Don't Forget Value!

If you expect to get some return from your investment then don’t buy shirts that no one will wear. What about purchasing your own shirts at a discount and just paying for embroidery? That may work if you find quality shirts at a good price but most embroiderers charge more for “embroidery only” so most likely you’ll pay more if you purchase shirts separately.

You’re safest choice is to ask your embroiderer for a style that works for your purpose. If you want cheaper embroidered polo shirts for a give-away they can suggest a style that is a good value and will be worn. If your shirts are for a business where your employees get dirty or there is a high employee turnover, less expensive shirts may work because you must provide new shirts frequently to replace stained items and cover new employees. If you need shirts for a professional business environment, better quality shirts will help your staff present a professional image. In addition, better quality shirts will stay looking good longer so you won’t have to order shirts as often. Remember; consider the value of the style – not just the price.

Cheap Embroidered Polos Less Expensive?

It’s time to order more embroidered polo shirts. You want to keep the cost down so you’ll order cheaper polos with a simple, smaller design. That should keep your cost down, right?

Not necessarily. If you choose minimally priced shirts with a smaller design that may work if you’re giving away the shirts but what about the impression you’ll create? If you distribute cheap shirts will your company be viewed as a “cheap” company? Will your shirts be worn (providing you advertising) or will they be used as cleaning rags?

Decorate Polo Shirt Back?

You want to advertise your new business with custom embroidered polo shirts. Your employees need a professional look when they’re seen locally so you’ve decided that they need embroidered polo shirts. But, you’d also like to have your web address and phone number on the back of the shirts. Will that work for polo shirts?

Don’t put a full back design on the back of polo shirts. If you need large scale information such as your location, phone number or web address use screen printed T-shirts. Don’t try to combine the function of two styles into one shirt. Choose good quality polo shirts for a professional office setting and T-shirts for longer distance advertising.

Embroidered Shirt Color

Lets say the colors in your logo are green, blue and black. You can change the black to white so it will be readable on black embroidered shirts but white thread might not have the same visual effect. To avoid possible problems have your logo set-up on a light and a dark background. Consider the shirt color to be one of the colors in a design that alternates with another color in your logo if that color is used as the shirt color. For example, your logo colors are red, black and yellow embroidered on white shirts. If you want yellow shirts substitute white thread for yellow in your logo and you maintain your colors. Always proof your logo colors against the shirt color before your shirts are embroidered and you won't have any surprises.

Logo Colors

You've had your logo designed and it looks great.  You decide to order custom embroidered polo shirts but before  placing your order you realise that you forgot to consider possible shirt colors when having your logo designed.  You know white shirts will work but you'd prefer a darker color. You really want black shirts but black is a color in your logo.  Can the black in your logo be changed to white so you can choose black shirts? The easy answer is "Yes" but there are issues to consider.

Resize Your Embroidered Logo?

Changing the size of an embroidered design is easy right?  No!  Sometimes a logo can be adjusted 10-20% but usually an embroidered design needs to be redigitied when a significant size change is necessary.  For example, lets say you have a logo that's set-up for custom embroidered hats.  Some of the text is small but the logo looks good.  Can it be resized for a visor?  Most likely not.  Although the width for a hat design is the same as a visor the height isn't.  While a hat design is 2" high a visor is only 1" high.  Unless your hat logo is 1" high or less you won't be able to resize the log for visors without making adjustments such as eliminating small text and other unessential details.

Limit Your Designs

When digitizing, what you see in your digitizing software doesn't always embroider in the same size or shape. Text and shapes must be adjusted to compensate for the "push and pull" in embroidery. How will you learn these skills without a machine? There are many concepts to learn before a digitizer can create nice-looking designs that run well. Rather than trying to digitize your own designs limit the number of designs you'll start with and have an experienced digitizer set-up those designs. Instead of spending time and money on embroidery software use those resources to market your product.