Looking for the right services for your business can be like trying
to find a needle in a haystack. Often it depends mainly on what your
aims are. Presenting the best image you can to your potential customers
is paramount to success, and professionally printed or custom embroidery
on apparel can be a crucial facet to a consistent brand image.
It has been proven time and time again that a business brand with a
well-developed, impactful, consistent, and visible image will always
outgrow competitors that don’t have a similar edge. Crafting such a wide
scoped presence can be extremely difficult but fortunately there are
services to help.
Cornerstone Services
There are a few things that generally go hand in hand when crafting a brand image. In no particular order, these are:
- A Logo
- A brand message
- Consistency
- Promotional Items
Many business operate without a uniform, but a uniform can cement your brand and image in a customer’s mind when they do business with you, therefore reinforcing that consistent image. Uniforms have a few main avenues for creation. For natural fibers, you can heat press, or embroider. For synthetic fibers there is the additional option of sublimation printing. All of these have strengths and weaknesses.
Sublimation Printing
What is it? Sublimation printing is a type of printing that uses a
special type of ink. The technique involves using heat to vaporize ink
which then becomes embedded into the printed piece, which requires
different techniques and heats depending on the material. This material
is referred to as the substrate.
Sublimation allows for very complex imagery with no color limitations,
to be printed directly into the fabric as opposed to pressed on top of
the fabric, because of this, such images can withstand washing cycles
more readily. This technique prevents a design from peeling, cracking,
or fading over time. The main restriction for this is it only available
with certain synthetic fabric types.
Heat Press Printing
Heat press printing has the advantage of being able to work on every fabric type. This uses a material that bonds to the top of the fabric when applied with pressure and heat. This process often comes with increased costs because it can be very labor intensive depending on the complexity of the design. The material must be ‘weeded’ of all unnecessary pieces before it can be applied to the fabric. The design can also peel, crack, or fade after multiple washings.
Custom Embroidery
Embroidery combines the versatility of any fabric, with the strength and longevity of sublimation designs. Because a design must only be digitized once, it is easy to replicate without the labor intensive process of weeding or the energy required for heat transfer. Custom embroidery can also be used on fabrics which cannot withstand the temperatures necessary to heat press or sublimate such designs.
With machines such as the commercial Ricoma 1501-TC embroidery machine, designs are professionally made and consistent across multiple projects.
Which to choose?
If you are looking for simple designs that are easily weeded, heat pressing may be for you. This will allow for the most inexpensive route towards bulk ordering. Complex imagery can be done but would essentially be a photo heat pressed onto a shirt, subject to the same potential issues of peeling, splitting, and fading as all other heat pressing.
Extremely complex designs with lots of different colors is best used with sublimation, even considering synthetic fabric restrictions.
Embroidery is a great middle ground. Not specifically made for fine details and extremely complex imagery, embroidery can nonetheless provide an impressive array of detail as well as a wide color palette. Not only that, it will also withstand the modern day abuse of multiple washings in spades.
Should you need custom embroidery, heat pressing, or sublimated designs, we can help. Consultations on the best choice for your design, and best methods to implement a design are just a part of the everyday service we provide. Feel free to contact us for more information.FacebookTwitterGoogle+LinkedIn