Most first orders slow down in the same two places: the artwork is not print-ready, and the colour approval happens after the sample arrives. Here is the sequence a custom order follows, and where the waiting time actually sits.
1. Brief
Category, intended use, size, quantity and destination. The intended use matters more than the size: a ball for a school and a ball for a league are built to different standards, and the category should be chosen before the artwork is drawn.
2. Artwork
Send the logo file, where it should sit on the ball, colour references, and the number of print areas. Vector artwork is preferred. Artwork that has to be redrawn adds days that nobody budgets for.
3. Quotation
The quotation confirms printing, packing and freight together. Retail box, hang tag, poly bag or plain carton should be decided here rather than at the end, because packing changes the carton weight and therefore the freight cost.
4. Sample — 7 days
A physical sample is made and sent. Check it against the brief you wrote in step 1, not against the artwork on screen: panel alignment, colour under daylight, how the logo sits across a bonded joint.
5. Approval
Approval in writing closes the specification. After this point a change to colour or layout usually means new panels and a new schedule, so raise anything you are unsure about while the sample is in your hands.
6. Bulk — 15–30 days
Production runs 15–30 days from approval. MOQ is 100 pcs per model. Treat the two ends of that range as different orders, not as a margin of error: a 100-piece single-colour run and a multi-colour run with packing artwork do not take the same number of days.
7. Packing and shipping
Packing is completed against the packing list and carton marks agreed in the quotation, then handed to the forwarder. Destination and order size determine the freight method.
If the delivery date is fixed — a tournament, a season start, a trade show — say so at the brief stage rather than after approval. It changes which construction and which freight method we recommend.
