# Is there a market for embroidered t-shirts?



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I've seen a lot of screen printed t-shirts, but I don't think I've seen a lot of strictly "embroidery only" t-shirts for sale.

I wonder if there is a niche market for these type of designs? 

It seems like it would be something sort of unique for the t-shirt market. 

I'd be interested in seeing if anybody has seen a line of cool embroidered t-shirts for sale online.


----------



## foxvox (Mar 30, 2005)

My uninformed opinion... I think embroidered shirts tend to sem like a more 'high end' thing than 'just' t-shirts. For instance, there's a place in Big Sur, CA called Nepenthe (you might have heard of them?) - it's an upscale hangout with an upscale arty type shop. Last time I was there they had long-sleeve blue chambray shirts with embroidery on them - they were more expensive, but nice. 

I can see me doing some simple Celtic designs in embroidery in the future, but I'm not sure that I would do t-shirts, per se. Maybe collared shirts? Jury's still out.

Come to think of it, the Nepenthe embroidery was their logo, and a shirt I bought for my s.o. once with embroidery on it just said 'seattle'. Just thinking out loud here... I wonder if more embroidery is done with words/logos than with 'art'?

Anyway, this is probably a bit of a tangential response, but yes, I do think there's a place for it. To tell you the truth, I don't think most people really think about a design being 'embroidery' - they just know intuitively it's not screen printing and may seem a little nicer or classier.

It seems that embroidery would also last longer than screen printing, so maybe there's additional longevity and 'classiness' issues. I mean - I can't imagine that a lot of the threadless.com shirts would be suited for embroidery? Hmmm.

Interesting,

Kristen


----------



## BWS (Mar 30, 2005)

I've seen more of these for corporate promotion than anything else. In fact, I've got one from an old employer with the company logo embroidered on it. And come to think of it again, I used to have a nicely embroidered fleece pullover from another ex-employer.

But you don't seem to see these as often, outside of corporate logo-wear.


----------



## Elmo (Apr 1, 2005)

I've only really seen embroidered designs on Polo Shirts, and mostly company logos. Would be a nice idea for smaller designs / motifs. I dont know how well it would work with a large design ?


----------



## telepathicfrog (Apr 5, 2005)

Is there a market? The only way I ever answer this question is: "Would I buy this myself?" In this case I would say "yes" the previously mentioned "Seattle" t-shirt which Kristen gave me looks very nice and has held up well over the years. 

I think the embroidery can add a classier look to the shirts as long as they are of sufficient weight. I wouldn't even consider putting it on a value t or the ringers.

John M


----------



## MothBox (Apr 1, 2005)

Yer, probably more for the upper end of the market... what kind of designs did you have in mind?


----------



## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

telepathicfrog said:


> Is there a market? The only way I ever answer this question is: "Would I buy this myself?" In this case I would say "yes" the previously mentioned "Seattle" t-shirt which Kristen gave me looks very nice and has held up well over the years.
> 
> I think the embroidery can add a classier look to the shirts as long as they are of sufficient weight. I wouldn't even consider putting it on a value t or the ringers.
> 
> John M


I totally agree with telepathicfrog. I have been in the Screen Printing and Embroidery industry for 18 years. The key HAS to be to find a shirt of substantial weight. The market IS there if the logo will hold up without distortion. I agree with some of the other posts as well. There is a perceived value with embroidery that you can capitalize on in even more so in a retail environment. Most t-shirt materials have a "grain" that runs in a vertical direction. This up and down direction is the reason my company warns against the longevity of t-shirt embroidery. Circles and squares are hard to keep uniform because of something called pull compensation. My suggestion if you must embroider on a t-shirt is to find a heavyweight tee or even better a pique tee.


----------



## youngjt (May 31, 2005)

Probably should have asked Rodney's question before I started my business, instead of jumping in with both feet. Just started our store focusing on embroidered (and customized) Chinese character tees... give me a little while, and I'll keep you posted on how well (or not) it goes.


Will agree with triplej, the heavier weights are certainly much easier to embroider. Will also take the pique tee suggestion under advisement (any other tips you can pass along, I'll soak up like a sponge?).


Would love to get any feedback on our site (looking for the truth, not compliments! ).


J.T.


----------



## FatHamsterGirl (May 21, 2005)

Rodney said:


> I've seen a lot of screen printed t-shirts, but I don't think I've seen a lot of strictly "embroidery only" t-shirts for sale.
> 
> I wonder if there is a niche market for these type of designs?
> 
> ...


I knew a girl who used to sell her own tees......she used both screen printing and embroidery....fitted women's tees with little flowers with embroidery around them and a little screened bird, or embroidery designs climbing up the sides. Really cool.


----------



## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

youngjt said:


> Probably should have asked Rodney's question before I started my business, instead of jumping in with both feet. Just started our store focusing on embroidered (and customized) Chinese character tees... give me a little while, and I'll keep you posted on how well (or not) it goes.
> 
> 
> Will agree with triplej, the heavier weights are certainly much easier to embroider. Will also take the pique tee suggestion under advisement (any other tips you can pass along, I'll soak up like a sponge?).
> ...


I really like the site. I like the idea that you can personalize the garments. Are you doing the embroidery in-house? Just asking because I might be able to offer some machine tweaks to keep pull pull comp. issues to a minumum. I don't think you will have a ton of image distortion issues if you are keeping the logos as small as you are. Are you using backing? If so, what weight? That might be a little annoying to the customer and on the white tees you might be able to see the backing through the material if it's not heavy enough. Good Luck with the site. I love the concept.


----------



## youngjt (May 31, 2005)

Hi Jamie,

Yeah, using 3 oz. backing, tearaways for the lighter colors and cutaways for the darks. Finding that I need to use 3 - 4 sheets for the tearaways, does that jive with what you've experienced? Also finding that the Baby Rib women's shirts are more prone to error.

And YES, any tips you have on machine tweaks would be greatly appreciated, have run into challenges!

BTW, really like your sites too. Boy, you've really thought of everything, from help wanted, to promotional products, man you're on your game! Also like the clean lines of PrintMojo.

J.T.


----------



## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

youngjt said:


> Hi Jamie,
> 
> Yeah, using 3 oz. backing, tearaways for the lighter colors and cutaways for the darks. Finding that I need to use 3 - 4 sheets for the tearaways, does that jive with what you've experienced? Also finding that the Baby Rib women's shirts are more prone to error.
> 
> ...



Thanks for the kind words  The backing you are using is Perfect. Have you tried using "solvy" on the garments to help the thread stay on top of the fabric better? That's the only thing we might be doing differently. What brand embroidery machine are you using? how many heads?


----------



## youngjt (May 31, 2005)

Using single head. "Solvy" ... I seem to have heard that term before. Will look into it, thanks!


----------



## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

youngjt said:


> Using single head. "Solvy" ... I seem to have heard that term before. Will look into it, thanks!


It's pretty cool stuff. You place it down in you image area before you even start the embroidery. It helps keep the threads from pulling into the garment. When the garment is finished you simply spray it with water and it dissolves. 

I don't have much experience with single heads so I don't have any production tweaks for you  We have a 2 head and a 12 head. 

What brand of machine is it?


----------



## triplebtees (Jun 3, 2005)

I personally am not a big fan of embroidered tees. No real reason, just wouldn't buy one.


----------



## Rodney (Nov 3, 2004)

I got an embroidered shirt for Father's Day and it's very nice.


----------



## macmediacs (Jul 3, 2005)

The one place I know of that only does embroidered tees is www.granolathreads.com, but they are reaching a specific market in advocacy wear.


----------



## char (Mar 30, 2005)

I've purchased several nightshirts with embroidery. The weight of the fabric has been quite an issue

In washing (many times) several of the garments have sagged where the embroidery is. One has a frog on the pocket that now looks as tho the frog is trying to jump off.

Those that are of a heavier weight have held up better. 

Is there a market for this? There is a market for everything - you just have to find your niche. 

My Mom is into frogs - so I buy any tees or nightshirts with them on. Screenprint or embroidery doesn't matter. I have a little stock pile to cover Mother's Day, Birthday's and Just Because Days. 

I tried to turn her on to my Penguin's and in typical Mom style said "Aren't those cute?" But she didn't fool me - she'd rather have frogs. Go figure!!

Char


----------



## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

We do embroidery but the market is slowly dying out. Embroidery is the corporate, golfer style. As the designs used to be complex but now they are simpler and simpler. People shutter when they hear prices of embroidery now adays. I now find embroidery more of a art these days. You will never be able to be a master at embroidery but some people get very good.


----------



## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

char,

the shirt puckered most likly because when they stitched the shirt they didnt hoop it tight so when the fabric shrunk the design got difformed


----------



## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

Another reason could be the backing. If there isn't any or if it's not thick enough the same gig will happen.


----------



## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

blairrev2003 said:


> We do embroidery but the market is slowly dying out. Embroidery is the corporate, golfer style. As the designs used to be complex but now they are simpler and simpler. People shutter when they hear prices of embroidery now adays. I now find embroidery more of a art these days. You will never be able to be a master at embroidery but some people get very good.


WOW, what city do you live in? Our EMB business has tripled in the last 3 years. We have been in the industry 20 years now doing both SP and EMB. We now have a 2 head and a 12 head machine and run two shifts in our embroidery department. I think it's all in the marketing. The perceived value of an EMB'd garment should always be pointed out. We also train our sales people to know the difference between an EMB customer and a SP one. That seems to be 1/2 the battle for us. We also don't put a huge margin between the embroidery and SP after all the set-up for future EMB orders is nothing  for example a Port authority K440 SP'd is $17.09 and EMB'd it's $18.44 not a huge margin at all. 

Anyways that's my 2 cents


----------



## youngjt (May 31, 2005)

triplej said:


> It's pretty cool stuff. You place it down in you image area before you even start the embroidery. It helps keep the threads from pulling into the garment. When the garment is finished you simply spray it with water and it dissolves.
> 
> I don't have much experience with single heads so I don't have any production tweaks for you  We have a 2 head and a 12 head.


 
Jamie,

Just wanted to thank you for your tips, advice, and helpful nature, both on this forum and from our phone conversation.

You da man. 

J.T.


----------



## triplej (Apr 18, 2005)

youngjt said:


> Jamie,
> 
> Just wanted to thank you for your tips, advice, and helpful nature, both on this forum and from our phone conversation.
> 
> ...



Anytime J.T.


----------



## blairrev2003 (Jul 8, 2005)

I live in a tourist beach area. South Jersey. I just don't know about it. We do alot of hats. But not alot of garments. It holds it's own. About 2 years ago it was really doing good. Maybe it'll kick up again for us. Our Screenprinting is rockin though.


----------



## Desmond (Aug 15, 2005)

I think that if you saw a great and simple design on 2 tee's, one being printed and one being embroidered, you would definately say the latter was 'classier'. Think of the 'Cheers' logo for example.


----------



## twistedlight (Aug 1, 2005)

A t-shirt with class, now thats interesting. Embroidered ts are considered formal wear ? Not in my neighborhood, maybe in India. My personal opinion, embroidery should be kept off of t-shirts, except for those womens t's with the embroidery around the collar, like flowers and cute little animals etc. What turns me off is that Im buying a t-shirt because I want a comfortable, casual, piece of clothing. One thing I would definitely embroider on a shirt is a tiny logo, possibly on the sleeve, or front breast. Other than that, it should be kept on hats, and polo shirts where it looks best.


----------



## chm (Jun 18, 2005)

My two cents.

I have been involved with the machine embroidery community, in fact, I should go finish this outline of a car I'm doing for a lady who will be embroidering it.

Yes, people are doing this, on T-shirts, too. (As you know youself, Rodney, having received one. : )

Yes, it could get pricey. There's much more work involved. For example, I can upload a graphic quickly and easily to CafePress for it to go on a T-shirt. With embroidery, (1) the artwork has to be created in a form that the embroidery software will accept, which will cost time or money (2) this artwork is then put into the software and tweaked to look right as embroidery (3) the machine embroidery is done on the T-shirt (or whatever).

The software and hardware to make all this machine embroidery happen is not cheap, something else to factor in.

It's not hard to find people doing this professionally - there's loads of them out there! I recommend Googling "machine embroidery designs", then looking for "T-shirts" from there.

Carolyn
http://www.carolynhmayer.com


----------



## cameo (Nov 27, 2005)

Hats and caps would be a good products for this.


----------



## Ken Styles (Mar 16, 2006)

I think embordery is best for only hats and sleeves?

But I could be wrong


----------



## RAHchills (Aug 28, 2005)

Ken Styles said:


> I think embordery is best for only hats and sleeves?
> 
> But I could be wrong


I've seen a lot of embroidered designs on "wife-beaters/boy-beaters" lately. I think it really pops on those ribbed type shirts.


----------



## kwjelliot (Jan 26, 2006)

it have to agree that there is a market for embroidered ts. that's how we started. didn't have a clue about heat transfers. we have only been in business for a yr. just got licenses and legal stuff set up within the past six months and we are growing by leaps and bounds.

i think that if you produce a good quality shirt, not matter what the method you will get great returns. i agree with some of the suggestions on how to produce a good quality embroidered t-shirt too. and that makes the difference.


----------



## marykay (May 5, 2006)

Well here, I'll throw my opinion in on this subject. I have been in business for a couple of years as an embroiderer. I have a shop with apparel as well. I decided I wanted to offer my customers an less expensive option for customized apparel and bought a Hix. Since I had already been embroidering on tees, mostly Gildan heavy weight, I now embroider whatever they want on the front and use a heat transfer on the back. Like their company name embroidered on the front and on the back any information and/or pictures they want on back. So yes there is a market in my area for embroidered tees, just not high stitch count designs.


----------



## Ayres Clothing (Jun 26, 2006)

They are starting to use embroidery on more upscale surf, skate, snow clothing designs. I am starting to see a lot of shirts that will use a silk screened design along with embroidery to make some cool designs. They are also using small patches of cloth that are sewn onto the shirt also to create a tattered style and they will embroider over it. They are doing all of this on t-shirts but they tend to sell these shirts for a little more than the average shirt.


----------



## StitchShoppe (Jun 1, 2006)

I did these for a local bar


----------



## FTWear (Feb 12, 2006)

StitchShoppe - you must have an incredible machine, the stitching on that is fantastic!


----------



## StitchShoppe (Jun 1, 2006)

It's not so much the machine, its the digitizing and 30 years of trial and error to find out what densities, underlays, ect work on full tee logos


----------



## batfink (Aug 5, 2006)

Hi Everyone

I embroider on t shirts and jeans using my normal domestic sewing machine.
I think design wise you do have to think a bit differently to producing a graphic for screenprinting, and also be very careful of what colour thread goes on what colour tee.

After a LOT of trial and error I have my technique mostly sorted now including the type of backing I use and the weight of t shirt.

I do charge more than an average SP tee, but people do seem to appreciate something a bit different. 

And now I have the technique down I'm concentrating on some new designs

Let me know what you think!

Cheers

Rosie


----------



## LaMamaHen (Jul 31, 2006)

rosierobinson said:


> Let me know what you think!
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Rosie


Cool, Rosie. Your jeans and minis make me wish I was 20 years younger. 
Good luck!


----------



## batfink (Aug 5, 2006)

LOL, thanks Carrie, t shirts for all ages available ;-)


----------



## htt117 (Aug 31, 2006)

I have run a small retail embroidery shop for 3 years. We are just beginning to add heat transfers and other types of personalization. We do a lot of "corporate logo" tees and sports shirts, but there is much more to this market for embroidery. Individual designs are our highest margin and biggest sellers. We do these deigns on both standard tees (Hanes beefy tees, Gildan heavyweight tees, etc.) and on sweatshirts. A good example is our Mom's Gang collection. We use stick figures, handprints or other "logos with kids names below to make a unique shirt that will last ofr years. We often have them brought back in to add new children as they arrive. You need flexible design software that lets you set up these designs quickly. They often run 25K to 40K stitches, but the embroidered shirts with big designs retail for $40 to over $100 dollars. LArgest one I recall doing was a 50th wedding anniversary present. It had 28 names on a fleece stadium blanket. Sold it for something like $145.

On the lighter weight and lighter colored shirts, the backing will show through and it looks terrible. Same problem for lighter weight dress shirts and blouses. We use a mesh backing on these materials.

The water soluble "Solvay" backing will help appearance on material with a textured surface such as ribbed tees. As on any textured surface, use bolder fonts and lines and you will minimize some of the distortion problems. Use more underlay stitching, it helps stabilize the material. Avoid large solid fill areas on lighter weight materials. If you do the ribbed tees, remember that they are designed to be stretched tight when work. A design that looks perfect when the shirt is laying flat can look stretched or distorted when worn.


----------



## T-BOT (Jul 24, 2006)

htt117 said:


> I have run a small retail embroidery shop for 3 years. We are just beginning to add heat transfers and other types of personalization. We do a lot of "corporate logo" tees and sports shirts, but there is much more to this market for embroidery. Individual designs are our highest margin and biggest sellers. We do these deigns on both standard tees (Hanes beefy tees, Gildan heavyweight tees, etc.) and on sweatshirts. A good example is our Mom's Gang collection. We use stick figures, handprints or other "logos with kids names below to make a unique shirt that will last ofr years. We often have them brought back in to add new children as they arrive. You need flexible design software that lets you set up these designs quickly. They often run 25K to 40K stitches, but the embroidered shirts with big designs retail for $40 to over $100 dollars. LArgest one I recall doing was a 50th wedding anniversary present. It had 28 names on a fleece stadium blanket. Sold it for something like $145.
> 
> On the lighter weight and lighter colored shirts, the backing will show through and it looks terrible. Same problem for lighter weight dress shirts and blouses. We use a mesh backing on these materials.
> 
> The water soluble "Solvay" backing will help appearance on material with a textured surface such as ribbed tees. As on any textured surface, use bolder fonts and lines and you will minimize some of the distortion problems. Use more underlay stitching, it helps stabilize the material. Avoid large solid fill areas on lighter weight materials. If you do the ribbed tees, remember that they are designed to be stretched tight when work. A design that looks perfect when the shirt is laying flat can look stretched or distorted when worn.


are you doing anything that is a little more fashion forward?, something beyond a Mall Kiosk type set up? 

...like interesting original designs on textured and pattern fabrics shirts or denim, even ladies bags/purses? that may attract todays fashionistas with big budgets to spend on unique items?


----------

