We know the drill. You’re on a team and have a big event coming up. The planning sessions are underway when someone mentions, “Oh, and we’ll need to order custom t-shirts…” The room goes silent as the speaker looks around, then continues, “so who feels like they want to be in charge of ordering them?”
All eye contact is broken and everyone begins looking down at their notes as if to see what other important things must be accomplished that might pull them away this task. The speaker can sense the pressure of the moment, then throws it out again, “so has anyone ever ordered t-shirts before?” as if to get one person to bite on a slightly different question, with the ulterior motive of then assigning that person with the new task of ordering again.
Finally, after what felt like forever, you decide to raise your hand. You figure you’re responsible, detail-oriented and have a sense of how it should work, so you agree. The room goes back to normal and then you begin to wonder what you really signed up for as you now think about what the order will require:
- Getting the right artwork.
- Picking a screen printer.
- Making sure the screen printer can meet your deadline.
- Deciding which t-shirts, what brand, what color and fabric style you will order.
- Deciding on what sizes to order.
The first 4 things your committee or a quick google search can help with, but #5 isn’t quite so easy. You begin to get wonder if raising your hand was the most responsible choice anymore.
No worries, we’re here to help.
We see orders of all sizes come through, which means we have a pretty good sense for the size breakdowns for larger groups. So sit back, pop the popcorn and take a look at these size breakdown guides to see where your group best fits. And please feel free to contact us with any questions because we’re here to Print the Highest Quality Custom Apparel and offer 6-Star Customer Care (since Google only allows us 5!) along the way!
One thing to note however: You know your group best, so it’s very hard for us to 100% accurately predict the sizes you should order. If you know your group will be larger people or smaller people, you should stagger your order based on that knowledge.
Sizes for BIG Orders (with no way to guess sizes)
If you are placed in charge of ordering a lot of t-shirts for a group or business where it’s impossible to determine the right sizes to order because you can’t get the sizes from everyone who will receive a t-shirt (i.e. for a free giveaway, to get initial inventory for reselling later, etc.), we recommend a size breakdown that looks like this:
S – 20%
M – 24%
L – 24%
XL – 24%
2XL & Up – 8%
PS… here’s our go-to t-shirt for LARGE groups, where soft matters, but price also matters!
Sizes for Smaller Groups
This is a lot easier, but probably requires more manual work on your part because if you don’t get the right sizes, someone can’t wear their t-shirt. Here’s one simple rule to follow:
Whatever sizes people tell you they are, believe them… but be just a little skeptical.
Seriously, it’s going to be in your benefit to order a few extra per size just in case. This will go a long way if that person who believed they are a Small is really a Medium (or any combination of sizes)… they’ll not only get a t-shirt, but more important, not feel left out of the group pics & you won’t need to manage a re-order of just a few shirts. BIG Relief! : )
PS… Here’s our go-to t-shirt for smaller groups that want soft t-shirts ; )
Please let us know if you had any other questions because, although we try to give you great ideas for size breakdowns, each group is different and we’d love to hear more about your order to help you pick the right sizes if you need someone to bounce ideas off of!
Feel free to call us at 1-877-T-Shirt-1 (1-877-874-4781) to speak to a Coed Monkey Customer Care Rep! Also, when ordering for large groups, it’s important to understand the difference between ladies and unisex sizing. We’ve put together a short video to help you compare the difference : )
For any other order questions, please drop us a Live Chat, give us a call at 1-877-874-4781 or send us a contact message.