Schedule custom blanks at least 120 days before they must arrive, then add decoration time and a delivery buffer. Three Layer custom orders include 60 days production and 60 days shipping. Paid in-stock orders placed by 12pm PT ship the same day. Work backward from the finished-garment deadline to set purchase dates for each seasonal assortment.
How Seasonality Works for Blank Apparel
For warm-weather samples, compare the 1003 tee at 4.5 oz, 1005 tee at 6.0 oz, 7770 shorts at 8.8 oz and sleeveless French terry 3130 at 8.0 oz.
For cooler-weather programs, compare the 8.8 oz P280 hoodie and CR280 crewneck with the 12 oz 15001 hoodie.
Use your monthly sales, regional weather and customer delivery dates to set the quantities and purchase dates for each SKU.
Buyers building corporate and employee apparel programs face the same pressure, since bulk blanks for uniforms and company merch still need to land before a decoration deadline arrives.
The Wholesale Apparel Buying Calendar: Quarter by Quarter
For custom blanks needed in any quarter, including back-to-school orders, work back 120 days from the required arrival date for production and shipping. Add time for decoration and delivery, plus a buffer. In-stock paid reorders placed by 12pm PT ship the same day.
The table below is a general framework for when to order blank apparel relative to each selling season. Treat the “order now for” columns as planning windows, not fixed dates, since exact timing depends on decoration schedules, order size, and how far out a buyer likes to work.
| Quarter | What Is Selling | Stock to replenish and plan | Three Layer Products That Fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 (Jan to Mar) | Late winter fleece, transitional layering pieces, early spring tees for pre-orders | Replenish fleece stock and plan stock tees and shorts for spring and summer. | P280 pullover hoodies, CR280 crewneck sweatshirts, 1003 and 1005 t-shirts |
| Q2 (Apr to Jun) | Spring and early summer tees, shorts, and sleeveless styles for events and warm-weather retail | Plan stock tees, shorts and sleeveless hoodies for spring and summer. | 1003 and 1005 t-shirts, 7770 fleece shorts, 3130 sleeveless pullover hoodies |
| Q3 (Jul to Sep) | Back-to-school tees, late summer shorts, and the start of fall hoodie and crewneck demand | Plan stock hoodies, crewnecks and joggers for fall and winter. | P280 pullover hoodies, 5109 full zip hoodies, CR280 crewneck sweatshirts, 8801 fleece joggers |
| Q4 (Oct to Dec) | Peak fall and holiday quarter fleece: hoodies, crewnecks, joggers, and gifting-driven bundles | Replenish holiday fleece and plan tee stock for the first quarter. | P280 pullover hoodies, 5109 full zip hoodies, CR280 crewneck sweatshirts, 1003 and 1005 t-shirts |
Reading the Calendar
Use the table to plan which blanks to keep in stock. For custom colors or a new style, work back at least 120 days from the date you need the blanks, with extra time for decoration and delivery. Schedule decoration around available pullover hoodie stock.
Lead Time and Budgeting Basics
Lead time is the gap between placing an order and having decorated, sellable product in hand. That gap includes blank apparel production and shipping, plus decoration time on top, whether that is screen printing, embroidery, or DTG. Three Layer custom orders take 120 days: 60 days for production and 60 days for shipping. Add time for decoration and final delivery, plus a buffer. In-stock paid orders placed by 12pm PT ship the same day, so plan stock purchases around transit time, decoration turnaround and your buffer.
It helps to plan backward from a hard date rather than forward from today. Start with the date the finished, decorated product needs to be in a customer’s hands or on a store shelf, subtract decoration turnaround, then subtract blank apparel lead time, and whatever date is left is when the purchase order needs to go out. Working backward this way tends to surface tighter windows than buyers expect, especially heading into the holiday quarter when both blank suppliers and decorators are running at their busiest.
Budgeting for seasonal inventory works best as a rolling plan rather than a single annual order. Instead of committing an entire year’s fleece budget in one purchase, many buyers split it across two or three orders timed to the quarters above, which reduces the risk of overbuying a color or size run before real sell-through data comes in. A simple approach is to commit a smaller opening order for a new season, watch how it performs, and place a second order once early sales confirm which styles and colors are moving. This staged approach also leaves room to shift budget toward whichever silhouette, whether a pullover hoodie, a crewneck, or a jogger, is outperforming the rest of the line that season.
Buyers deciding how much fleece budget to shift toward hoodies versus crewnecks can check the seasonal guide to wholesale sweatshirts for a closer look at which fabrics and cuts are trending.
Restock Signals to Watch
- A style or color consistently sells through faster than the others in the same order, which signals it deserves a larger share of the next purchase order.
- Decoration turnaround times start stretching out at your printer or embroiderer, which is often an early signal that a season is ramping up faster than expected.
- Customer inquiries shift toward a different weight or silhouette, for example from short sleeve tees to hoodies, ahead of the calendar date you had planned for that transition.
- Your on-hand blank inventory for a core style drops below the point where a full production run for a decoration job would still hit a customer deadline.
Tracking these signals alongside the quarterly calendar helps a buyer adjust timing without abandoning the underlying plan.
Tariff-Driven Forward Buying
Three Layer designs in Los Angeles and has its garments made at a WRAP-certified partner factory in Pakistan, so a change in tariffs on goods from Pakistan could affect landed cost. As a hypothetical example, a $1 per piece increase on a 200 piece order adds $200. Compare that amount with your storage, financing and unsold-stock costs before buying ahead. The figure is an illustration, not a current tariff rate or a Three Layer price forecast.
Year-Round Staples
Not every style needs to be timed tightly to a season. Some blanks sell at a steady pace across the full year and work well as a standing base order that a buyer keeps in stock regardless of quarter. The P280 midweight pullover hoodie and the CR280 crewneck sweatshirt both fall into this category. Their midweight construction makes them versatile enough for layering in cooler months and light enough for indoor wear or cooler evenings in warmer months, which is why many buyers treat them as a year-round program rather than a strictly seasonal one.
Building a small year-round base of staples around seasonal peaks gives a buyer a stable core to plan against, with the more clearly seasonal styles like tees, shorts, and heavier fleece layered on top according to the quarterly calendar.
Planning Ahead of the Season
Seasonal inventory planning is ultimately a shift from reacting to a season that has already started to preparing for a season before it arrives. A wholesale apparel buying calendar built around quarters, paired with realistic lead-time expectations and a rolling budget approach, gives clothing brands, screen printers, and merch companies a repeatable framework instead of a scramble every few months. Timing matters on the supply side too, and our guide to pre-tariff inventory and wholesale pricing explains why stock landed before a tariff change holds its price.
Ordering at a glance
Stock: no minimum, with sizes and colors mixed
Samples: wholesale account required, paid at standard wholesale price, cost credited on the first order
Dispatch: paid in-stock orders placed by 12pm PT ship the same day
Shipping: free at $200 or more on listed wholesale prices
Custom color on an existing style: 600 pieces per style per color
New custom style: 2,400 units
Custom timing: 120 days total, 60 days production and 60 days shipping
Origin: designed in Los Angeles, manufactured at a WRAP-certified partner factory in Pakistan
Browse Three Layer’s pullover hoodies, t-shirts, and bottoms to plan your next seasonal order, or go directly to the 8801 fleece joggers for your fall program.