Two phrases show up on every wholesale fleece listing and neither is explained anywhere: 24-piece pre-pack, and assorted size scale. They determine what physically arrives on your dock, so they are worth understanding before your first bulk order rather than after it.
What a 24-piece pre-pack means
A pre-pack is a carton assembled to a fixed specification before you order it. Twenty-four pieces, one color, in a set spread of sizes. It ships as a sealed unit off a warehouse shelf.
The value of a pre-pack is speed and price. Nobody has to pick your order piece by piece, which is a meaningful share of why blank fleece is cheaper by the case. It is one of the structural savings covered in why blank hoodies cost less in bulk.
The standard assorted scale
Most wholesale fleece ships 6-6-6-6: six small, six medium, six large, six extra large. It is a sensible default and the right choice for a first order, because it spreads your risk while you learn what your customers actually buy.
It is also an average, and almost no real business is average. A workwear supplier skews large and up. A youth-focused shop skews small. A print shop filling corporate orders needs whatever that week's client needs.
Single size per carton
Once you know your curve, assorted cartons stop being the best option. Buying single size per carton means all 24 pieces are one size, so you build any scale you want. Two cartons of large, one of medium, one of extra large, and none of the smalls you were never going to sell.
We ship both ways. Assorted scale for simplicity, single size per carton for buyers who have done the math.
How to work out your own scale
You need one season or one quarter of sales data by size, fleece only. Do not mix in t-shirts, the size curves are genuinely different.
- Convert each size to a percentage of total fleece units sold.
- Multiply each percentage by 24 to get your ideal per-carton spread.
- Round to whole pieces and check it still totals 24.
A business that sold 15 percent small, 28 percent medium, 32 percent large and 25 percent extra large should be buying roughly 4-7-8-5, not 6-6-6-6. Across ten cartons that is 20 fewer smalls sitting unsold.
The sizes almost everyone under-buys
2XL through 4XL, consistently. The reasoning is usually that extended sizes cost more per piece and hurt the average margin.
In practice a customer in those sizes has fewer options, buys with less hesitation, and comes back. A shop that reliably carries 3XL becomes the shop people go out of their way for. Someone who wears a 3XL and cannot find one does not buy a smaller hoodie. They leave.
Our big and tall fleece runs 2XL to 4XL in pullovers at $11.00 a piece, zip-ups at $12.00 and 3-pocket sweatpants at $9.00, all by the case. Plan roughly one carton of extended sizes for every four or five cartons of standard.
Kids and baby follow a different curve
Youth fleece does not behave like adult fleece. It sells on impulse, usually alongside an adult purchase, and it sells hardest in the smallest sizes. If you carry kids and baby fleece, weight it toward the young end and keep the total commitment small until you have real data.
One color per case, whichever scale you choose
Size scale and color are separate decisions. Every carton we ship is a single color regardless of whether the sizes are assorted or uniform. That means you never buy three colors to get the one you needed.
Fill-ins beat perfect forecasting
You will not get the scale exactly right, and you do not need to. What you need is the ability to reorder the sizes running out while your selling window is still open.
That requires a supplier holding real inventory who ships in days, not a factory program with a lead time. Open stock exists for exactly this.
If you are placing a first order and are not sure which way to go, our walkthrough of buying blank hoodies in bulk covers the whole sequence. Or call 732-254-7400 and we will read your numbers with you. We have looked at a lot of size curves since 1981.