We work with our clients to get them into embroidered shirts, embroidered jackets, and embroidered hats that will withstand the demands of their industry. For some, that means shirts that will hold up to coffee spills. For others, that means heavyweight cotton shirts and rugged jackets. Most residential construction firms and subcontractors are familiar with Whistle Workwear stores. We are …
Corporate logo wear — revenue generator or discretionary overhead only suited for better economic times?
It is a mistake to think of corporate logo wear as a discretionary expense. Logo wear sparks conversations about your business with the people who know your business best! My business partner was having lunch the other day with a colleague who is in the business of installing water filtration systems. This gentleman happened that day to be wearing a …
Does Customer Service Matter with an Embroidery Shop?
We enjoy delighting first-time customers. We take pride when customers come back to us to reorder or to discuss new ideas. But we are thrilled when a customer returns to us after having tried another vendor and then discovered that service is not the same everywhere. We recently had a customer call us with a problem. She had used us …
“Really Cheap Shirts”
We bid regularly for embroidery and screen printing jobs. We win about as many bids as we lose. That tells us that we are pricing our work competitively. We are comfortable with that position. The bids we know we don’t win are the ones where someone was looking for “really cheap shirts” to begin with. We operate on the same …
Compromises on curvature
With embroidery, clients sometimes need to make choices about with what compromises they are willing to live. One example of this is with designs with curvature and very thin outlines or borders. In printed materials you can effect a very nice curve with pixels that appear to the eye to be a perfect curve b/c the pixels are so small. …
What is “stitch count” and how does it impact a logo design?
Stitch count is a big factor to consider with your embroidery design. Most embroiderers will include 5,000-8,000 stitches in the prices quoted, as this tends to capture most logos. Each additional 1,000 stitches may cost a little more, but you should not necessarily shrink from the additional stitching. More stitching generally means you have a more intricate design. Rendering a …
Would you like to talk to someone who does quality work?
A business partner of ours won for us the the opportunity to bid for a local firm’s logo wear by asking, “Would you like to talk to someone who does quality work?” It’s commonly accepted that a customer may reasonably expect any two of the following three options from a vendor: 1) quick 2) quality 3) inexpensive Customers often chase …
Why choose a smaller embroidery and/or screen printing shop?
You should consider smaller embroidery and screen printing shops when quality and service matter to you. Larger shops focus on larger clients. They’ll take smaller clients, but they’ll often subcontract the smaller work to smaller embroidery shops. So now you have no idea who is doing your work, and just how much leverage do you have with the large vendor …
Mixing Media
For an interesting look, try mixing media. We have a client for whom we provided hooded sweatshirts that were embroidered on the front and screen printed on the back. This allows for that professional look when facing a client, while advertising the business on a larger scale on the back of the garment.
Reason #5 why most embroiderers do not want to deal with a garment you bring to them:
Profit margin. When you buy a shirt from your local retailer, your local retailer captures the profit margin from wholesale pricing to retail pricing. Your embroiderer (and screen printer) can purchase garments at wholesale pricing too and would like to capture that margin themselves. They will prioritize jobs that allow them to do so because…that’s good business.