We know the feeling. You’ve found the right design, picked your size and placed the order. Now you want it to arrive.
Our clothes take a little longer than something sitting on a warehouse shelf, ready to go. That’s because we use print on demand, or POD: your chosen design is produced to order before it’s dispatched.
There’s a practical reason for that. There’s an environmental reason too.
Make it when somebody wants it
Buying stock in bulk means making a prediction. Which design will sell? In which sizes? How many?
Get that prediction wrong and you’re left with finished clothes that nobody has chosen. Fabric, printing, energy and packaging have gone into stock that may spend months in storage.
With print on demand, the order comes first. We don’t commission piles of finished TwM designs and hope they find a wardrobe later.
Our fulfilment partner, Printful, describes its made-to-order approach as a way to reduce overproduction. That’s the part of the model that matters most to us: avoiding unnecessary finished stock in the first place.
Christmas has a particularly short shelf life
A Christmas sweatshirt has a fairly obvious window of opportunity. Once the decorations come down, demand for festive dinosaurs and glamorous reindeer tends to quieten down too.
If we ordered a large batch in advance and some never sold, those pieces might sit boxed up until next year. They might need discounting, donating or another route to a new owner. If unwanted stock is eventually discarded, it can end up in landfill or incineration.
Unsold doesn’t automatically mean landfill. But producing seasonal clothes without a buyer creates that risk, along with the cost of storing and dealing with the leftovers.
POD means an unpopular design can remain an image on our website rather than a box of unwanted jumpers. A joke that doesn’t land needn’t leave a pile of fabric behind.
Why your order takes longer
There’s a production stage between checkout and dispatch. Depending on the garment, that can involve printing, or printing and sewing, followed by checks and packing.
Production time and delivery time are separate parts of the wait. Busy seasonal periods can also affect fulfilment, so please allow time if you’re ordering for a party or buying a gift.
We won’t dress that up as instant delivery. Making something for your order takes longer than picking a finished item from a shelf.
A useful choice, with an honest limit
Printing to order doesn’t make clothing impact-free. Fabric still has to be made. Production uses resources. Packaging and transport still count. Suppliers can hold blank garments, and mistakes, damaged items and returns can still create waste.
So our green argument is specific: we can reduce our need to produce finished designs speculatively, especially seasonal ones.
We’re not claiming every garment is organic, every parcel is plastic-free or every order has a smaller carbon footprint than every alternative. We’re choosing a way of working that avoids building up unsold TwM stock.
Wear it again
Making to order is one part of the picture. What happens after delivery matters too.
Choose a design you actually want to wear. Check the size guide before ordering. Follow the care instructions. Bring the Christmas sweatshirt back out next year, and the year after that.
Our dinosaurs won’t suddenly discover historical accuracy in twelve months. The joke can survive another Christmas.
Worth a little patience
POD also helps a small independent brand like ours offer more designs and sizes without buying large quantities upfront. It makes financial sense for us, and it gives us a practical way to avoid unnecessary seasonal stock.
We’d rather give a design time to find its person before producing it.
Thank you for allowing that extra time. Your order gives us a reason to make the garment—and a wardrobe for it to go to.
Original clothing. Questionable taste.
Further reading: Printful’s explanation of made-to-order production and overproduction.