Embroidery (Monogramming) Overview

• Embroidering garments is an attractive way to promote your team or business.
• We take pride in helping you develop a design that is right for you.
• Embroidery can be direct on to garment or made into badges.
• We typically work with nine quality and price variables.

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Embroidery Pricing

• An average (3000 stitch) logo onto a Polo shirt for 30 units is $4.90.
• On average digitising/set-up charge is a $45.00, this varies, as does the unit charge, with similar variables.
• Over 100 units a digitising discount applies and most times free. Plus gst on all.
• We are happy to give you an exact price on a given logo via e-mailed jpg, bmp, pdf, or fax as the price is affected by many variables.
• As a ‘quick guide’ to receive an accurate quote, we need a picture in the above formats, the amount you’re in need of, and garment type the logo is to go onto.

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To go further in depth, this is how we do our costings:

Digitising

• This is a process of "tracing" over the top of the jpg/pdf/fax/bmp given.
• It normally takes around two hours to do this, sometimes less and often more so we’ve rounded this off to $40.00.
• This costing also includes a sewout sample.

Number of Stitches

• Generally the more stitches in the logo, the greater the cost.
• In digitising fewer stitches can be chosen for reduced cost, but this will affect the appearance & quality of the finished product.
• More stitches are usually better!
• We have stitch count examples as a simple visual guide.
• We aim to produce a logo to the highest quality so tend to "chunk it up" with stitches, though quote/price on a lower stitch count version.

Quantity

• Like any automated process, the overall unit cost includes set up and testing and operator familiarity.
• The greater is the quantity required, the larger the machine used and the lower is the preparation and the unit cost.

Type of Stitch and Thread

• To achieve required detail or affect a range of stitches may be used, affecting the price.
• Metallic threads are more expensive and provide a steel affect.
• Glow in the dark threads are limited in colours, and extremely expensive bumping up the cost of any individual logo up to 5 times.

Logo Complexity

• The finer the logo, and the use of in-fill shading, colour blends and affects tend to increase the stitch count and the Digitising time.
• Gaps between letters or images add trims, which increase run time.
• Good digitising will look superior and will reduce run time and turn-around time for future orders.

Logo size

• A large logo requires a larger hoop, larger vyline (backing), and of course, stitch count.
• More stitches, the more time on the machine, more thread used, more wages paid etc.
• Then there are the smaller logos, when too small, especially with some text we have to slow the machine down.

Material

• Polo/tee shirts are amongst the easiest and most commonly embroidered items, but even these have an enormous variety of fabrics that influence the general preparation of the garment.
• Bags and Jackets can take longer to prepare though the embroidery clarity is always excellent. Compendiums and document satchels fall under this category also.
• Towelling and Polar Fleece often need an in-fill background/Solvy, or a general thickening of columns.
• Apparel and accessories come in a range of fabrics including wool, polyester, lycra, fleece cotton, nylon, leather, pvc etc, and weights and textures vary too. The material affects ease of working, tension required for sewing, stitch count required for clarity and time to prepare- all cost factors.

Turnaround Time

• Digitising can take up to two days, embroidery of the garments can take up to two days from job "sign off", though can be done sooner if required.

Extra Checking for Sizes and Colours

• If you as a Promo Company can provide an electronic logo plus detail on colours, sizes, placement and the chosen garment type, and the supplier can deliver the correct goods on time then the job is faster and cheaper.
• We would always expect to apply common sense and care when decorating your garments but sometimes extra checking is required and this adds to the cost.

Other Options

• As alternatives to embroidery, a logo or brand or pattern can be applied using screen print, heat transfer, rubber panel, plastic panel, material label etc. We are able to facilitate and advise on many of these alternatives.
• Generally, embroidery has the best combination of finished appearance, longest life and unit cost. We also bag and fold goods for an extra .35c each.

Personalizing Your Garments

• Personalizing your garments is an important part of developing your company's visual identity. Whether your business or organization is already well known or you are working hard to promote it, adding your company name or logo will help increase public awareness and add a measure of professionalism to your image.
• Our own in-house garment branding division offers a diverse range of services. We have gone to great lengths to make sure you receive the best service available and that your order is processed quickly.
• You can achieve your objectives with the correct choice of branding technology.

EMBROIDERY

The tried and true branding method. Your Company name, logo or motif, as well as the names of individual staff members or whatever you require can be embroidered in almost any size and any place; on the front, back, collar, cuffs or waistband. Embroidery is now common place in the fashion industry for that one off unique designer garment.

Characteristics:

• Flexible re quantity and number of colours
• Garments can be ironed, tumble dried, laundered without any risk of fade, crack or peel- excellent resistance to wear and abrasion
• Always stylish and reliable.
• Close to Pantone colour reproduction.
• Looks and feels as only thread can

Applique: Material is used as the background for stitching. This adds time and cost to the embroidery process, but may save stitches or improve colour/texture match or fabric handle or stitch quality.

DIGITAL HEAT PRESS

Used extensively on T-shirts, Polo's & business shirts. The best branding solution which can reproduce a sharp edged logo that won't crack or fade with minimal time & cost. This is the ultimate alternative to screen printing for customers who have a small order or for customers who want a superior result.

Characteristics:

• Fine lettering and detail are possible- digitally cut vinyl ensures sharp image reproduction
• Any number of colours
• No set-up costs, small production runs (no films/screens required).
• suits low ink coverage
• Excellent resistance to wear and abrasion.
• Will not crack, or fade like inks can.
• Fast production turn-around.

DYE SUBLIMATION

An effect that goes well beyond any other branding method. This permanent branding system actually welds itself to the fibers of the garment using high frequency energy at the same.

Characteristics:

• Garments must have a high (85%) polyester content
• Brings high added value. Garments need to be white or a light colour
• Excellent resistance to wear and abrasion.
• Will not peel, crack, pucker or fade.
• Drycleanable.

TRANSFIX

Transfix is used mostly on flat weave garments. However it is ideally suited to larger production runs.

Characteristics:

• Minimum quantities apply- say 100
• Super sharp image reproduction (e.g. care labels, readable text down to 0.5mm high).
• Pantone colour reproduction.
• Excellent resistance to wear and abrasion.
• Will not crack, or fade like inks can.
• Fast production turn-around.

SCREEN PRINTING

A huge range of inks and different drying processes allow an infinite variety of appearance and feel from screen printing.

Characteristics:

• Screen printing is the best branding method for large runs
• High ink coverage is possible
• Small number of colours works best
• Great image quality achieved from using latest Screen Printing technology
• Pantone colour reproduction
• Excellent resistance to wear and abrasion
• Low cost

CUSTOM MAKE

We have a design, cut, dye, make, trim, ticket, press and pack facility. We can make, alter, and repair garments, giving you limitless flexibility to incorporate unique garments to add even further to your brand effectiveness. Production managers at each area of our plant will work together so that you can receive finished branded garments with consistent quality at no extra work.

For further information please contact us:

Phone: (09) 815 6220
Email: info@embroideryspecs.co.nz

WHEN CREATING A T-SHIRT FOR PRINT

• The tee shirt itself ideally needs to be quality, pre-shrunk, medium weight, fine cotton weave to allow a good print, be economical and to be comfortable and keep its shape after washing. We will make sure the tee meets these criteria, and have attached some more detail on this.

• The print should hit as close to the centre of the tee as possible. This is both for visibility, and also for cost- printing on seams or near the edges of a shirt takes more time to lay on a pallet. Time = cost.

• Print size should be same as a standard sheet of A4 paper for best value. This size is economical in terms of film, screen and production time. Obviously smaller and larger prints are possible though!

• Use one or two colours for best value. More colours actually doesn't tend to make a shirt more valuable to the wearer, but increases the cost of the shirt- as each colour requires film, screen, printing, and as more colours need to be aligned on the shirt error rate (and cost per print) increases.

• Keep to a few base tee shirt colours. White shirts are slightly cheaper, but black tees will always be popular in NZ. Try some other dark colours like navy, but think about if you use other base shirt colours, the screen may have to be washed and re-set (more cost) for example if you are printing green onto a black shirt, if you swap to a green shirt, you need to change your print colour e.g. to black!

• Simple, bold designs generally are more effective both visually and in terms of cost. Your "medium" is fabric and your "frame" is a person- usually moving and never flat!  Even the fabric has texture and the print itself is made squeezing ink through a plastic membrane, so complex detailed images are hard to achieve and usually increase cost.

• Print cost per shirt falls, as number of prints rises. So fewer designs printed more times reduces unit cost.

• You can combine print and embroidery, you can embroider a front three/four colour 100 mm chest logo and add a large 240mm one-colour back logo.

• To make a screen, the image will need to be converted to computer-generated vector art. Possibly a student with graphics program experience will be able to do this, reducing the pre-production cost of the shirt. Again, a bold, simple design will be easier to convert (trace) than a photographic or complex image.

• An image can be digitally printed and heat-pressed onto the shirt. This allows smaller quantities, more colour, more detail. Using this method however does not give the same life expectancy or feel as a genuine ink-screen printed shirt. The image can be dye-sublimated (think rugby jersey, cycle jersey etc). This is permanent, but requires a polyester fabric, and is also a more expensive process, in the order of five times the cost.

At the sketch stage, we are happy to look at your ideas and give options! Of course the originality, quality and appeal of any design will always make it an attractive option, these ideas are offered as guidelines to help the pleasant blending of beauty and practicality! Good luck with your project, let us know how else we can help or advise.

For further information please contact us:

Phone: (09) 815 6220
Email: marketing@embroideryspecs.co.nz