Minimum order quantities, explained

Why the number exists

It is not a commercial hurdle, it is setup. A run requires tooling, screens or a loom set to the artwork, a colour matched to a physical reference, and a proof approved. That work is identical whether the run is five hundred bands or fifty thousand, so below a certain quantity the setup dominates the unit price to the point where the price stops being meaningful. Five hundred is roughly where the numbers become sensible for both sides.

Mixed colours inside one run

This is the most useful thing a small buyer can know. One artwork across four colours is one run, not four, which means a small property can separate a spa entitlement, a standard stay and a child band inside a single minimum. What it cannot do is carry different logos — a second logo is a second artwork and a second minimum, which is the constraint that catches groups trying to cover several properties in one order.

What five hundred actually covers

At forty rooms and two guests per room, five hundred bands is roughly six full turnovers — a season for a property with week-long stays, a few months for a city hotel with short ones. Working it out this way rather than guessing usually reassures a small property that the minimum is a single annual order rather than a stockpile, and it identifies the properties for whom it genuinely is too many.

Ordering above the minimum

Unit price falls with quantity in steps rather than smoothly, because the steps follow production batching. It is always worth asking where the next step is: a property ordering 1,800 bands is often a short distance from a materially better price at 2,000, and nobody volunteers that unless asked. The counterweight is storage and the risk of a design change, so the right answer is the next step up rather than the largest one available.