84 percent nylon, 16 percent spandex, firm collar, U cut hem, pre shrunk. White sits inside almost every dress code, and the firm collar is why it still reads as a shirt at four in the afternoon.
The second layer
Alec Quarter Zip, Blue
$98
The layer that keeps a polo program running past October. Add it now and it ships on the same clock as the shirts. Read the case for a cold weather layer or see the pullovers.
The packing table follows the instruction you gave at order time
question six
Two boxes can hold the same 240 shirts. One holds them bulk by size in labelled cartons, which means somebody on your team spends an afternoon sorting. The other holds 240 named kits, each with the right size inside and a branded insert card on top, which means a table with a sign on it and a line that moves.
That is decided when the order is written, not when the truck arrives. Ask the question before the quote is signed, because a vendor who hears it on delivery day cannot do anything about it. PILLAR does private label neck tags, trim and detail work, headwear, and packaging with branded insert cards and name level kitting, and all of it is specified up front.
On price: PILLAR quotes against the garment, the decoration, the quantity and the date. There is no list to read from, which is exactly why the six questions above are worth asking first.
A good vendor answers in dates and names
how to score the call
| The question you ask | What a real answer sounds like | What a vague answer is hiding |
|---|---|---|
| Which clock is this order on | Decoration on stock goods is about 14 days. A built garment is about 45 days door to door, 30 to 35 in production. | One lead time quoted for both paths, which means the product has not been chosen yet. |
| Ship date or delivery date | It leaves the floor on the tenth, freight is five days, it lands at your dock the week of the sixteenth. | A single date with no carrier and no transit window attached to it. |
| Stock color or dyed | Here is the stock palette. Your blue is not in it, so the fabric gets dyed and the order moves to 45 days. | We can match any color, with no mention of what matching does to the calendar. |
| Who holds the digitized file | We digitize it, we keep the file and the thread list on record, and you get a copy on request. | Do not worry about the file. Nobody has named an owner or a location. |
| Where the size run comes from | You collect sizes from your people, we add a default for non responders and a buffer over headcount. | Send a total count and we will spread it across a standard curve. |
| What arrives in the box | Kitted by name with an insert card, or bulk by size in labelled cartons. Tell us at order time. | It ships in boxes. The sorting has quietly become your Saturday. |
Buyers ask us these six things first
frequently asked
What should I ask a custom apparel company before I order?
Ask six questions: which lead time clock the order is on, whether the quoted date is a ship date or a delivery date, whether your color exists in stock or has to be dyed, who holds the digitized embroidery file after the order, where the size run comes from, and how the goods are packed. Those six set the price and the calendar, because each one names a decision the vendor will otherwise make without you. Fabric weight and mockup rounds matter, but they do not move the date.
How long does custom company apparel take?
Logo decoration on stock polos runs about 14 days. A garment built from the fabric up runs about 45 days door to door, with 30 to 35 of those days in production. The two paths are different products on different calendars, so a vendor who quotes one number for both has not decided which one you are buying.
Is the date on my quote a ship date or a delivery date?
Ask, because most quotes name a ship date. Freight adds days after the goods leave the floor, and the number of days depends on the lane and the service level. Only the door to door date can be planned against, since the distribution table happens at your building and not at the factory.
Can a vendor match my exact brand color?
Yes, by dyeing fabric to that color, which moves the order onto the longer clock. Stock palettes are finite and rarely contain a specific brand blue or green, so an exact match means the fabric is dyed rather than pulled off a shelf. Decide which you want before the quote is written, because the color choice and the delivery date are the same decision.
Who owns the digitized embroidery file after my order?
Ask the vendor directly and get the answer in writing. The digitized file, the thread list and the color record are what let a reorder match the first run, and they live wherever the decorator keeps them. Without that record, year two is a fresh approximation of year one rather than a repeat.
How do I get sizes from employees who do not respond?
Set a default size for non responders and add a buffer over headcount. A size chart is not a size run, and a standard curve spread across a headcount leaves you short in the sizes your people actually wear. Collect real sizes from real people, publish a deadline, assign the default, and order above the count so the last person in line still gets a shirt.
Give Us the Hard Date and We Will Work Backward From It
Tell PILLAR the event, the headcount and the date it has to be in the building. We will tell you which clock that puts you on, what the color decision costs in days, and how the boxes should arrive.
