Lead times, quantities and EU delivery

The minimum order is 10 pieces per style. Mixed sizes and up to three colours count as one style, which matters more than it sounds: a run of ten t-shirts spread across five sizes and three colours is a single valid style, not fifteen tiny ones.

The minimum applies per style rather than per order. You can combine as many styles as you like in one project provided each reaches its own ten pieces, and each style gets its own mockup and its own approval.

Printed matter follows its own minimums, because the production technology is different. On our print products the smallest runs currently start at 5 pieces for catalogues and 10 for postcards, while spiral notepads and 3D UV finishes start at 50. Digital printing is what makes those very short runs possible; offset takes over as the run grows, up to the several-thousand-piece configurations at the top of the price matrix.

Two practical notes. First, order a small buffer above your recipient count — replacements, latecomers and samples for the sales team all come out of the same run, and a second run of five pieces is disproportionately expensive. Second, apparel sizes should be collected before the order rather than after; since mixed sizes count as one style, there is no cost reason to restrict the size curve.

Small runs carry the print set-up cost. That cost is fixed per style regardless of how many pieces it is spread across, so the per-piece price drops sharply from 50 pieces upwards and continues to fall in steps beyond that. Every product page carries a quantity table showing the exact price at each step, and branding is already inside those numbers: print, embroidery or a ceramic transfer of your logo is included in the product price, with no setup fees.

Three consequences for planning:

• Check the step before fixing the number. Ordering just below a step can cost more in total than ordering at it. If your count lands at 45, look at what 50 costs.
• Compare products at your quantity, not at the minimum. Two items that look similar at 10 pieces can be far apart at 250, because the set-up share shrinks at different rates.
• Consolidate styles. Each style carries its own set-up. Three colours of one garment are one style; three different garments are three.

On print products the quantity axis is crossed by a second one — page count for notepads and catalogues, format for postcards — and the price is read from the intersection. Fix the specification before comparing quotes, or you will be comparing different products.

We do not publish flat per-piece prices in this guide for the same reason: they are only meaningful together with a quantity. Send a shortlist and a target quantity through the quote request and you get the exact per-piece figure for that combination.

Standard production and delivery is from 5 working days after mockup approval. The phrase "after mockup approval" is the operative part: the clock does not start when you send the enquiry, and it does not start when you place the order. It starts when you confirm the visual.

The full sequence looks like this:

1. You send a shortlist and a quantity; we return a quote with the per-piece price for that quantity.
2. You send the logo. Vector files (AI, EPS, PDF, SVG) are ideal, and high-resolution PNG is accepted.
3. Our studio prepares a mockup showing the logo in position and at size on the actual product. Artwork preparation is free of charge.
4. You approve the mockup — or ask for a change, which restarts this step.
5. Production runs, then the goods ship. From approval, standard production and delivery is from 5 working days.

Steps 2 to 4 are the ones under your control, and they are where most of the calendar is lost in practice: a mockup that waits three days for an internal sign-off has pushed the delivery date by three days. If several people need to approve the visual, line them up before the mockup arrives rather than after.

Express production is available when the date is fixed rather than preferred. Tell us the deadline in the request and we confirm whether it can be met before you commit — see also how to order for the process end to end.

We ship a blank or decorated sample within 2-3 working days, and the sample cost is credited against your order. On a first order with a new product this is usually worth the delay.

A blank sample answers questions about the product: fabric weight and fit on sweatshirts, the real capacity and finish of a bottle, how a backpack carries. A decorated sample answers questions about the branding: how the logo colour reads against the product colour, how large it looks in the hand, how fine detail survives the method.

When you plan a sample into the schedule, count it as its own cycle — sample request, 2-3 working days of shipping, your review, then the production timeline. It is the single most common reason a project that looked comfortable becomes tight, and also the cheapest insurance against discovering a colour problem across several hundred pieces.

We work with EU companies daily. You receive a proforma invoice carrying your VAT ID, and VAT is added according to your country and the EU reverse-charge rules. For a VAT-registered business in another member state that normally means the invoice is issued without VAT and the tax is accounted for on your side; your accounting team will recognise the mechanism.

Two things follow for the schedule. The proforma is the document your finance department needs in order to release payment, so request it as soon as the specification is fixed rather than after the mockup is approved — it can be prepared in parallel. And because production is scheduled against a confirmed order, an internal payment approval cycle sits inside your lead time, not outside it.

Send your company details and VAT ID with the first request and the proforma comes back correct the first time.

We are based in Poland and deliver across the whole European Union. Standard production and delivery is from 5 working days after mockup approval; the delivery information page carries the current detail for your country.

For an event with a fixed date, build the schedule backwards from the day the goods must be in your hands — not the event day itself. A workable skeleton:

• Event day. Goods should already be on site.
• Minus a few days: buffer. Leave room for the delivery itself and for anything that has to be unpacked, counted or distributed internally.
• Minus at least 5 working days: mockup approval. This is the deadline that matters. Standard production and delivery runs from here, so put it in the calendar as a hard date.
• Minus the artwork cycle: logo sent. Allow for at least one round of changes and for whoever has to sign off.
• Minus the sample cycle, if you want one. A sample ships in 2-3 working days, plus your review time.
• Minus the quote and payment cycle. Shortlist, quantity, quote, proforma, internal approval.

Two seasonal notes. Q4 is the busiest period in this industry, so a December handover should be started well before the point that arithmetic alone suggests. And for recurring needs — onboarding kits, stand stock — it is simpler to order one larger run than to repeat a small one every quarter, since the per-piece price and the number of approval cycles both work in favour of consolidation.

When you are ready, send the shortlist through the quote request, or start from the how to choose corporate gifts guide if the shortlist does not exist yet.