The Question Nobody Asks Early Enough
Most businesses ask about garment type, logo placement, and total cost before they ask how many items per person. But this decision affects both the budget and the practical effectiveness of your uniform programme. Order too few and you create laundry problems and presentation inconsistencies. Order too many and you’re holding excess stock that goes out of style or fit before it’s used.
Here’s the guidance we give every client at Customised Workwear before they finalise their order quantities.
The Laundry Cycle Rule
The minimum number of garments per employee is determined by your laundry cycle. If employees wash their uniform at home over a weekend, you need a minimum of two sets — one to wear, one in the wash. If your employees work five consecutive days and laundry happens once per week, three sets is the practical minimum.
For roles involving heavy soiling — kitchen work, outdoor trades, industrial environments — four to five sets per employee is standard. Trying to run a five-day work week with two sets of kitchen whites is a recipe for a staff complaint within the first week.
Industry Standards for Garment Allocation
Based on what we see across the businesses we work with:
- Office and admin staff: 2 polo shirts, 1 fleece or jacket
- Retail customer-facing: 3 polo shirts, 1 jacket
- Hospitality front-of-house: 3 polo shirts or shirts, 1 jacket
- Kitchen staff: 4–5 chef whites or t-shirts
- Trade and construction: 3 polo shirts or t-shirts, 2 jackets or fleeces
- Care staff: 4–5 polo shirts (high-frequency laundering at 60°C+)
These are working minimums — not luxury allocations. They’re what you need for your uniform programme to function without daily laundry friction.
Buffer Stock: The 15% Rule
Always order 15% more than your current headcount. This covers: new starters who join after the main order, replacement garments for items damaged or lost, and sizing exchanges where a staff member’s size changes.
Store the buffer stock in common sizes — M, L, and XL cover the majority of exchanges. Embroidery doesn’t prevent storage — stored embroidered garments don’t degrade over 12–18 months if kept folded and in a clean, dry environment.
The Cost of Under-Ordering
Reordering small quantities is always more expensive per unit than ordering at volume. A reorder of three polo shirts costs more per item than a reorder of thirty. Build your quantities right the first time, apply the 15% buffer rule, and avoid the expensive micro-orders that erode your cost savings.
Browse our workwear bundles — designed for efficient multi-item ordering. Contact us and we’ll help you calculate the right quantities for your team before you order.