Do you ever wonder if your club or business is paying too much for their uniforms? Do you debate if there is a correct balance between cheap suppliers and quality? Are the big brands really more reliable?

Not many people have time to ring up and compare every supplier out there. Instead use the following as a guide to make an informed decision about your uniform supplier.

1. Be easy to deal with - Make sure you know your colours (preferably have a pantone colour code) and have your logos available in high quality. This makes life easier for the supplier and will ensure you don’t get charged for logo conversions

2. Get your order size up – Apparel suppliers can negotiate better prices on high quantities. This is because a lot of manufacturing cost and time is in the setup, if this can be divided across multiple items the unit price will come down. It means the factory can produce more and you can get a lower cost – a true win-win. Further, make sure you batch all your items in one order

3. Consider using a one colour version of your logo – If you are requesting screen printing consider reducing the number of colours in your logo. This is because a screen needs to be made for each colour.

4. Ask if there is an option for longer delivery/cheaper price – If garments are manufactured overseas a lot of the unit price will be in the shipping method. Sea freight is substantially cheaper than air freight but may increase the delivery time by up to 8 weeks. If you are organised it is worth asking your supplier if they offer discounts for slower freight.

5. Lock in a price for a longer-term agreement- Like many businesses garment manufacturers are looking to sure up their cash flow. If you can come to a multi-year or multi-garment agreement then you may be able to negotiate a cheaper price

6 .Price isn’t everything - Despite all of the above, price isn’t always everything. If your supplier is easy to deal with and provides garments that are correctly sized, in the right colours, high quality, etc and delivers in a timely manner you are on to a winner, as any money you save on switching may be eating up by time organising or even worse - replacing incorrect garments.