START FROM THE DATE YOU NEED THEM IN HANDS, not the date of the event. If shirts are for a Friday game, you want them Wednesday. Handing out shirts an hour before kickoff is how a missing size becomes a crisis instead of an inconvenience.
PRODUCTION is normally one to two weeks after the art AND the size counts are both approved. Not one or the other. A job sits still while anyone is waiting on a final roster, and that waiting time is invisible until it is too late.
SIZES ARE THE USUAL BOTTLENECK, not printing. Collecting sizes from forty families takes longer than printing forty shirts. Start the size list the same day you start the artwork conversation, and set a hard cutoff. A group that says 'we will get you the last few sizes later' is a group whose shirts print later.
ART APPROVAL comes before screens are burned, and a screen is a physical object. Once it is made, a change means making it again. Approve the mockup carefully; that is the cheap moment to change your mind.
THE BUSY WEEKS in this area are predictable: the start of each sports season, homecoming, playoff runs, graduation, and the back-to-school stretch. If your date falls in one of those, add cushion, because everyone else's date does too.
IF YOU ARE ALREADY TIGHT, say so at the start rather than at the end. There are real options: simplify to fewer ink colors, use a garment already in stock, or split the order so the people who need shirts first get them first. All of those work. None of them work if nobody knows there is a deadline.
- Work back from the date you need them IN HANDS, not the event date
- One to two weeks production AFTER art and sizes are both approved
- Sizes take longer to collect than shirts take to print; set a hard cutoff
- Screens are physical, so approve the mockup before they are burned
- Season start, homecoming, playoffs and graduation are the crunch weeks
Questions people ask about when to order shirts for your season
How far ahead should we order team shirts?
Work back from the date you need them in hands. Production is normally one to two weeks after BOTH the artwork and the size counts are approved, and collecting sizes usually takes longer than people expect. Three to four weeks ahead is comfortable; less than two is tight in a busy season.
What actually holds up a shirt order?
Sizes, almost every time. Printing forty shirts is fast. Getting final sizes from forty families is not. The second most common holdup is artwork that has not been approved yet, because screens cannot be made until it is.
Can you rush an order?
Sometimes, and it depends on what is already on the press and what the design needs. Say the deadline at the START of the conversation, not after the artwork is done. There are usually options such as fewer ink colors or a garment already in stock, but only if there is time to choose them.
We take when to order shirts for your season work from Alice, Kingsville, premont, Freer and the rest of the Falfurrias area.
New to this? The plain-English guide to ordering walks through what to decide first.
Want numbers before you ask? See the published price chart for custom t-shirts.