Bulk Lab Coats: How to Order Lab Coats for a Whole Department

Quick answer: Before ordering lab coats in bulk, settle the length, closure and pockets, the fabric for how the coats will be laundered, and the embroidery content and placement. Order one sample coat, wash it, then place the full order, and confirm the same coat can be reordered later.

Of everything a department orders in quantity, lab coats cause the most trouble. A scrub top that runs slightly large is an inconvenience. A hundred lab coats in the wrong length, with the logo stitched in the wrong place, is a problem measured in weeks and dollars.

Most of that trouble is avoidable, and all of it is avoidable before the order goes in rather than after.

Decide on Length First

Lab coats are commonly cut in short, mid and full lengths, and the choice is rarely arbitrary. Many teaching institutions use length to distinguish students from qualified staff, which means the decision may not actually be yours to make. Check whether a convention already exists in your organization before you choose on appearance alone.

Closure and Pockets Are Not Cosmetic

Button closures, snap closures and zip fronts all wear differently and launder differently. Pocket configuration matters more than people expect, because a coat that cannot carry what the role requires gets replaced by whatever the wearer prefers, and your standard quietly disappears.

Ask the people who will wear them what they actually carry. It takes one conversation and it prevents a year of workarounds.

Fabric and Laundering

If coats are laundered commercially, the fabric needs to survive industrial washing, and not every lab coat is built for it. If they are laundered at home, wrinkle resistance becomes the thing staff notice every single week. These are different garments, so establish which situation you are in before comparing options.

Embroidery Placement and Content

• Decide whether you are stitching a logo, a name, credentials, a department, or some combination, and in what order.

• Confirm who at your organization approves use of the logo. This is the single most common source of delay.

• Check the character limit before collecting names. Ours allow one line of twenty characters or fewer, with a small charge for a second line.

• Agree placement in writing. Left chest is conventional, but conventions vary by institution.

Order a Sample Before You Order a Hundred

The step almost everyone skips is the one that saves the most. Order one coat, in the fabric and length you have chosen, with the embroidery exactly as you intend it. Put it on somebody. Wash it. Then place the real order.

Plan for the People Who Are Not There Yet

Whatever you order now, more people will arrive. Confirm that the same coat, in the same fabric and the same embroidery configuration, can be reordered in ones and twos later. A bulk price on a garment that is discontinued in six months is not a saving.

How We Can Help

At ScrubHaven we stock lab coats in a full range of sizes, embroider in house, and have no minimum order, which means a single replacement coat is as straightforward as the original fifty. You are welcome to come into either store and handle the options in person before deciding.

Lab coats are rarely ordered on their own. For the wider picture, our guide to ordering scrubs and uniforms for your staff covers sizing, billing arrangements and how to plan a timeline that holds.

To talk through an order for your department, start here: ScrubHaven Group Order Form.

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