How Is Sampling Charged?

Sampling is quoted per style beside the bulk price and confirmed in writing before the round starts. It is credited against your first order at 300 pieces of one style.

What the charge covers

A sample is a made garment, not a sketch, and the charge covers the work that goes into it:

• Pattern — an existing block adjusted to your measurements, or a new block developed and graded.
• Cutting — a marker laid for the sample and the panels cut from the booked fabric.
• Sewing — the sample sewn on the sampling line with the construction the bulk order will use.
• Decoration — print, embroidery, badges or labels applied to the placement you specify.
• Trims — the woven label, hangtag and any custom item fitted, or the closest available item held in place while a custom run is produced.

What sets the amount for a style

The charge follows the work, and the work varies by style. Four things move it:

• An existing block against a new pattern. Adjusting measurements on a block that exists is the lightest job; developing a block from scratch and grading it across your size set is the heaviest.
• Fabric. A standard cloth against a custom knit, or a colour that has to be matched to a standard you supply before the sample is sewn.
• Decoration. One chest embroidery is one set-up; a print at three placements in four colours is several.
• Trims. Stock labels and hangtags against custom woven items produced to your artwork.

Two styles are quoted as two charges, even where they share a fabric. A colour extension on an approved style sits at the light end — the block, the grading and the fit are already agreed.

When it is confirmed and paid

The sampling charge is quoted together with the bulk price, as an itemised line on the same document, so both figures sit side by side. It is confirmed in writing before the round begins, which means the amount is agreed rather than discovered afterwards. How the amount is settled is stated on the quotation, so it is agreed before any work begins.

Where a sample is corrected and remade, the further sample is costed on its own. A measurement adjustment on an approved pattern is a smaller job than a new block, and the charge is quoted to match the work rather than held at a flat figure. What to send for a quote lists the nine items that keep both figures answerable in one pass.

When the charge is credited back

The sampling charge is credited against your first order once a single style reaches 300 pieces. Two parts of that sentence matter: the count is per style rather than per order, and it is the first order that carries the credit.

On an order that clears the threshold, the amount is set against the order value. Where a first order runs across several styles, each style is counted on its own, so the credit sits with the style that reaches the figure. The minimum order page sets out how per-style counting works, and the 100-piece order walks through a first run from sample to shipment.

Repeat orders and the timing

A repeat skips sampling where the style, fabric, colour and trims are unchanged: the approved sample stays on file and production runs against it. A new colour, a different knit, or revised artwork on a collar or placket is a material change, and a new sample is made and charged.

The round itself takes 3–7 days, from pattern and fabric through to the finished sample. How long samples take covers where that window goes, and bulk runs 15–25 days from written approval. Send the style and the changes you are weighing, and the sampling charge can be quoted with the bulk price in one document — contact SLSPOLO to start, or read private label where the sample carries your own branding.

Questions buyers ask next

Do I pay for sampling before the bulk order is confirmed?

The amount is confirmed in writing before the round begins, and it is quoted with the bulk price so both figures are known before you commit to either. The quotation states the terms it is settled on, and the fee is credited against your first order once a single style reaches 300 pieces.

Is the charge the same for every style?

No. It follows the work: a new block graded across your size set, a custom knit, or several decoration placements each add to it. Two styles are two charges, even when they share a fabric.

Does a corrected sample cost as much as the first one?

It is quoted on its own and sits lower where the correction is a measurement change on an approved pattern. A change of block, fabric or artwork is closer to a new sample.

Is sampling charged again on a repeat order?

Not where the style, fabric, colour and trims are unchanged. The approved sample stays on file and production runs against it. A new colourway or a different knit starts a new sample.