A single-style programme at volume
One garment, 2,500 units, one date. A sublimated hooded track jacket where every decision that mattered was made before a single metre was printed.
- Market
- Football
- Status
- Delivered client work
- Client
- A European teamwear brand
Named only with the client’s written agreement. Available on request.
- Credits
- Development, sourcing, production management, quality and delivery — Apex Studio. Creative direction by the client.
Challenge
Creative intent
Product architecture
- Hooded track jacket in a 94% polyester / 6% elastane knit
- Single colourway, produced as one specification across the full run
- All-over sublimation as the sole decoration method
- Full size run built from the client's own distribution rather than a standard ratio
Development approach
- Specification frozen before any bulk fabric was committed, because a single-style order has no room to absorb a change
- Sublimation proofed on production fabric, not on a substitute, since colour behaves differently on a stretch knit
- Fit approved on a body in the intended fabric, with elastane recovery checked after wash rather than assumed
- Size curve set from the client's actual distribution, so the run does not end with unsellable extremes
Materials and techniques
- 94% polyester / 6% elastane knit selected for sublimation take-up and recovery
- All-over dye sublimation, printed per metre before cutting
- Single-colour execution, with the graphic carried entirely by the sublimation
Production route
Quality approach
What was produced
Details
Why a one-style order is harder, not easier
It looks like the simplest possible programme. It is the least forgiving one.
A range of eight styles can absorb a problem: one style slips, the rest ship, the launch survives. A single-style order of 2,500 units has no such slack. Every risk concentrates into one specification, so every risk has to be closed before bulk.
What that changes in practice
- The specification freezes earlier. There is no benefit to leaving anything open, because there is nothing else in the order to adjust against.
- Sublimation is proofed on the real fabric. A stretch poly knit takes colour differently from a stable one. Approving a print on the wrong base is how a run comes back the wrong shade.
- Recovery is tested, not assumed. Six per cent elastane behaves well or badly depending on the knit and the finish. If it relaxes after washing, the size run is wrong across all 2,500 pieces.
- The size curve comes from the client. Not a standard ratio. A single style at volume leaves no way to rebalance if the curve is off.
Print and make under one roof
Printed panels that travel between a print house and a garment maker introduce a colour risk, a timing risk and an accountability gap. Keeping both in one supplier removed all three, which on a single-style order is worth more than a marginally better piece price.
Permissions
Published without naming the client pending written approval. No team marks, sponsor identities or artwork are reproduced here. Commercial terms are not disclosed.
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