Embroidered Workwear: Why Your Logo Needs Digitising

Embroidered workwear looks smart, wears well and gives a team a proper, professional finish. But putting a logo onto a garment in thread is nothing like printing it onto paper. Thread and needle behave differently from ink, and it all starts with turning your logo into something an embroidery machine can actually stitch. Here's how it works, and what it means for the artwork you send us.

Where embroidery works best

Embroidery gives a premium, hard-wearing, textured finish that holds up to washing and daily use far better than most printed garments. It's a brilliant way to put your brand on a uniform, and it suits a wide range of garments: polo shirts, hoodies, jackets, business shirts and blouses, aprons and tabards, and headwear such as beanies and caps.

The important bit: digitising

Here's the part that surprises most people. Your logo file, even a perfect, crisp vector, isn't stitch instructions. An embroidery machine doesn't read a picture. It needs a stitch file, which is a completely different thing.

Digitising is the process of converting your logo into that stitch file. It maps out every movement the needle makes: where each stitch goes, which stitch types to use, the direction and density of the thread, the order everything runs in, and which thread colour is used where. It's a skilled job done by a person, not a button you press, and it's what makes the difference between a crisp, clean logo and a messy or puckered one.

Because it's a skilled, one-off job for each logo, there's a one-off digitising charge. The good news is that we keep your stitch file, so once your logo has been digitised, repeat orders don't pay for it again.

What digitising means for your design

Thread has its own rules, and they're worth knowing before you finalise a logo:

• Fine detail and small text can be done, using thinner threads and finer needles, but the range of thread colours available in those finer weights is more limited. Very small or intricate lettering doesn't always stitch cleanly, so bolder is safer.
• Gradients don't work. Thread can't fade smoothly from one colour to another the way ink can, so a gradient has to become solid colours.
• Photographic images don't translate to thread either. Embroidery is built from solid areas of colour, so a photo or a highly detailed, shaded design isn't suited to it.
• Colours are matched to our thread range. We match your brand colours to the closest available thread as carefully as we can, though it's a match to a physical thread rather than an exact screen colour.

None of this is a problem for most logos. Bold, simple designs with clear shapes and solid colours are exactly what embroidery does best.

What to send us

For embroidery, send us your logo as a vector file (AI, EPS or PDF) if you have one, as that gives the cleanest starting point. If you don't, a good high-resolution raster file (PNG or JPG) is fine too, since we digitise from your artwork either way. The clearer and higher-quality the logo you send, the better the result.

Placement and your proof

We embroider in all the standard positions, and we're flexible to what you need, so just tell us where you'd like your logo to sit. Before anything is stitched, we email you a layout proof to approve, so you can check the position is right. Nothing goes onto a garment until you've confirmed you're happy with it.

Your garments, or ours

You can choose from our range of garments, or, if you're local, you're welcome to bring your own in for us to embroider. We take great care with your garments, but we do so at your own risk, as we can't replace a garment if in the unlikely event something goes wrong with it.

And there's no big minimum to worry about. Our minimum order for embroidery is just one, so whether you need a single polo or a full team kitted out, we're happy to help.

Printed garments too

Embroidery isn't the only option. We also print garments, which can be a better choice for full-colour designs or larger runs, where the detail or colour of a design suits print better than thread. If that sounds more like what you need, get in touch and we'll talk it through.

Getting started

Send us you logo and tell us what you have in mind to info@saxonprint.com, and we'll put together a quote and let you know current lead times. We're a small studio in Winchcombe, near Cheltenham, and we'd love to help put your brand on something your team will actually want to wear.