The December trade: an order clock for holiday stock that lands after Black Friday
Black Friday sits at the front of the US holiday season, and most production calendars are built backwards from it alone. The season does not end there. Cyber Monday follows it, Green Monday follows that, and the season’s biggest single shopping day by headcount lands in the final week before Christmas. We cut and sew holiday woven programs against these dates every year, and this is the December trade: the order clock for stock that lands after Black Friday and sells into the last three weeks of the calendar.
The short answer: the December trade runs from Cyber Monday on November 29, 2027 through Super Saturday on December 18, when 158.9 million Americans planned to shop in 2025, the season’s biggest single day. Stock that lands around December 10 catches it. The clock runs backwards from that landing: purchase order by mid-July 2027 on the twelve-week lane or late August on the six-week lane, containers sailing mid-October.
Which dates define the December trade?
Four dates frame the post-Black-Friday season:
- Cyber Monday: Monday, November 29, 2027. The online peak that follows Black Friday. The whole Thanksgiving-to-Cyber-Monday weekend drew a record 202.9 million US shoppers in 2025, per the National Retail Federation’s survey, and the weeks after it keep selling.
- Green Monday: Monday, December 13, 2027. The second Monday of December, a name eBay coined in 2007, and a date the carrier deadline tables keep most standard shipping services open past.
- Super Saturday: Saturday, December 18, 2027. The last Saturday before Christmas. NRF surveys put the turnout at 141.9 million in 2023, 157.2 million in 2024, and a record 158.9 million in 2025, which makes it the season’s largest planned shopping day by headcount. In 2027 it sits a full week before Christmas Day on December 25.
- The shipping wall: mid-December. Carrier deadline tables put ground and standard services at their cutoffs around December 16 to 17 in recent seasons, with express later, which is why the week of December 13 is the trade’s last full week at standard shipping.
What does the order clock look like backwards from December 10?
The clock works backwards from a mid-December warehouse date, one month behind the Black Friday clock:
| Stage | Date |
|---|---|
| First contact with the factory | June–July 2027 |
| Quotes and tech packs | within weeks of first contact |
| Sampling rounds (plan two) | June–early July 2027 (12-week lane) or August 2027 (6-week lane) |
| Purchase order placed | July 15, 2027 (12-week lane) or late August 2027 (6-week lane) |
| Bulk production | early October 2027 (12-week lane) or mid-September 2027 (6-week lane) |
| Containers sail | mid-October 2027 |
| Stock in your US warehouse | around December 10, 2027 |
The arithmetic closes on the calendar: a container sailing October 15 carries the locked freight line of 27 to 39 days port to port, around eight weeks door to door, and lands December 10, eight days ahead of Super Saturday. The lanes we quote differ only at the purchase order. A twelve-week program locks by July 15 and sews through early October. A six-week program locks by late August, sews through mid-September, and still makes the same sailing, which is the whole point of the lane: a brand that reads its Black Friday sell-through in the first weeks of November is already too late for this clock, and the one that decides in August is not. The full set of season clocks sits on the US woven apparel production calendar.
What still sells after Black Friday?
Three things, and they are not small. Last-minute gifting is the first: the Super Saturday turnout numbers above make the final Saturday the season’s biggest headcount day, and the gifting categories behind it skew woven: shirts and dresses and the pieces that wrap well. The second is the Cyber Week extension, where the record 202.9 million shopper weekend leaves demand unmet in its hottest sizes and colorways, and stock that lands December 10 catches the resupply. The third is the shipping cutoff itself: because standard shipping closes around December 16 to 17, goods on shelves from December 10 sell through a full week of guaranteed-delivery trade. A December program does not compete with Black Friday stock; it sells where that stock has already emptied.
How does this clock sit beside the Black Friday clock?
The two clocks share everything except the landing. The Black Friday clock, whose sampling chain runs in detail on the holiday capsule sampling timeline, puts the order in June to mid-July and the goods in warehouses by early November. The December clock puts its order at the same front door, July for the twelve-week lane, and lands a month later, on December 10. A brand running both holds one sampling season and two landings, which is the split-shipment pattern: the split shipments guide shows one purchase order sailing twice, first containers for November and the balance for December, and the December cargo earns its freight by catching the Super Saturday trade the November cargo cannot. Where the second sailing is a top-up of proven styles rather than a balance, the reorder rules take over, and the PP sample discipline from the pre-production checklist applies to both.
The December trade: the quick answers
What is the December trade?
The selling season after Black Friday: Cyber Monday on November 29, Green Monday on December 13, and Super Saturday on December 18, 2027, the season’s biggest single shopping day by headcount. Stock landing around December 10 serves all three.
When should I order stock that lands in December?
First contact in June 2027 for the twelve-week lane, with the purchase order locking July 15, or a late-August PO on the six-week lane. Containers sail mid-October and land around December 10, eight days ahead of Super Saturday.
What is Super Saturday?
The last Saturday before Christmas, December 18 in 2027. NRF surveys counted 158.9 million Americans planning to shop on it in 2025, a record and the season’s largest planned shopping day.
Can a Black Friday order also serve December?
Its November stock serves the season through its sell-through, and the December trade rewards the sizes and colorways Black Friday emptied. A split purchase order, November containers plus a December balance, runs both clocks on one sampling season.
What MOQ applies to a December capsule?
The floors are the ones we hold on every window: 1,000 pieces per style full production, 1,500 for custom fabric development, and 500 pieces per style FOB on the pilot lane. The December clock uses the same floors as every other window.
When does December stock need to decide?
The decision that matters is the purchase order in July or late August. By November, the December landing is gone; the calendar, not the factory, sets that line.
Send the styles and the December 10 warehouse date to the consultation page, and the quote comes back with both holiday lanes priced, the November one and the December one, while the July window is still open.