Employee apparel, whether a cozy vest for the holidays, a high-quality branded jacket, or a polo for the office, is one of the most popular and impactful gifts a company can give. It builds team morale, serves as a walking billboard for your brand, and makes your employees feel valued.
But if you’ve ever ordered apparel for an entire organization, you know the process comes with one universal challenge: collecting everyone’s size.
At Ideation Creative Brand Management, we’ve handled the logistics for thousands of apparel projects, from small teams to multinational corporations. We know that successfully ordering and distributing branded apparel hinges on smart planning and experience. Here is your guide to navigating the size collection process, ensuring everyone gets the perfect fit, and making your next apparel gift a rocking success.
The Case for Knowing the Size
While it may seem like an extra step, taking the time to collect individual sizes provides immediate, measurable benefits for your project:
- Financial Efficiency: Accurate sizing significantly reduces the need for expensive "just in case" extras, minimizing waste and ensuring your budget is spent on items that will actually be used.
- Employee Satisfaction: When employees have a say in their size, they are more likely to have a comfortable fit. This prevents awkward exchanges and ensures they’ll be proud to wear the gear.
- Increased Choice: Collecting sizes easily allows you to offer customization options, such as choices between men's and women’s cuts, or even different color options for your team and personalization on items.
But what about keeping the gift a surprise? This is the most common concern. The solution is simple: Ideation can provide generic, unbranded size charts for the type of garment (e.g., "unisex zip-up hoodie") without revealing the specific item's style, brand, or color. This keeps the surprise intact while securing the necessary data.
The Alternative: Estimating for a Group
If a surprise is absolutely non-negotiable and you simply cannot ask for sizes, Ideation can help you estimate your order. By leveraging national averages for size distribution (such as US-based percentages), we can generate an estimated breakdown of Small through 5XL and beyond.
However, this method requires a cautious approach. To account for any deviations from national statistics, you will need to:
- Order a number of extra pieces across various sizes.
- Be prepared to offer fewer options (e.g., ordering only unisex sizing or limiting color choices) to simplify the distribution process and manage inventory risk.
While this allows the item to be a complete surprise, it is generally less efficient and costs more due to the excess inventory.
Painless Collection Options
Leave the outdated, error-prone paper forms behind. Ideation offers technical, streamlined solutions to make size collection simple and efficient:
- Simple Online Form Collection: We can set up a basic, secure form where employees quickly submit their name, email, and preferred size. This is a clean, quick solution for straightforward projects. Check out our Demo Site.
- Sophisticated Shopping Cart Experience: For larger organizations or projects offering multiple choices, we create a secure, branded online pop-up shop. Employees can "purchase" their size (at a $0.00 cost) and make selections for cut, color, or gender, providing a more engaging, personalized experience. Check out our Demo Site.
Can we provide samples? Absolutely. In fact, we recommend it. We can provide a run of samples in various sizes for departments or major offices. To link the physical samples to the digital collection, we include a simple QR code with the sample set. Employees can try on the garment, scan the code with their phone, and submit their size immediately, eliminating delay and confusion.
End-to-End Distribution Solutions
Once the data is collected and the items are branded and complete, our services truly shine. The biggest headache in apparel ordering is often distribution, but not with Ideation. We handle the entire fulfillment process so you can focus on the reveal.
We are responsible for tabulating all size collection data once it comes in, providing you with the final list for a second look before the order is placed.
From there, we offer several distribution tiers tailored to your needs:
- Bulk with Allocation: We provide all items individually folded with a consolidated packing list detailing who gets what size, sorted for easy hand-off.
- Individual Labeling: We take the logistics a step further by individually labeling each item or package with the employee's name. We can also sort these labeled packages by department, shift, or job site, making final internal distribution a snap.
- Gift-Ready Packaging: Need to impress? We can individually package the item in a branded box or attractive bag, complete with the personalized label on the outside, ready to be handed out as an elegant, professional gift.
When you partner with Ideation Creative Brand Management, you’re not just ordering apparel; you’re investing in a seamless, end-to-end solution that guarantees the perfect fit—for your employees, and for your brand.
I also created a video blog with Sydney Ivanov, Account Manager for Ideation Creative Brand Management where we showcase several options and examples of how we can make size collecting easy.
Ready to launch your next apparel program without the sizing headache? Contact Ideation Creative Brand Management today!
