Most companies don’t think twice about investing in custom
apparel or accessories with their logo embroidered on it. It is a great way for them to promote their
company brand and it offers them an effective promotional tool to help them acquire
new customers. However, custom embroidery is much more of an art than a science
and requires more skill and experience than meets the eye. So, before setting
out to buy decorated apparel, it is important to understand the basic elements
that go in to creating high quality embroidery.
The Designer
The most important part of any embroidery job begins with
the designer (or digitizer) whose job it is to take your logo or design and
convert it into a series of stitches that will be stitched on a garment. There are
software programs that make this job easier, but nothing can reproduce the
talent of a good designer.
Thread
There are two types of threads that are commonly used for
embroidered designs, Polyester and Rayon.
Rayon produces the best looking embroidered designs, but breaks easily
during stitching and although more durable, Polyester does not always produce
great looking designs on all types of fabrics. So, most people choose Rayon
over Polyester thread because it looks well on all fabric types.
Thread Color
Choosing the right thread color, specifically how the colors
in your design look with the color of the garment, is an important element of
high quality embroidery design. The less
contrast between the embroidery color and the garment color is best since this tends to hide
imperfections in the stitching.
Fill Stitch
The filled in areas of the embroidered design are made up of
tiny stitches arranged in a pattern. An
experienced embroidery designer will make sure to optimize the fill stitch so
that your design will look great on a variety of fabrics and insure that there
are not too many or too few stitches which will pull on the fabric and create
small gaps or let the fabric show through the design.
Backing materials
Backing materials provide support and structure to an
embroidered design and are critical to a long lasting design. There are two types of backing "Tearaway"
and "Cutaway" and both are removed after the design is stitched. A quality embroidery job should have a
backing that is appropriate for the fabric that is being embroidered. "Tearaway”
backing is typically used with woven fabrics such as dress shirts and is torn
off which makes it quicker to remove. “Cutaway” backing is used on knit fabrics
and is cut off which takes more time to remove. Unfortunately because of the
time factor and ease of use some less reputable embroidery companies use only "Tearaway”
backing or worse no backing at all despite the type of fabric!
Topping
Some fabrics such as fleece have a rough texture with
"loose" fibers. Sometimes
these fibers can get caught in between the stitches of the embroidered design
and look unsightly. To prevent this, a
transparent sheet of “topping” material is placed over the design area. The design is then stitched through the
topping, fabric, and backing material.
When the design is complete, the topping material is removed by wetting
it with water. Topping is not always
needed and depends on the type of fabric being stitched.
Choosing Apparel
The choice of brand, color, or style of the apparel is
completely up to the consumer. However since you are investing in the cost of
the embroidery it makes sense to choose the best quality apparel as possible so
that your design will last longer and look better. It is a good idea when
ordering a large number of garments to request a sample of the garment that you
will be buying so that you can judge the quality of it for yourself. A
reputable embroidery shop will arrange for a sample to be shipped to you but
you need to be sure to ship the garment back when you are finished or you may
end up being charged for it.
Stock Designs
Stock designs are designs that are ready-to-use and are the
best way to save money because they require very little in the way of setup.
They stitch very well on a large range of fabric types and most embroidery
companies will have a catalog of stock designs from which to choose. Designs
vary in size and most can be made 10% larger or smaller as needed.
Embroidery Locations
The location of the embroidery design on the garment varies by
the type or style. Embroidery charges
are based on the number of locations as well as the number of stitches required.
When it comes time to place your order, it is best to speak with the company
you are ordering from to discuss all of the options for possible locations and
if it is appropriate for the type of apparel you chose.
Most importantly don’t be afraid to ask questions and
consider other factors including the reliability of the vendor, their reputation
as well as the number of years the company has been customizing apparel. You
will find that most reputable embroiderers take pride in their workmanship and
so want you to be happy with your investment in your image.
Lisa Doyle is the
Director of Marketing for Corporate Casuals, a small custom embroidered and
printed apparel company that was founded in Concord, MA in 1999, and has
subsequently grown to employ over 30 people by serving the needs of small
businesses and organizations across the country.
