Fitness Studio Apparel: Leggings, Tops and Studio Colourways

A studio orders for two different purposes: the kit its instructors and front-desk staff wear, and the stock on the retail rack. Both are counted the same way but planned differently — staff kit runs in one or two colours against a known roster, while retail stock needs size coverage across a rail. Styles start at 100 pieces per style per colour with sizes mixed inside a colour, and bonded builds start at 200. Sampling takes 3–7 days and bulk takes 15–25 days after written approval, neither including shipping. Send the reference style, your colours, the size run and the quantity per colour.

Two Different Buys: Staff Kit and Retail Corner

Staff kit is a uniform. It is the same legging and top worn on a teaching schedule, washed and worn again, in the studio’s own colours, sized to the people on the payroll. The quantity question is how many of each size your roster needs, and the colour question is already answered by the studio brand.

Retail corner stock is inventory. It has to cover a size range wide enough that a member can try a piece on and buy it, and it has to read as a set on a rail. The quantity question is how deep you go per size, and the colour question is how many colours the rail carries. Two colours on a rail is two minimum units for the same style.

Both sit under the same rules, so the difference is in how the quantity is distributed inside each unit rather than in the minimum itself. Deciding which of the two you are buying first is what makes the rest of the plan fall into place.

Weight and Stretch: the Three Ranges We Quote

Three weights cover most studio programmes, and they are the ones published on our yoga wear manufacturing page:

• Full-length leggings — 220–260 GSM. The reference weight we quote for a studio legging.
• Sculpting or compressive leggings — 260–300 GSM. Firmer compression and more coverage, including in pale colourways.
• Tanks and tops — 140–180 GSM. Light and breathable, for heated practice and for layering over a legging.

Weight is quoted together with the blend, never one without the other, because the same weight behaves differently in different fibres. Say which end of each range you want and what the garment has to do: a heated class and a strength floor do not ask the same thing of the same legging, and that is settled with you before any pattern is cut.

The bulk fabric is held to the approved sample, and a roll that drifts outside the tolerance is flagged before cutting rather than after. If your programme needs a particular standard or mill, fabric can be sourced from a supplier you nominate.

Seamless Knitting or Bonded Joins

The two are not the same process. Seamless knitting knits the panel to shape on the machine, which leaves no side seam to close. Bonded construction joins cut panels with adhesive film and heat, leaving a flat surface with no seam line. Both remove stitch lines from parts of a garment, and they are specified separately at quotation stage.

Bonded orders start at 200 pieces per style per colour against 100 for a sewn style, because the film, temperature, pressure and dwell time are validated for each fabric pairing before bulk cutting begins. Reference styles sit in our seamless bonded category, and the difference between the two processes is set out on what bonded and seamless construction are. Mark on the tech pack which joins you want bonded and which you want sewn.

Working From a Short Style List

The studio categories are deliberately short. Our yoga wear category runs two leggings — a high-waisted lightweight yoga legging and a high-waisted stretchy gym legging. The tank top category runs four: a high-support sports crop top, a moisture-wicking yoga tank top, a quick-dry sleeveless crop top, and a high-neck cropped ribbed tank.

Short is the point. Pick the closest reference and name the changes — neckline, length, waistband height, fabric, colour — and the style is engineered from there. Working from an existing reference keeps the sampling round about the changes you named instead of about the whole garment, which is the fastest route to a sample you can approve.

That also means the count stays predictable. Two leggings and one top in two studio colours is six minimum units, and every one of them is a known style with a known pattern behind it.

Keeping the Studio Colour Card Small

Most studios run two or three colours of their own, and that number matters twice. Each colour is its own minimum unit, and each colour is its own fabric buy. Two colours across leggings and tops is four minimum units; three colours across the same two styles is six.

If a colour already exists at a mill you work with, tell us the supplier, because fabric can be sourced to your nomination. Where the studio brand has a printed colour standard, send that reference with the enquiry so the colour is matched to it rather than to a photograph on a screen.

Colour is also where the two uses meet. A staff colour that doubles as a retail colour is one fabric buy serving both, while a retail-only colour adds a unit that has to be filled with stock rather than with a roster.

Counting Minimums Across Two Uses

Staff kit in one colour is one unit of 100 pieces, with the size run you name mixed inside that colour at no extra cost. Retail stock in three colours is three units of the same style. A bonded or seam-sealed version of either starts at 200 pieces per style per colour. Trim for the retail rack carries supplier minimums of its own — woven labels and hangtags at 1,000 pieces each, jacquard labels and silicone badges at 300 pieces each — and those run alongside the garment minimums rather than stacking on top.

Sampling runs 3–7 days and bulk runs 15–25 days after written approval, neither including shipping, with inline and final inspection to AQL 2.5 under an ISO 9001 quality system. Where the retail corner is restocked seasonally, the repeat run is shorter, because the fabric, the pattern and the trims are already settled.

To start, send a reference style link or a tech pack, the quantity you need in each colour, the size range you want covered, the fabric weight you are after, and any decoration method with its placements. The SLSPOLO team will come back with a quotation covering both the staff kit and the retail corner in one order.

Frequently asked questions

What is the minimum for a fitness studio’s first apparel order?

Styles start at 100 pieces per style per colour, and sizes can be mixed within a single colour at no extra cost, so one unit covers the full size run you name. Bonded or seam-sealed builds start at 200 pieces per style per colour, because the film and press parameters are validated for each fabric pairing. If you are buying staff kit and retail stock together, each style and each colour is counted separately within the same order.

Which fabric weight should studio leggings use?

The ranges we quote are 220–260 GSM for full-length leggings, 260–300 GSM for a sculpting or compressive legging, and 140–180 GSM for tanks and tops. Weight is quoted together with the blend, because the same weight behaves differently in different fibres. Tell us what the garment has to do and we will propose a weight within those ranges before any pattern is cut.

Can staff kit and retail corner stock be made in the same order?

Yes, and it is the usual way to start. The two are counted the same way — 100 pieces per style per colour, sizes mixed inside a colour — so staff kit in one colour is one unit and retail stock in three colours is three units of the same style. Fabric, approved sample and trims are shared, which keeps the colour consistent between what your instructors wear and what is on the rail.

Is seamless knitting the same as bonded construction?

No. Seamless knitting knits the panel to shape on the machine, which leaves no side seam to close, while bonded construction joins cut panels with adhesive film and heat, leaving a flat surface with no seam line. Both remove stitch lines from parts of a garment but they are different processes, so they are specified separately at quotation stage, and bonded builds start at 200 pieces per style per colour.

How long does it take from sample approval to packed cartons?

Sampling takes 3–7 days and bulk production takes 15–25 days after written approval, with both figures excluding shipping. Inspection runs at incoming materials, cutting, in-line construction, finishing, measurements and packing, and finished cartons are sampled to AQL 2.5 under an ISO 9001 quality system. Repeat runs are shorter, because the fabric, the pattern and the trims are already settled. The clock starts at written approval of the sealed sample, not at the enquiry.