Most school apparel orders are placed by someone whose actual job is something else. A parent on the PAC, a teacher running a grad committee, a coach between seasons, a student who volunteered.
Nobody hands you a process, so the order gets figured out as it goes and the stressful parts always arrive in the same order.
This page is the process. If you know what you want and just need the product, use the links above. If you are the person responsible for getting this done, read on.
Start With the Kind of Order You Are Placing
School Hoodie Printing
Choose this if hoodies are the main item, whether that is a grad class, a club, a leadership group, or a school store.
Custom Apparel for Schools and Student Clubs
Choose this if the order is for a specific student group rather than the whole school, such as a club, campus organisation or grad committee.
Sports Teamwear Printing
Choose this if the order is built around a season, with players, coaches and supporters needing different pieces.
Team Apparel Supplier
Choose this if you order more than once a year and want the second order to match the first.
Decide These Before You Ask for a Quote
How to Design School Hoodies That Students Actually Wear
What makes a design get worn after the event instead of ending up in a drawer.
Best Hoodie Styles for Schools
Pullover, zip up, heavyweight or relaxed fit. Which one suits which age group and use.
Screen Printing vs Embroidery for School Apparel
Which decoration method suits shirts, hoodies, hats and staff wear, and where each one struggles.
Bulk Apparel Printing for Schools
What actually changes the cost of a large school order, from quantity to garment choice to decoration.
How to Choose an Apparel Supplier
What to ask before committing, especially if you are ordering on behalf of a school or a volunteer group.
Browse the Garments Themselves
Custom Hoodies
Full hoodie range with fits, weights and colour options across all uses, not just school orders.
Custom T-Shirt Printing
The usual starting point for spirit days, field trips, orientation and anything distributed in volume.
Custom Embroidery
A cleaner finish that suits staff wear, coach apparel and hats more than large graphic designs.
Custom Hats
Headwear for teams, staff and school merchandise, usually ordered alongside shirts or hoodies.
Who Signs Off Before Anything Gets Printed
Work out the approval chain before you collect a single size. In most Vancouver schools it involves more people than expected, and the delay is almost never at the printing end.
A class or club order usually needs a teacher sponsor and whoever holds the budget. A PAC order needs the PAC to approve the spend, and often the principal to approve anything carrying the school crest. Anything using the school name or logo may need a nod from the district, particularly if the design changes the crest rather than reproducing it.
The practical step is to get the design approved before you open sizing to families. Reopening a design after people have paid is the single most common way a school order falls apart.
Collecting Sizes Without Chasing People
This is the part that eats the most time, and it is worth doing properly once rather than three times.
Put every size on one shared sheet with names attached, so you can chase individuals rather than guessing at a total. Set a hard cutoff date and mean it. Order a small number of extras in the middle sizes rather than trying to be exact, because there is always one late addition and one person who ordered the wrong size.
If your order is for elementary students, youth sizing is not the same as small adult sizing, and the two do not map cleanly onto each other. Mixed groups such as a whole school event will need both ranges quoted. Ask us for the size range on the specific garment you are considering before you send the sheet out, since the range is not identical across every style.
Names, Numbers and Class Lists on Garments
Grad orders often want every name from the class printed on the back. Team orders often want a player name or number on individual pieces. Both are common requests, and both change the job significantly.
The difference matters. A single design printed identically on every garment is one setup. Individual names or numbers means each piece carries different artwork, which changes how the order is prepared and how long it takes to check. Neither is a problem, but it needs to be raised at the quote stage rather than after you have approved a mockup.
If you are printing a name list, lock the spelling before you send it. Correcting a misspelled name after production is not a small fix.
When to Order for Grad, Sports Season or Spirit Week
School orders have fixed dates that will not move, which makes the sequence more important than the calendar.
Grad orders are the tightest, because the class list is not final until late and the wear date is fixed. Sports orders are easier if you order before the season starts rather than after the roster is confirmed, since roster changes affect fewer pieces than a delayed order affects the whole team. Spirit week and sports day orders are usually the most flexible, but they cluster at the same time of year across every school in the district, which is its own constraint.
Ask us for the current lead time on the garment and decoration method you have chosen, then count backwards from your event date and add a buffer for approvals. The approvals are what run late, not the printing.
Orders Where the School Is Selling, Not Just Buying
PAC fundraisers and school store items work differently from a straight order. You are setting a sale price, not just paying a cost, and you need to know your numbers before you can advertise anything.
Two decisions shape everything. The first is whether you pre-sell and then order exactly what was paid for, which carries no inventory risk but a longer timeline. The second is whether you order up front and sell from stock, which is faster for the buyer but leaves you with whatever does not sell. Pre-selling is usually the safer choice for a volunteer-run fundraiser.
Keeping the design to a simple treatment in school colours generally keeps the cost per piece down, which matters more when the margin is the point of the order.
Mixing Printed Shirts and Embroidered Pieces
Larger school orders often need both. Printed tees for students, embroidered hoodies or caps for staff and coaches. These can sit in the same order and still look like a set, but only if the artwork is prepared with both in mind from the start.
The usual issue is detail. A design that reads well printed at full chest size may not hold up embroidered at cap size, so the mark often needs a simplified version. Deciding this early is much easier than redrawing it after one half of the order is approved.
For a closer look at where each method works, see screen printing vs embroidery for school apparel.
What to Send Us to Get a Useful Quote
The more of this you have, the more specific the answer.
- Roughly how many pieces, and whether you need youth sizes, adult sizes or both
- The garment type, or a description of the use if you are not sure
- Your logo or crest in a vector file if you have one, and a note if you only have an image
- Whether individual names or numbers are involved
- The date the apparel needs to be in hand, not the date you would like it
- Whether the school is buying or selling the items
If you are missing half of these, send what you have. The first conversation is usually about narrowing options, not finalising them.
Where to Go Next
For hoodie led orders, see school hoodie printing. For clubs and campus groups, see custom apparel for schools and student clubs. For athletics, see sports teamwear printing. If your school orders throughout the year and you want consistency across groups, see team apparel supplier. For cost planning on a large order, see bulk apparel printing for schools.
FAQ
Who needs to approve a school apparel order?
It varies by school, but it usually involves more than one person. A club or class order typically needs a teacher sponsor plus whoever controls the budget. A PAC order needs PAC approval, and often the principal as well if the school crest is being used. Some districts have their own rules about how the school name and logo can appear. Confirm the chain before you collect sizes, because reopening an approved design later is what causes most delays.
How do we collect sizes from a whole class?
Use one shared sheet with names next to sizes rather than a running total, so you can follow up with individuals instead of guessing who has not replied. Set a firm cutoff date, and plan for a small number of spares in the middle of the size range. There is almost always a late addition.
Can we print every grad name on the back?
Name lists are a common request on grad garments, and so are individual names or numbers on team pieces. Both are different from a single design repeated across the order, because each garment carries different artwork. Raise it when you ask for a quote rather than after a mockup is approved, and lock the spelling of every name before the list is sent.
Do you have youth sizes for elementary school orders?
Youth sizing is a separate range from adult sizing and the two do not convert neatly. For elementary orders, or mixed groups such as a whole school event, ask us for the size range on the specific garment before you send a sizing sheet out to families, since the range differs from style to style.
Can a PAC pre-sell apparel before ordering?
Yes, and for a volunteer-run fundraiser it is usually the safer approach. You collect orders and payment first, then order exactly what was sold, which removes the risk of unsold stock. The trade-off is a longer overall timeline, so start earlier than you would for a straight purchase.