Top Decoration Techniques Decoded Whether you are selling it or thinking of producing it yourself, the technology behind the decoration will play an important part in your sales strategy and the more you know the better. In fact, selling decorated apparel without a basic understanding of the production processes could be costing you money. From a technical perspective, your knowledge of what can and cannot be produced by each different method will go a long way in how you deal with your customer’s needs. At the same time, you will be able to avoid costly mistakes (in terms of money and lost accounts) by promising things that simply aren’t possible. From a creative perspective, the more you know about the exciting array of apparel decoration processes, the better, as it will put you in a position to show your customers new concepts and looks, that can set you apart from your competition. This in turn will ultimately bring more business your way. Anybody can sell a white polo shirt with an embroidered logo, but what about a polar fleece vest with the same logo done via laser etching or perhaps a denim jacket with a chenille version? So what are the most common forms of apparel decoration technology in use today? 1. Embroidery 2. Appliqué 3. 3D Foam 4. Chenille 5. Sequins 6. Screenprinting 7. Direct To Garment Printing (Digital Printing) 8. Laser Etching 9. Rhinestones 10. Transfers Embroidery With embroidery, designs are stitched into the garment. Modern commercial machines typically have 15 needles which allows for designs of up to 15 colors. Normally, there is not a charge per color for embroidery like there is for screenprinting. Machines are sized by number of heads. A single head machine does one piece at a time. A twelve head machine does twelve pieces at the same time (with the same logo). Shops with large machines will have lower prices than shops with small machines, due to the increased production efficiency. Artwork must be digitized specifically for embroidery before it can be run on a machine. This is not a “scan and sew” process and requires quite a bit of time to accomplish. Because the design is created by placing thousands of individual stitches that require holes to be made in the garment, the Digitizer essentially is plotting stitch penetrations. Therefore, it’s normal to have a digitizing fee for each design which may be based on the total number of stitches. In the case of plain text, it can be generated from a keyboard quickly and easily and rarely involves a setup fee. Embroidery is more expensive to produce than screenprinting or digital printing, but has an extremely elegant and three dimensional appearances (when done properly). This higher perceived value leads to higher margins. Embroidery is normally priced by the number of stitches in a design and prices are usually quoted in “cost per thousand stitches.” More stitches means more time to produce and of course a bigger price tag. There are two key requirements for embroidering any given item: 1) You must be able to get a needle through it. 2) You must be able to get it into a hoop or frame. Situations to avoid with embroidery: 1. Very small lettering and detail. Letters below ¼” in height are tough to sew properly. 2. Large designs. High stitch counts are pricey due to the production time. 3. Flimsy garments. Embroidery quality is affected by garment quality. 4. Stiff rigid fabrics. They may not be hoop‐able. 5. Layered items. A pocket for example, as the embroidery process may sew it closed. Appliqué Appliqué is actually a form of embroidery. The concept is to replace a “block” of stitches with a sewn‐
in piece or pieces of fabric. This allows the creation of a large design with a lot less stitches and correspondingly lower price. Appliqué also opens the doors to some unique creativity, as the inserted fabrics can add a lot of pizzazz to the finished product. The appliqué “look” is very popular with sports and school designs. The process can be used to add “tackle twill” letters, numbers and designs to garments. Caution ‐ Appliqué is ideal for large designs on flat surfaces, but doesn’t work well for small images and/or caps. 3D Foam Embroidery 3D Foam embroidery is a relatively simple process that any embroiderer has the capability of producing though it does require some special techniques during the digitizing process. The application is created by introducing a piece of foam material into the sewing process. The stitches penetrate and lock the foam into the design such that specific elements of the logo are significantly raised up above the rest of the design. In general the price for 3D Foam embroidery (also referred to as “puffy” foam) is higher as a lot more stitches are required to make the effect work. Plus, there is some extra finishing time required at the end of the job that entails removing the excess foam and cleaning up the edges around the area where it applied. This technique can be used on just about any design and garment, provided the Embroiderer makes the necessary adjustments during the digitizing process to accommodate the physical piece of foam. It should be noted that the popularity of 3D Foam embroidery is cyclic. When it’s hot it’s hot, when it’s not it’s definitely not. In addition, it’s very easy to end up with a “cheesy” look rather than an exciting innovation when using the process, so be cautious in how, when and where it’s used. Don’t overdo it! Chenille Embroidery Though its technically called chenille embroidery, the process is not done with traditional embroidery machines, rather it takes special equipment to sew chenille. The application is best known for creating the “letters” on letterman jackets and the product looks kind of like an old‐style shag carpet. However, chenille has burst‐forth from the school market and is now appearing on corporate and souvenir garments with increasing frequency. Unlike traditional embroidery, chenille embroidery is rarely produced directly on a garment. Rather it’s created as a separate patch which is then sewn onto the garment. This means you can order a chenille product from one source and the garments from a separate source, but you must make provisions to have the patch applied to the garment. Chenille designs are created using yarn rather than thread, thus they are suitable for covering large areas, but don’t work well for small images with a lot of detail. In that situation, it might be necessary to combine traditional embroidery with chenille during the manufacturing process, which most Chenille Suppliers can do. Uniqueness sells! This form of embellishment is a great way to catch the attention of your customers because it’s different and not as predominant in the marketplace as traditional methods such as embroidery and screenprinting. Don’t get caught in the rut of schools and sports, promote the process to every client. Sequin Embroidery Sequins are starting to make an impact on the imprinted sportswear market. Long relegated to sparkly theatrical garments, sequins (or spangles) are now appearing on more mainstream products, from retail to souvenir. Of course, the applications are still limited due to the nature of the “look”, but there are still plenty of possibilities. Sequins are attached using an embroidery machine with a sequin device. Each sequin receives three or four small stitches to anchor it in place. (There are suppliers who apply them as heat transfers, but they may not stand up to repeated washings or hard use.) Machines can run at speeds comparable to traditional embroidery and the sequins themselves are very inexpensive. Unfortunately, it’s a minority of Embroidery Shops that have this equipment, so sourcing the application may be difficult. In general, sequin embroidery is rather simple to produce, but in reality it’s very limited in how it can be used. Though sequins come in hundreds of colors, sizes and shapes, they don’t work well for creating any sort of detail within a design. Rather they work well for accents. And too many sequins can be tiring on the eye and make it hard to read the final design. But when the right opportunity comes along, sequins just might make the difference in whether you get the job or it goes to a competitor. Screenprinting Screenprinting has been around for ages and is the quickest and cheapest process for applying large detailed designs to a variety of garments. The process is simple and complex at the same time. The first step is to breakdown the artwork by color – referred to as “color separations.” Then a separate screen composed of a very fine mesh material is created or for each color separation. The screen will only allow ink to pass through in the areas defined by that color of the design. Screens are created using a special photographic process which is referred to as “burning” by most shops. Once the screens are created they are mounted in frames and attached to a screenprinting press, which can be either a manual or automatic version. The typical manual press is setup in a carousel configuration, with multiple stations that rotate around a center axis. A four color machine has four stations capable of accepting screens. Each station is mounted on a hinged arm protruding from the center axis. This allows the screens to rotate and to be raised up and down. A special type of ink, much like pudding in texture, is applied to each screen. A shirt is placed securely on a rigid fixed‐in‐place surface called a platen. The first screen is rotated into place above the t‐shirt, then brought down and locked in place such that the screen is resting against the surface of the shirt. The Operator then manually pulls a squeegee across the top surface of the screen which forces the ink through the screen and onto the fabric. The screen frame is then raised and the next one is rotated into place and the process repeats, adding a new color each time until the design is complete. The shirt is then removed and placed on a dryer to cure the ink completely. The process moves along a relatively good speed, but is totally dependent on the labor and skill of the operator. Design quality will be affected by the pressure and speed of the squeegee being pulled across the screen. An automatic press looks and works in a similar fashion, except the screens don’t rotate around the center axis, the garments do. This makes for a much faster printing process, as the operator simply loads and unloads shirts. In fact, to speed the process even more, most shops will use two people ‐ one to load and one to unload ‐ in order to keep the machine moving at maximum speed. Printing speeds of up to 1000 shirts per hour are quite possible with an Automatic press and machines of up to 16 colors are available. Most Screenprinters charge by the color, an obvious distinction over embroidery, as each additional color adds more time to the production process. In addition, you will be charged art fees as quite a bit of time goes into the setup process, plus screen fees for the cost of creating screens for the design. Be aware that screen fees are not usually a one‐time fee, as most shops “recycle or reclaim” screens for other jobs. If you are printing the same job routinely, then your Supplier will probably store your screens for future use. Screenprinting works well for virtually any garment and design size has little effect on the price. However, it has a lower perceived value than some other processes, so price can be a major issue in the marketplace. All designs no matter now simple require a substantial amount of setup. Thus, on a cost‐per‐shirt basis, small runs are not nearly as competitive in price as large ones. Also, some things that would appear simple are not. For example, adding personal names to shirts or jackets. A separate screen would have to be generated for each name. In contrast, an Embroiderer can generate a name without any more effort than typing it in through a computer keyboard. One weakness for screenprinting is color designs on dark shirts. This requires a more complex production process and the quality of the final product will be dependent on the skills of the shop doing the work. Though screenprinting can be done on caps, you generally find that embroidery is much more fitting for headwear and should steer your customers in that direction. Direct‐To‐Garment Printing Relatively new on the scene, direct‐to‐garment printing (DTG) – also known as digital printing – is a quick and easy method to print designs directly on garments using an oversized ink jet printer designed specifically for this purpose. Unlike screenprinting, no color separations and screen creation is required. Theoretically, it’s just point, click and print – though nothing is really that easy. The beauty of this process is that you can print relatively precise detail in a wide range of colors on as few or as many items as you want. The downside is that it’s slower and more costly than screenprinting. For example, a full color print 10x12 in a resolution of 720dpi can easily take up to five minutes to print. (An automatic press running producing 1000 shirts per hour could produce 83 shirts in the same time frame.) But the benefit of DTG is the ability to quickly setup and produce small runs. In the time spent to prepare art, burn screens and setup a screenprinting press for 12 t‐shirts, you could produce, package and ship the same order using DTG. The process works like this. The artwork is reviewed and processed to ensure the detail and resolution is appropriate for the job. The item to be printed is mounted on the platen of the machine. The design is loaded and the printing begins, fully automated. Upon completion, the shirt is removed and either placed in a dryer or under a heat press to cure the ink. Much like screenprinting, DTG struggles to produce multi‐color designs on dark fabrics and most users of the equipment avoid this process altogether. Also, most machines do not support cap printing. In addition, many of the machines limited to printing on 100% cotton do find out what your Supplier’s capabilities are before making any assumptions. Laser Etching In Hollywood movies lasers are used to destroy things with awesome, spectacular results. In real life, they are typically used for precise detailed applications that require a lot of finesse, such as Lasik surgery for vision correction. Lasers have also found their way into the world of imprinted sportswear and can be used to create some amazing designs in a format not replicated by any other apparel decoration methodology. By using a precision beam of energy moving at a high speed, designs can be uniquely burned into a wide variety of fabrics without causing any harm to the garment. The process actually removes a fine layer, leaving a sort of tone‐on‐tone image behind. The actual process is extremely cheap, as the laser requires nothing more than electricity to operate. Plus, an etched design can usually be burned in a time span of 10 seconds to 30 seconds. Setup is just a matter of selecting and processing a jpeg file with the Laser Design software to ensure it has the appropriate amount of detail for the job. The uniqueness factor allows for a significant margin, whereas the production costs are quite reasonable. However, the equipment itself is quite expensive and there are only a few operations running this process in the country, thus the actual production price may be influenced by those factors. There are certain fabrics that don’t work well for the process, such as felt and reflective materials, so it’s best to consult with your supplier before you start selling. The most common type of apparel laser is a bridge laser, which has the laser mounted on a beam mounted above an embroidery machine(s). (Lasers are used for producing appliqué as well as etching.) This beam allows the laser unit to travel quickly from head‐to‐head on the embroidery machine. Thus, it’s possible to setup multiple items to be etched one after the other using the work area of the embroidery machines. Rhinestones Much like sequins, rhinestones have traditionally appeared on garments used in the entertainment business, with a goal of adding glitz and bling to theatrical garb. But rhinestones are finding new applications in a wide range of markets. Historically, rhinestones were affixed manually one‐at‐a‐time with special tools. This evolved into patterns that were created on heat sensitive backing and applied as whole to a garment using a heat press. Now there are automatic machines, much like embroidery machines, that allow a user to setup and apply virtually any design quickly and easily. With today’s automated technology the machine attaches each stone one at a time to a garment using ultrasonic energy to weld each one in place. Though the process is simple, its somewhat slow with an average speed of about 60 stones per minute. Thus the typical design is usually more of an outline than a solid fill, in order to keep the run time down. Images can range from simple lettering to full‐blown logos and since stones are available in a wide range of colors, shapes and sizes, there is plenty of opportunity for creativity. Production costs are fairly reasonable, but there are a limited number of suppliers, so that might keep the cost level at more of a premium. Because rhinestones tend to be associated with high end products, it’s an ideal application for high‐end customers who want to differentiate themselves and their products. Heat Transfers Heat transfers have long been a quick method to apply printed designs to garments. Instead of creating the image directly via screenprinting or DTG, it’s created on a special paper that allows the image to transfer onto the garment when heat is applied. A business specializing in this application needs little more in the way of equipment than a heat press. Usually the designs are created by an external supplier as needed by the Transfer Shop. This of course creates some extra lead‐time, but no more than that incurred by ordering garments to decorate. For many years garments decorated with transfers were obvious as the quality didn’t quite stack up to screenprinting. But over the years the gap has narrowed. Probably the best application for transfers is in athletic numbering and lettering, as it’s simple to produce jerseys and uniforms for sports teams. With screenprinting you would have to create a separate set of screens for each athlete’s uniform, but with transfers, you just order the numbers and letter and then zap them on with a heat press. Transfers have also moved beyond simple vinyl‐looking designs, to tackle twill products with pre‐
embroidered edges. Upon application, there is virtually no difference in appearance than direct embroidery. To sum it all up, there are plenty of plenty of apparel decoration technologies available to you. The key is to understand the pro’s and con’s of each, so you have plenty of options for your customers. Successful selling isn’t about convincing someone to purchase your products, but to deliver to them something that works for them, whatever their purpose is. When you have choice and uniqueness you will able to meet or exceed their expectations. Otherwise you’re just another pesky sales rep pitching the same old, same old. Anybody can offer a polo shirt with an embroidered left chest logo, what are you going to do to be unique…