Embroidery or Printing? Part 1 – workwear

So often we get people coming in and asking if they should go for embroidery or printing and I think it really depends on your own personal preference!
I want to look at the options and the considerations regarding the two to see if I can help you decide what you’d prefer.
To start with let’s look at workwear.

So in this post I’m going to breakdown a few choices, but I don’t think this is definitive or complete. In the end I think it comes down to the preference of the person getting the work done and I will make suggestions if I feel it’s needed but if someone is set on one thing or the other – that is totally up to them and we are happy to work with the client’s wishes on the project, that is unless we no it’ll damage the garment or just not work at all.

Workwear

Initial things to consider:

How will you use the garment?
If you are a trades person working in joinery, plumbing, gas engineering or something similar, the chances are high you could do with garments that are harder wearing. This will include the options such as washing at 60 degrees C, triple stitched seams for instance. Where as if you are in an office, retail space, business coach or just for branding while you network heavy washing or seam strength are not the main worry but having something that fits properly, is comfortable and looks tailored might be more of a priority.

It’s really worthwhile telling us what you want the items for. There is a really good value for money promo print that we have that works fantastic on white t-shirts, is super flexible for low volume, so it’s great for one off events or only using a few times. We don’t offer this product as a normal option as the print durability of other techniques are better quality but this one will last about 20 washes.

Will you be ordering bulk or individual items?
If you are ordering in bulk then both decoration options become great value for money. Although we don’t have a minimum order quantity on many of items there is normally a break point for pricing. Depending on the items and what’s going on them this could be as low as 6 items. Between 10 and 15 items will generally start to show good value for money. If you have a budget you can talk to us regarding it. The advantage of doing this is we can move away from standard setting for things. For example we normally set a left chest logo to a maximum of 9x9cm but we could adapt your logo to a smaller size for embroidery or a single colour print and this could allow us a bit of wiggle room on the price. However, this may not work well for small orders.

These are just some of the questions we think about when someone comes to us and asks about getting their logos on uniforms!

Below is a list of the pros and cons of embroidery and printing.

Embroidery

Embroidered logo, with blades of grass detailing above the company text.

Pros:
* The colours of the thread really make logos pop and gives them a depth and texture that can’t be replicated using printing.
* Embroidery can in general last longer than printing.
* Has a perceived reputation for be high value and good quality, so might make a better impression to people looking at you.
* Threads can be pantone matched to logos for additional branding or design requirements.

Cons:
* Snagging or pulls. If an item is going to have hard wear, such as bags or even some jackets, the threads can snag or pull. A good digitiser will be able to ensure the chances of this a minimised by using certain stitches, but it’s worth mention this to your embroiderer at the time.
* Cost can be prohibitive in small quantities
* If there is a full spectrum of colours this can either be costly or prohibitive as the biggest embroidery machine heads have 15 needles – so 15 colours. (Although there is an embroidery machine that dyes the thread as it runs so you can “print” with thread. This isn’t widely available yet, mainly due to costs.)
* Fine lines or geometrical design might not have the same crisp finish as printing, especially if the design is small.
* For some companies size of the design can be prohibitive – lettering smaller than 5mm can loose definition. Some companies might only have frames that can do a max design size of A4. (Sew Ho’s can do large scale designs, see our giant Steve Madden tote bags.)

Check out our embroidery page for more information and examples.

Print

Pros:
* Full colour spectrum available. Some print techniques now use combined RGB and CMYK so the print colours are fantastic and the graphics are pixel perfect.
* Great for small quantities and changing designs.
* Budget friendly. With the huge selection of printing methods available there will be something to suit your budget.

Cons:
* Not great for all types of garments and materials – such as fleeces.
* If not washed correctly the print can degrade.
* If using the wrong print method on the garment, scorching can happen. For best results use garments from our catalogue, all are supplied to us with decoration specs from our suppliers.
* Poor quality artwork can affect the print quality. It is best to have your artwork created to scale at 300dpi in vector format.

Check out our print page for more information and examples.