Your Peak Season Headcount Is Coming. Are the Uniforms?

September 4, 2026

Memphis operations that wait until October to size seasonal hires end up putting people on the floor in whatever happens to fit.

Work Backward From Day One

Memphis runs on logistics, and logistics runs on a fourth quarter that arrives whether or not anyone prepared for it. Warehouses, distribution centers, and third-party logistics operations across the region start adding headcount in the fall, and the uniform conversation usually happens last, somewhere between orientation paperwork and badge photos.

That timing creates a predictable mess. Here is the schedule that avoids it.

Six Weeks Out: Get the Sizes Right, Not Close

Most sizing problems trace back to a spreadsheet somebody filled in by guessing. We can replace a garment that does not fit, and in most cases we do it quickly. The exception matters, though. Special orders and custom cuts take longer, and over-sizes like a 7XL shirt often are not stock items. Manufacturers need a minimum number of orders before they run custom cuts back into production, so one request can sit for weeks.

Nail the specs on the front end and the problem disappears. We would much rather spend an hour with your team getting measurements right in September than explain a backorder in November.

Four Weeks Out: Match the Garment to the Job

A seasonal hire on a cold dock does not need what a seasonal hire on a pack line needs. Our range runs from industrial work shirts and cargo pants to jackets, coveralls, safety vests, and all-weather gear, and the right call depends on the work rather than the budget line.

Fabric matters more here than people expect. The industry standard for a long-lasting garment runs 65% cotton and 35% polyester, but that blend does not automatically suit every job. One company often needs three or four different specs across departments. Survey the environments, the tasks, the comfort factors, and the safety requirements before you order, and bring us in to help sort through it.

Two Weeks Out: Decide Where the Garments Live

Seasonal crews turn over fast, which turns distribution into a real question rather than an afterthought. Garment lockers keep things orderly. Logo and name customization keeps garments identifiable. And every item in our care carries a barcode that gets scanned at multiple points, so we know exactly where a garment sits in the process at any time. We have run barcode tracking for more than two decades and still find it more practical and more economical than RFID chips.

January: The Part Nobody Plans For

Peak season ends, and a hundred people hand back a hundred shirts. Or they do not. Tell your service representative as soon as someone leaves and he starts accounting for that associate’s garments right away. We re-use whatever we can and get replacements ready for whoever fills the role next.

For the garments that never come back, most providers bill you full price. We apply a cost depreciation formula instead. It seems only fair.

Building a seasonal program takes about a week of planning and saves you a quarter of headaches. Visit us online today or call (901) 363-4841 and talk to a real person.