T-shirt order percentages for sizes

[DanStrutz]

I was wondering if anyone had an idea on the percentages you typically order for race t-shirts. I am just unsure, and it seems that our registered entries are coming in pretty last minute so we are not sure of the estimated percentages.

Any ideas here of whats been done in the past will help.

Thanks

Dan

[JimG]

Here's our percentages from our biggest event, 4th of July race:

S - 22.3% M - 29.9% L - 31.8% XL - 15.9%

Pretty standard for other events we've done.

[jeff darman]

After years of seeing no one want smalls,I have found the last few years we ran out of smalls--albeit we don't order too many. Always better to have bigger shirts than smaller shirts when in doubt.

[Brian Mastel]

Do you know your percentage of men to women? It can make pretty significant difference for the mediums and larges.

Our marathon (11,000 runners) - 60% men, 40% women
sizes 22.6% 29.9% 30.5% 15.3% 1.7%

Our ten mile (6,000 runners) - 40% men, 60% women
sizes 22.0% 34.8% 25.6% 15.8% 1.9%

Our 1 mile (2,700 runners) - 40% men, 60% women
sizes 21.8% 34.1% 27.3% 15.1% 1.9%

[Trailrunnerdude]

I think the percentages shown here are pretty good to use. I agree with Brian about knowing proportion of men to women. It's also good to get an idea of how many kids are signing up (many kids under the age of 12 can wear smalls, but if you get many who are under the age of 8 you may need to look into getting kids sizes) and whether your runners have special needs (some cancer survivors need 2XL). My rule of thumb is no less than 20% small, 30% medium, 30% large 18% XL and 2% 2XL.

[JimG]

There's been a definite trend toward the smaller end of the size scale. I remember about 15-20 yrs. ago there was almost no demand for Smalls - even the tiniest HS girls wanted XL - baggy was in.

Now it's the other way. We even get a lot of those same HS girls (well, not the SAME girls - could even be the daughters of the previous group) asking for Youth Large or even smaller - they want to show off their, er, muscles.

[QcyRunner]

I track shirt sizes of my pre-registered runners up til the time I need to order and extrapolate based upon those percentages up to projected race day numbers plus some. May not be overly scientific but it works for us. We then use the extras as toss to the crowd items at local FB and soccer games for a little bit more free exposure.

[QcyRunner]

My numbers do track pretty close to those mentioned above.

[RunColo]

I hate how irregular the shirts are for so many races that you go to.

I did a 5k a few weeks ago, they gave out a tech shirt from a local company. I first asked for a large, the shirt was huge. I exchanged it for a medium and the medium was probably equivalent to an extra large. I'm 6'0" and the shirt is huge on me.