Texas Promowear

Working With Contract Printers

2019-05-22

5 Simple Facts About Working with Contract Printers

Embroidery Design Guidelines

2018-04-24

GENERAL

1) All text should be a minimum of 3/16" tall to look OK and ¼" to look great! You also want the width of the stitch to be a minimum of 1/16" wide.

2) Outlined text should be a minimum of ½" tall

3) Large areas of fill should be avoided on light weight garments

4) Shadows and blending are difficult to reproduce with embroidery but can be done very well in larger areas of fill. Degrees of shading will be determined by the overall design size.

5) Vector based EPS files are the best and safest way to provide artwork to your embroidery company but you can also supply almost any file format we can open. The larger and cleaner the file, the better the quality of the final result. Make sure ALL text is converted to outlines or curves to avoid having the fonts changed when the file is opened on different systems. Also embedding the PMS colors in the file is always a good idea.

6) Whenever possible provide thread colors. PMS colors are a good second choice if you cannot provide the actual thread colors.

7) Have as much information on your PO as possible. When a logo is being digitized it is very important we know what type of fabric it will be going on and if it is going on a hat. It is best to have a file digitized for a hat if some time in the future you think you may be embroidering hats. If possible try and send a sample in advance of the order so we can run it on the actual fabric.

POLOS

1) For pique and most open knits ¼" text is recommended. Bigger is always better.

2) Standard size for a left chest design is 2-1/2" – 4" wide x 1" – 2" tall. For larger size logos the sleeve or back yoke is recommended. You can go as large as 5" wide x 3" tall on the sleeve on a larger garment but we recommend 3" wide and no wider than 3.5". You always want to take into account the smallest size product in the order when determining embroidery size. Cuff embroidery may work on a large men’s shirt but when you get down to a women’s small it may not work.

3) Striped shirts need to be high quality. Adding embroidery to a shirt that has been manufactured with crooked lines will make the defect even more noticeable. This is also true of pocketed shirts, where the pocket has been sewn on crooked.

CAPS

1) Text should be a minimum of ¼" tall

2) Very small text may sink in to the seam on the front of a cap

3) Max size for the front of a cap is 4.25"-4.5" wide x 2-1/2" tall.

4) Max size for the back of a cap is 2-1/2" wide x 1-1/2" tall for a graphic, and 4-1/4" wide x ½" tall for text wrapped around arch.

5) Max size for the side of a cap is 2-1/2" x 1"

6) Low quality caps embroider poorly as they are not made from consistent componen

BAGS

1) Always send a sample. It is very difficult to tell if a bag can be embroidered without actually seeing it and attempting to hoop it. Between zippers, linings, buttons and hidden pockets we can never be sure without seeing the bag.

2) To determine if a product can be embroidered we check that we can hoop the product and then ensure that the machine head has enough space to move the length of the logo.

Bring it on! RTIC Stainless 30oz

2017-01-13

Bring it on! RTIC Stainless 30oz. tumblers with your logo laser etched only $35.00! First time logo setup might apply. Call for details. 3-5 business day production!

Come and get em'! 30oz

2017-01-13

Come and get em'! 30oz. tumblers, powder coated in red, maroon, purple, black, royal blue and orange with your logo only $30.00! First time logo setup might apply. Call for more details! Production time is about 5-7 business days or less.

Basics of Textile Screen Printing (T-Shirts, Bags, etc.)

2017-01-05

When offering screen printed goods to customers, sometimes they don't realize all the work that goes into producing this kind of work. The process starts with the client's artwork or design idea, then traverses into the production schedule which includes numerous steps before becoming a finished product that is delivered to the customer.

Once a design or layout is agreed on, that image has to be converted to color separations, better known as printing plates. Each color in the design requires its' own plate or "screen" as it is more commonly known in our trade. So for a red, green and blue image to be screen printed, there will be 3 screens for that job. In the video below from one of the largest manufacturers of automatic textile presses, you can see how the printing process works. As the shirts are moved around on the carousel press, each plate is printing a single color until the final image is produced. Once the shirt is printed, it then goes through an industrial dryer to cure the ink. It is only then, can the final product be delivered to the customer.

Showing this information should provide the consumer why it is not efficient to print very small runs under 24 shirts. The setup costs for printing orders has to be spread across the entire order. It is cost effective to spread $100 worth of cost over 24 or more shirts but trying to spread that same cost over 2 or 3 shirts is not very cost effective at all. Basically, you are adding $4.16 per shirt over 24 shirts but that same $100 spread over 3 shirts would add over $33.00 per shirt. No one wants to pay that much for a graphic t-shirt! And that doesn't even include the shirt cost and run charges for the job.

So you can see why screen printers have minimums for their order requirements. It saves having to explain why we would have to charge a customer $50.00 or more for a t-shirt versus something more like $12.00 for a small 24 piece order.

The video below shows a job in process. This is the just one part of the process. It doesn't even show screen making or the other processes that go into our finished products.

If your business or group requires t-shirts for their event or staff, let Texas Promowear produce your order. Our expertise from design to finish product is sure to please.

Sportsman EX - M&R Screen Printing Equipment - Automatic Textile Press

M&R's Sportsman EX automatic textile presses offer exceptional value and quality at an amazingly affordable price. Sportsman EX 1618 is available in 6, 8, and 10-color models with a maximum image area of 41 x 46 cm (16" x 18").

Video Courtesy of M&R Sales and Service

Embroidery Digitizing vs Graphic Artwork

2016-06-12

Many people are easily confused about embroidery digitizing files. Rarely do we find that new customers can provide us with a digitized embroidery machine file. They mistakenly think that a graphic art file of their logo or design is the same thing. Graphic art files are most commonly provided in formats like JPG, PNG, EPS, PDF, CDR, AI or PSD. These are all files that were created on desktop graphic design software platforms like Microsoft Paint, Microsoft Powerpoint, Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator or any of the Corel products like CorelDraw or PhotoPaint.

Unlike desktop graphic design software, digitizing software for embroidery works much differently and requires a much different skill set to produce these designs. The software used to create these types of files are similar to AutoCad software and instead of using graphic objects to create designs, it takes graphic designs and creates X and Y axis paths to generate stitches and stitch points that can be read by embroidery machines so that the machines know where and when to make any given stitch to ultimately lay out a physical stitched design on a given substrate. There are many variables that are designed into these files such as stitch length, push and pull compensation based on fabric types as well as the sequence in which the design objects are sewn to produce a quality final design. The software used for the production of digitized files is far more expensive than desktop graphic software like those named above. In fact, based on the level of control a digitizer requires to produce complicated work, the software can run up to several thousands of dollars.

So...the next time you want to convert one of your graphic design files into an embroidery file, let us at Texas Promowear help you make that happen. Our team of digitizers can turn your design around and make it production ready in 3 days or less.

We're here to answer any questions you may have about this type of work. Give us a call.