Pinnies are bought on colour and price and judged from forty metres in bad weather. These four decide whether they work.

Choose the pair on value, not on hue

One clearly light, one clearly dark, whatever they are called. Value contrast survives rain, distance and dusk; hue contrast does not.

Red against orange, navy against black, and almost any two mid-tones look like sensible pairs on a chart and merge on a wet pitch. Photograph your two swatches together and look at the picture in black and white before you order four hundred of them.

Never put the branding on the mesh

Mesh is holes. Ink needs a continuous surface to bond to, so applied to open knit it bridges the gaps and then cracks along every one of them in a hot wash.

Ask for a solid knitted panel built into the garment, front and back if you are numbering. It is decided before the pinnie is made, which is why numbered sets are specified rather than printed.

Quote the armhole for what goes underneath

A pinnie is pulled on over a shirt, a training top or a school jumper. If the armhole was cut to a body chart, the side seam takes the load every single time.

That is why torn sides get blamed on stitching and almost never are. Get armhole depth and chest width quoted for the layer underneath, and you will also need fewer sizes.

Ask what the mesh weight actually is

“Mesh” covers a very wide range. A very open knit is coolest and is see-through over a dark shirt, which quietly takes back some of the contrast you chose the colours for.

A heavier knit holds its colour better and is warmer. Neither is right in general; both should be on the quote as a number.

Be honest about reversibles

They halve your storage and they solve rotations. They are also warmer, heavier and much slower to dry.

If the same garments go out twice a day, two single-layer sets in a light and a dark will serve you better than one reversible set.