Chinese New Year lands on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 February 2027, the Year of the Goat, and corporate bookings for it close between November and mid-December 2026. For a company that prefers its festive spend tested before it is committed, CNY corporate orders in small batch are the answer: the 500-piece-per-style FOB lane we run, sampling in one to two weeks and sewing in four to six, one red-shirt programme sized to one team, one event or one gift tier before the firm-wide order goes in.
What does a small-batch CNY corporate order look like?
One to three designs at 500 pieces each, on FOB terms, one complete price running from fabric through finishing. A red polo or an oxford shirt for one department, a mandarin-collar piece for the front-of-house team, a festive tee for the gift box: 500 pieces dresses a site, a function or a campaign, with the size run split to the real headcount. Sampling takes one to two weeks a round and the sew runs four to six weeks; to Singapore, add a planning reference of one to one-and-a-half weeks door to door. Order by early December and the shirts are in hand before the festival; leave it to mid-December and every range is running at its quick end, which reaches the festival but not the office dinners before it.
Why would a corporate programme start in small batch?
Because the biggest festive spend in the calendar sits on the shortest booking window, and a big bet has no room to correct once the slot is gone. Singapore’s corporate gifting suppliers advise briefing in October, because November is when the season’s production capacity gets booked (market reference). A 500-piece pilot buys the festival without betting it: one design, real staff, real wear, and the numbers that decide whether February’s firm-wide order is 1,000 pieces or 5,000. It also buys a shirt made rather than decorated, and the red is picked before the cloth is ordered, so the colour belongs to the brand and not to a blank’s available range.
What does the pilot prove before the full order?
Three answers a buying committee usually argues about. Whether the red works in daylight, on every skin tone in the building, photographed next to the brand logo. Whether the collar and cut survive a working day, because a festive shirt still has to be a shirt. And whether staff wear it again after the dinner, which is the difference between a uniform and a gift. Each answer lands with a size-by-size tally, so the firm-wide order is placed on evidence instead of a vote.
How does a pilot become the firm-wide programme?
The re-order is where the small lane we run hands over. Blocks, size sets and colour standards from the pilot are held, so the full run reproduces the shirt the committee approved rather than re-deciding it, and volume above the 500-piece floor moves to the group’s full-production floor, which takes programmes from 1,000 pieces per style on 200,000 pieces of monthly capacity. The same held files let one booking carry both festivals: a December order on a phased delivery can wave red shirts in before the late-January dinners and follow with a corporate Raya set for late February, because Hari Raya Puasa arrives on Wednesday 10 March 2027, a month after Chinese New Year.
When must a small-batch CNY order be placed?
Between November and mid-December 2026. Orders placed early sample without queuing; by the window’s end only the quick ends of the ranges are left, and they reach the festival, not the dinners before it. The group’s festive calendar holds the order-by dates for all four windows on its Singapore festive production calendar for 2027, the factory’s cut-and-sew view of this window is on its Chinese New Year collection page, and the buyer-side clock is on the sourcing desk’s CNY order clock.
What should the pilot brief carry?
Four things, and none of them need to be finished artwork. The design, even a sketch, with the collar named if a mandarin piece is wanted. The headcount by size for the team the pilot dresses. The red, stated as a fabric colour with any second tone alongside. And the in-hand date, which for a pilot is usually an internal reveal before the office dinner, earlier than the festival itself. Artwork and labels can follow at sample stage. A team smaller than 500 heads briefs the same way: send the headcount and the lane answers what fits.
CNY pilot questions
How many pieces is a small-batch corporate order?
Five hundred pieces per style, FOB, with one to three designs making up a pilot of 500 to 1,500 pieces in total. Sizes follow the headcount of the team or event the pilot dresses, and re-orders cut from the same held blocks at the same 500-piece floor.
When should a CNY 2027 pilot be ordered?
Between November and mid-December 2026. Sampling takes one to two weeks per round, production four to six weeks, and sea freight adds a planning reference of one to one-and-a-half weeks to Singapore. Early in the window is comfortable; mid-December leaves only the quick ends of the ranges.
Can we test one design before the full corporate run?
That is what we built the lane for. One design at 500 pieces puts a real shirt on real staff through the festival week, and the wear data carries straight into the firm-wide order, which steps up to 1,000 pieces per style on the full-production floor.
What happens after the pilot?
One of two things, both planned from the same files. The design graduates to a full programme from 1,000 pieces per style, reproduced from the approved sample, or the pilot repeats next season with the blocks already on hand. Nothing is thrown away, which is the point of testing.
Send the sketch, the headcount and the in-hand date through our contact page: we reply with a pilot plan and its dates attached, and the quote maths sits in our quoting guide.