Saving money on embroidery!
An economic reality of commercial embroidery is the digitizing factor. The embroidery machines need to have computerized instructions on how to output the work. Digitizing is the process of taking your graphics and words and creating those instructions for the machines.
Digitizing is an advanced skill, and it incurs a cost to have it done properly. Often rolled into the term "set-up fee," the digitizing cost sometimes causes people and businesses on a budget not to order something new.
The good news is that you do not have to reinvent the wheel--or create a whole new digital file--to get a bright new look on your embroidered products. Sometimes you can give a startling new look to the digitized file you already bought perhaps years ago.
The Oregon State Seal pictured above looks great on denim. But the same digital file can output a whole different look when we use a different thread.
By changing the blue thread on the denim to a gold thread and by embroidering on a rich navy blue, the same digital file produces a totally different look. Incidentally, the photo does not truly reflect the lustrous sheen of the golden thread. It's quite astounding in person.
Changes in thread colors and in background colors can make a huge difference in what your logo or design looks like. Color changes can make a staid logo pop, or if you need to go the other way, it can reign in a wild design to something more subtle and nuanced.
Another great variation is color on color. That means that we embroider the file with a thread color that matches the garment color. Color on color generally gives a more subtle look, which is often perceived as richer and classier.
The amount of freedom that you have to play with in color choices and styles depends greatly on your business. If you're part of a big corporation or government entity, you may have to operate under tight regulations about logo use and style conventions. With smaller business you usually have more leeway to experiment. In designing embroidery for personal use, you can go wherever your imagination soars.
Another money-saving option is combining all or part of your current digitized file with additional text or pre-digitized graphics. Depending on how your file was digitized, it's possible to make some changes. This is why when we have a new client's file or new art digitized, we have it done in such a way that it can be used in different ways in the future.
It is quite possible that if you have had work done by us before, we can make new art from the previously digitized file. An example might be adding text like "Celebrating 10 years of service" to an already-digitized file. Or you might combine a new graphic add-on with a previous file.
We will be happy to walk you through any of the money-saving options we know as they apply to your particular situation.