Being able to order workwear online is very helpful, and it saves you and your employees trips to a store that would take a lot of time out of the day. Finding a new online retailer can be good, but if you've never ordered from them and have no idea what their products are like, you need to take some time to make sure what you get from them will suit your needs.
Look for a Physical Location if Possible
This sounds like an absolute contradiction to what you've been trying to do by choosing an online retailer, but it's not. With a physical location, you can try on a few clothes and see if the material and fit are to your liking. That lets you know if this seller has workwear that you want to continue ordering, and it lets you find out quickly if the company's sizing is true to size or larger/smaller than the listed size implies. Once you know, you can order online from the same retailer with more confidence, especially if the workwear you have to order requires added logos or other company customisation. If the retailer doesn't have physical locations, you'll have to order samples to be sent to you, which can take a bit longer.
Find a Return Policy You're Comfortable With
Return policies are going to vary widely, so find one that you're comfortable with. If the workwear you need will be plain and shipping times fairly short, a shorter return period with basic terms may be OK. The longer the shipping takes between you and the retailer, though, especially for workwear that needs more time before shipping because of customisation, the more you will need a longer return period and more generous return policy to ensure you can return things without worrying about the shipping time back to the company eating into the return period.
Be Aware of Dye Lots
If you need workwear that is consistent in colour, you may want to order more pieces than are currently necessary. No, this is not a ruse to get you to spend more money. It's because, like all clothing, workwear fabrics have dye lots, which are numbers that indicate batches of dye. If two pieces of fabric have the same dye lot number, that means they were dyed in the same batch of dye and should have identical colours. A second batch of dye that's meant to be the same colour as the first may actually not be exactly identical due to differences in how the batches were mixed or stored. Here's the problem for you: When you buy ready-made clothing, you won't see those dye lot numbers. But if you wait to order more clothing, the hue might be ever so slightly off from what you ordered previously because the newer clothing uses fabric from a different dye lot.
Contact a supplier for more information about ordering workwear.
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