The holiday rush should not be a surprise

Christmas has been remarkably consistent about showing up in December. The fourth quarter is always the last three months of the year. Yet every year, plenty of print shops seem surprised when the phones start ringing, customers suddenly need gifts for 75 employees, suppliers run low on popular sizes, and everyone wants their holiday order delivered in time for Christmas, yet the shipping companies are in complete shambles.

You know how this story goes. One minute you are feeling pretty good about Q4. The orders are coming in, sales look strong, and the shop is humming. A few weeks later, you are answering emails at 10:30 p.m., somebody is waiting on black XL hoodies that apparently no longer exist anywhere in North America, and your production team is giving you that look.

You know the look. The one that says, “Please stop selling things.”

Plan to plan ahead

The holiday season can be one of the strongest revenue periods of the year for an apparel decorator. It can also expose every weak spot in your business and push you and your employees to the limit.

The difference usually comes down to whether you planned for the rush or simply reacted to it. Holiday planning does not need to be complicated. You just need to make a few decisions before everyone else starts making decisions for you. It is possible to keep control of your business in the fourth quarter, but it requires planning now. Not reacting in late November.

How much business do you expect? This can be the start of your planning, and honestly, answering this question could change everything about your holiday season. If you were open during the holidays last year, begin there. What did you sell in October, November, and December? How difficult was it to produce that volume? Did you have room for more business, or were you already hanging on by a thread? Did you turn away orders because you were overloaded? Those numbers give you a starting point.

If you have several years of history, look for patterns. Are holiday sales growing? Staying flat? Dropping? Then decide what you believe is realistic this year. Maybe you think you can grow 10% because you have better marketing and a stronger customer base. Maybe you are dealing with a softer economy and would be happy maintaining last year’s numbers. Either answer is fine. Pick a number.

A projection is simply your best guess about what you believe the business can accomplish. It will not be perfect. That is okay. Even if this is your first year, give it your best guess. Your best guess is still better than no guess at all. And the longer you track your sales and production numbers, the better those guesses become.

Know your limits

Once you have a sales target, ask the harder question. Can your shop actually produce it? Not what the perfect world says you can produce, but what is a real number when things break, employees don’t show up, or your shop is shut down for three days due to a freak snowstorm. We tend to think about capacity in perfect-world terms.

Once you know your real capacity, take inventory of what supports it. Start with your equipment. Does anything need maintenance? Are there worn parts you have been meaning to replace? Is there equipment you have been considering purchasing? You do not want the week before your biggest deadline to be the moment your favorite heat press decides it has given everything it has to give.

Check your supplies too. Then look at blank goods. Have actual phone conversations with your most important vendors. Everyone else is planning for holiday orders too. If you intend to sell Christmas stockings, blankets, hoodies, or other seasonal items, make sure you can actually get them. A shipment of stockings arriving Jan. 7 makes for a very exclusive and expensive post-holiday promotion. Ask me how I know …

You also need a backup plan if your sales target is higher than your current production capacity. That may mean contract decorators. Start those conversations early. Contract shops are planning for the same holiday rush as you are. Their schedules fill up too. Look for partners who have capacity when you need it. There may even be niche decorators whose normal market slows down during the holidays.

The co-host of my podcast, Terry Combs, ran a production shop that was nearly exclusive in the fraternity and sorority market. Their production slowed between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, and they took on holiday contract work to keep their employees working and presses running.

Whatever contractor you consider, check their work. Ask for samples and references when appropriate. A cheaper production partner is not much of a bargain if the order shows up late or the quality does not match what your customer expects.

Get help

Temporary labor can also help. College students may have several weeks off during the holiday season. High school students may be available after school and during winter break. Parents who stay home during the day may want some seasonal work. Someone with a full-time job might happily work a Saturday shift for extra holiday money. 

You may already have an employee who could lead that extra shift. Give them the responsibility and see what happens. You might discover someone capable of taking more leadership inside the shop year-round. The trick is hiring before you desperately need the help. Training someone when the shop is calm is much easier than shouting instructions while six rush orders are waiting to be boxed. I have seen very good production shops get this wrong. Then they have a temporary employee with one day of experience training other temporary employees.

Know when to stop

Finally, one of the most important decisions of the entire season. When will you stop accepting holiday orders? Your customers do not know your production schedule. They do not know how long blanks take to arrive. They do not know what orders are already sitting in your queue. Set a standard holiday cutoff date and stick to it. Work backward from the date your customer needs the finished product. Allow time for blanks to arrive. Allow production time.

Allow shipping or delivery time. If USPS says the cutoff date is the 21st for orders to arrive by Christmas, then plan to ship by the 18th or 19th. Again, ask me how I know. If you are new and unsure how much time you need, pad the deadline. It is much better to stop accepting guaranteed Christmas delivery a little early than to explain why Grandma needs to accept getting her gift in the mail a week after the holiday. I have had these conversations, and they are not fun.

Tell your regular customers about those deadlines before the rush. Send an email, put the dates on quotes, post them on social media, and mention them when customers call. You can even use your deadline as part of your marketing. “Get your gift order in now and move to the front of the holiday production line.” That creates urgency and helps you spread work across
more weeks.

Protect your people

One more thing deserves your attention: protect the people doing the work. That includes you. You do not have to accept every order. You can say no. You can charge more for rush work. You can tell a customer that the earliest delivery date is January. You can decide that one extra order is not worth pushing your staff into another 12-hour day. You can also do something nice for your team.

Your holiday season does not need to feel like something that happens to you. Protect your team and your own sanity along the way, as I have seen way too many good garment decorators detest their best time of the year. The rush is coming. You already know when. Christmas is still on the 25th of December in 2026. This year, you can make sure your business is ready when it arrives.

If you work backward by forecasting your sales, being honest about capacity, preparing your equipment and supplies, lining up extra help, and setting firm deadlines, you give yourself a much better chance at a profitable fourth quarter without sacrificing your team or your sanity to get there. The goal is to finish the year proud of what you accomplished and still have enough energy left to enjoy Christmas when it actually arrives. And if the season goes really well, feel free to send me a gift next year. I will gladly provide the mailing address.