Embroidery is unlike any other decoration method. Embroidery envolves sewing thousands of stitches into a product to create a design. Embroidery has been around for decades, but now a days embroidery machines work with computers to sew complex designs on a wide variety of products. Within the fashion world, embroidered products have a high perceived value and most of the time the design being sewn is not very large.
Preparing Artwork / Digitizing
The first thing to consider when it comes to custom embroidery is the artwork. In order for an embroidery machine to know where and how to stitch the design the artwork must be digitized. Digitizing tells the machine how many stitches to lay and where to lay them. Digitized artwork can be bought, or converted from, existing vector artwork. Every brand of embroidery machine has its own file format, however certain formats are so popular that they have become standard on most machines. These formats include .DST (by Tajima), .EXP/.CND (by Melco), and .FDR (by Barudan).
The quality of the digitizing will ultimately be one of the leading factors of how well the product will sew. Poor digitizing will result in the artwork not sewing properly and the machine will often have problems (broken needles, thread breaks). Quality digitizing will result in a tightly sewn thread and fewer problems from the machine. It is important to realize that digitized artwork is set up for an exact size and to be sewn on a flat surface, or a round surface like a hat. The artwork must be digitized to the exact size as it cannot be made bigger and sewn without being digitized again. Hats are digitized differently as they are sewn from the center out. The digitizer will setup the artwork file so that the machine begins sewing the hat from the center and gradually making its way left and right to create the design. Once the design has been digitized in the correct format it is sent to the machine, usually by a USB connection.
Sewable Products
One of the reasons that embroidery is popular is because it can be used to decorate garments or products that are incompatible with other decoration processes. However, just like with every process, there are products that just will not take well to embroidery. The products that can be embroidered, and are embroidered well, look fantastic. So, the trick with embroidery is to be sure to pick the right products.
There is one major reason that embroidery requires being picky about what products to offer and those to avoid; it is a violent process. The needle is stabbing into and pulling out of the garment hundreds or thousands of times in a very short amount of time. There is such a thing as too much structure, however. The machine will not function properly if the needle has to pierce through too rigid a surface. This is most often only an issue with thicker hats. Conversely, extra flexible or stretchable garments, like spandex, also do not embroider well. The sewing process will pucker the fabric, or pull it together in an awkward fashion, that creates wrinkles or folds in the fabric. Ribbed garments, or garments with uneven surfaces, will not take to embroidery well either. The uneven surface will show through the embroidery or alter the look of the finished design.
The best products to embroidery are the more tightly woven fabrics and micro pique. These products are not too flexible, but not too stiff. They will hold up to the violence of the embroidery process without fighting the machine at all. Polos and jackets typically are easier to embroider, and have a higher perceived value when embroidered. They are easier to hoop and often have fewer problems than sewing hats or bags. Other garments, like bowling shirts, doctors’ smocks, and button-down shirts also typically embroider well as they have a smooth, tightly woven surface.
Customers will often want to provide their own products for embroidery. It is highly recommended that you do not decorate any product that you do not already know how it will sew. Not only do you risk damaging a product that you cannot easily replace, but you lose the ability to make a margin in the product. It does make sense that a customer would want to provide their own products for embroidery as they know exactly how it fits and feels. So, if you absolutely have to decorate a customer’s provided product(s), it is highly recommended that you let them know you cannot guarantee the quality, are not responsible for replacing the product, and are charging a higher price for the actual sewing. If your customer complies with these conditions, then it might be worth embroidering their product, but should be done with great caution.
Design Placement
The placement of a design can make or break a garment. The left chest is by far the most popular embroidery location, followed by the right chest. Wherever the embroidery location is, the design must be placed the proper length away from the collar as well as the sleeve seams. If the placement is not perfect, then the entire garment may be ruined. If you are embroidery an extremely expensive garment, like a Carhartt Inc jacket, then this mistake may be devastating to your margin. However, when embroidering the right place the results can be more than rewarding. The North Face Inc, for instance, is known for embroidering the right shoulder of their jackets. The North Face sells jackets not just because of their quality, but largely because consumers want a jacket with the signature North Face embroidery.
