Sizing breakdown in %

[Denis Kolar]

This was probably asked a million times

What is the average percentage breakdown per sizes on bigger orders.
I have a customer that is ordering 800 pieces and they have hard time deciding how many per size.

I'm guessing:
10% S, 25% M, 35% L, 20% XL and 10% XXL.

Am I close or there should be more of L

Thanks

[Dottonedan]

This is always good question but one thing that caught my attention someone said once before, was (it depends on your target audience).


800 High school shirts are different than 800 bass fishing tournament tees.

[Socalfmf]

and I always put it back on them so it does not become and issue when they go to sell them.  oh it was your fault we had all these ( fill in size) left over. 

so we tell them it is up to them.

sam

[whitewater]

I have a customer that goes to music festivals..(so hippies) their breakdown is

12 sm, 18m, 24L, 24 XL, 6 xxl

if they order more its usually in multipuls of that...yeah but it depends on the target audience...if it was NASCAR i would think all Xl adn XXL  LOL

[whitewater]

Sams correct! dont let them blame you..

[Nick Bane]

and I always put it back on them so it does not become and issue when they go to sell them.  oh it was your fault we had all these ( fill in size) left over. 

so we tell them it is up to them.

sam

exactly, they are the customer, not you.  it is our job to guide them so they can make that decision on their own.

[3Deep]

Sams correct! dont let them blame you..

Same here, let them make there own size picks they know more about it than you would, we get ask that also, why I don't know, but if I could see that far in the future I wouldn't be screenprinting LOL.

Darryl

[GaryG]

We always tell them, "It's like a Bell Curve, but you know your customers
better than we do."  Yes help them BUT - it is on them to choose.

[Denis Kolar]

Thanks guys, will let them choose

[Frog]

Absolutely! no suggestions here either except to check previous orders

For instance, we just had a NASCAR event here in the Bay Area, and I bet that crowd did not come close to fitting our old sizing scale pushed upon us by the distributors back in the day.

Used to be an upcharge when orders went out of the standard scale 1-2--5-4 (s-m-l-xl)

Hell, I've seen NASCAR crowds where even the toddlers could take an adult small!

[royster13]

So here are the break downs from 2 recent orders......
260 shirts
M - 80 - 31%
L - 120 - 46%
XL 60 - 23%

180 shirts
S - 22 - 12%
M - 44 - 24%
L - 66 - 36%
XL - 48 - 28%

[mk162]

my neighbor will break down 12 dozen like this: 2sm/3md/3lg/3xl/1xxl  he does a lot of retail.

[Croft]

I will never give them a firm answer/breakdown  , because of someone coming back on me once when I started the business .
  I will lead them a bit and give my opinion but they have to pick the sizes ultimately.

And as a side note we have been doing a pile of 3, 4 and 5 X shirts lately which was something that was a real oddity 10 years ago. Usually more of a novelty shirt but now these are for people. 

[ZooCity]

I always say- "you know your crowd better than we do so I'll have to leave that final decision up to you".  Help out but don't offer a formula, it'll just come back on you somehow.  One of the biggest gripes I have with this line of work is when folks try to somehow make the printer responsible for their shirts not selling exactly the way they wanted, as if we had control over that.