Print or Embroidery? What should I pick for my Workwear?
You’ve selected a cool new t shirt and have your fantastic design ready. You start to order and then realise that you must make a choice! Print or Embroidered Workwear? Suddenly you stop dead in your tracks and wonder, which option is best for you? We do indeed offer both embroidery services as well as printing services after all. This is one of several questions that you will likely have when selecting a new work uniform for example.
So what is better Print or Embroidery? A question you lovely lot like to ask all the time. Several factors affect our answer:
- What garment are you ordering for your design?
- What does your design actually look like?
- How often will it need washing?
- What is your personal preference?
So let me break this down and explain why I ask each of these questions and why there isn’t a straightforward answer.
TYPE OF GARMENT
This is one of the most important factors for deciding which decoration process to use. As an example, a big embroidered design on the back of a thin t shirt is a bad idea. Not only will the design pucker on such thin material, but it will also sit heavy on the shirt and it would feel unpleasant. This time around embroidered workwear wouldn’t be the solution.
In addition to this, certain types of clothing will be limited to the type of decoration that we can use. We never print jackets or gilets due to the type of material not being suitable for our heat press. It melts…and nobody wants a melted gilet.
Fleeces are another product that cannot be printed due to their material. Our shop will naturally have certain decoration methods disabled if they are inappropriate for that type of garment. This is why you may only find one type of decoration available. Sometimes we may only be able to provide a garment plain stock as we lack the type of equipment currently to do the decoration that you may need.
DESIGN ELEMENTS FOR PRINTED OR STITCHED WORKWEAR
Another huge factor that affects your decoration choice is how your design actually looks. Stitched Workwear and Print both have their limitations and benefits. Depending on your design, we may need to make alterations to make it look the best that it can. Here are a few examples:
- Gradients (Gradual colours) – Such as pink fading into blue. This transition of colours is not possible in embroidery. We usually simplify the designs in this case by selecting one colour for the customer. We supply all of our customers with a sew out before any order proceeds so not to worry.
- Small details or text– This sometimes creates problems for our embroidered workwear. It will embroider your design… but it won’t look good. Our machine struggles with these little details therefore you would be better off having your design as a Direct to Film print. If you still want embroidery then we amend your design by making these details bigger for you. Again, a sew-out is provided beforehand for your approval.
- Loads of different colours– Our Melco embroidery machines only have 16 threads each, therefore your designs are limited to 16 different colours. Print however can consist of an unlimited amount of colours so this may be the better option in this case. If you would still like embroidery, then we simplify this by reducing your design to 16 colours or less.
DURABILITY
Embroidered or printed workwear may require daily or weekly washing and often and at higher temperatures for certain job roles. When this is the case, we will always recommend embroidery. Our print on the other hand is recommended to be washed at 30ºC. Take a look at our Garment Care Guide for further information. Some of our garments, such as the KLASSIC POLO WITH SUPERWASH® 60°C are perfectly fine to wash at 60 degrees as long as they are embroidered and not printed.
PERSONAL TASTE – STITCHED OR PRINTED?
It’s down to your personal taste on which personalisation method you use. Do you like the look of stitched workwear more or is print more desirable? It’s your clothing. You will see it every day and ultimately it’s your choice! Order the personalisation method that you prefer the most. Want to find out more? Visit our Personalised Clothing Methods page to find out more information about each of our decoration processes.
