To increase customer loyalty, bust these four customer service myths about commercial embroidery.

In the commercial embroidery industry, customer service means different things to different people. When you ask an individual shop owner to specify what “customer service” really is; you may not get the same answer twice.

Customer service can mean any one (or more) of these things:

• Quality product
• Competitive prices
• Fast response times
• Dependability
• Accurate digitizing
• Creative designs
• Knowledgeable employees

With commercial embroidery, excellent customer service is under-promising and over-delivering; telling your clients you will do something, and then doing it. It is the philosophy that an embroidery project is not finished until the customer says it is.

Technology has made commercial embroidery a highly competitive field. The internet elevates comparison-shopping to a new art form. Powerful digitizing and design programs, like Sierra’s Stitch ERA Liberty, makes creating professional commercial embroidery designs something almost anyone can do.

This level of competition makes customer service even more fundamental to the success of a shop. It is not something to be taken lightly.

For the most part, commercial embroidery shop owners can agree (somewhat) on what makes exceptional customer service. On the other hand, there remain a few myths that are roadblocks to providing the best service possible.

Here are four customer service myths for commercial embroidery:

More employees will improve customer service

The way you handle customers should not be based on the number of employees in your shop. If your staff does not have the right attitude to provide stellar customer service, hiring more warm bodies will not make things better. This is one case where quantity does not apply to quality.

Pay people more and they will perform better

Money can motivate your employees to return to work in the morning, but it will not encourage them to do a better job.  What genuinely makes them tick is recognition. Knowing that they are doing a terrific job is what changes behavior and attitude.

Make sure you recognize the good work your employees are doing, and performance will improve, as well as the loyalty of customers.

Every employee has the power to meet customers

In commercial embroidery, employees have a role in creating a remarkable product, but they do not all feel they have the power to do what it takes to make customers happy. Workers on the shop floor are afraid the wrong choice will lead to a reprimand, or worse. Management is afraid of losing control, by having every decision second-guessed. This leads to a rigid power structure and a customer service gridlock.

To improve customer service immediately, develop an attitude in the workplace that rules are necessary, but there are also times the rules need to be broken. In times when that happen, there will be no repercussions or punishment.

It is the duty of management to ensure that all employees feel empowered to provide customer service. That is “job one.”

Customer service is everyone’s responsibility

As a commercial embroidery shop owner, if you automatically assume that every employee understands what makes good customer service, you are mistaken! It is not a given that they all know the fundamentals of how to make people happy.

Your priority should be to inform, train and educate every employee in the elements of excellent customer service. This should not be a one-time-only discussion. To have a team of people motivated to providing the best commercial embroidery, customer relations are an ongoing process, not something presented only at a new hire orientation.

Coach, encourage, compliment and praise your employees. When they do something right, do it again! The money and effort spent is an investment in one thing that makes you different from the competition—your people. Look at it as an investment in your company’s future.

Everyone looks for ways to increase ROI (return on investment). Busting these four customer service myths is the easiest way to a higher ROI. It will increase customer loyalty, sales and profits, and move your commercial embroidery business to new heights.

For more information on getting the most success from your commercial embroidery shop, visit www.ColDesi.com or call 877-793-3278 today!

The post Busted! Four Commercial Embroidery Customer Service Myths appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

They are easy to create and are a useful way to add more value to all sorts of garments and products.

Appliques are an indispensable design element in commercial embroidery, most common in garments for toddlers, children, cheer squads, athletic teams and more. In fact, all of your customers will benefit from the addition of appliques to your product line. It is an excellent way to add depth, color and texture to commercial embroidery.

Appliques in your embroidery business add value to everything from novelty designs and corporate clothing to wearable art and uniforms. They are easy to make, requiring only outline stitching, and are high-profit add-ons that make commercial embroidery looking clean, crisp and beautiful.

Preparing a garment for an applique:

Getting a garment ready for the addition of an applique is the same as for commercial embroidery. A second layer of fabric on a substrate does not mean you can forget about the proper backing or stabilization.

Medium to light CutAway backing works well with stretchy fabrics such as fleece sweatshirts or T- Shirts. Light TearAway backing is good for knitted fabrics, like denim shirts, jeans and jackets, canvas tote bags and computer cases.

Preparing applique fabric:

Fabrics used for commercial embroidery appliques must have minimal fraying and shrinking.  Most pre-made applique fabrics are already treated and ready for cutting. It needs no more treatment.

Other fabrics may require additional preparation to use it for an applique. Wash and dry the fabric first for washable fabrics with more than 30 percent cotton. This will preshrink the fabric, removing any excess dyes or starches. (If in doubt, just wash it!)

Often, fabrics with synthetic fibers (polyester, acrylic or nylon) do not shrink, so they do not need to be pre-washed. Silk, wool, suede and leather, as well as other dry-cleanable fabrics, are also suitable for appliques and do not need preshrinking. Remember, if you make an applique from dry-cleanable fabrics, the entire garment needs to be dry-cleaned.

After you pre-shrink the applique fabric, use double-sided, heat sensitive stabilizer to the back of the material. This helps bind the fibers and prevents fraying (especially when using a zigzag finishing stitch). It will not only stabilize the fabric, but also makes it cut easier. Adhesive backing helps the applique bond permanently to the garment.

Attach the double-sided stabilizer to the fabric with a heat press, with the right side of the fabric down and the paper backing up.  Leaving the paper intact allows you to trace the outline of the applique directly on the paper; this makes it suitable for cutting by hand, or sending to a commercial cutter.

Adhesive backing also makes appliques easy to use, as well as preventing shrinkage and bubbling after washing.

How to sew appliques for commercial embroidery:

• Choose your applique, by either precutting a shape by hand, or purchasing ready-made patterns from a commercial cutter.
• Prepare the substrate just as you would for any other commercial embroidery. Choose the right backing for the fabric used: TearAway for durable fabrics, denims and weaves; CutAway for more stretch fabrics like T-shirts and fleece.  Hoop the backing with the garment.
• Hoop and mark the garment, and then put the hooped garment in the commercial embroidery machine. Download the applique design to your system from your Stitch ERA Liberty or other embroidery design software.
• Always check the alignment of the design to the garment. If you turned the garment for easier embroidery stitching, make sure you adjust the design, as well.
• Sew the outline stitch in a similar color to the garment fabric. You can set your embroidery machine to stop after sewing the outline stitch, to allow placement of the applique material. When digitizing with the Stitch ERA Liberty, you can include an automatic pause in the design.
• Place the precut applique in the stitched outlines (it should be a perfect fit). Set it in place with Sprayway’s #66 Mist Spray Adhesive, or set it with an applique iron, if you have used a double-sided backing. Make sure the applique will not move during sewing.
• Restart your commercial embroidery machine and use your finishing stitch to secure the applique.
• If the embroidery project uses several layers of appliques, repeat the process. Other than that, you are finished!
• Remove the garment from the machine, and unhoop the fabric. Press the design with your heat press or hand iron. This will complete the adhesion of the applique to the garment, and avoid problems like “bubbling” or shrinking after washing. If you are adding an applique on fabric with a nap, like corduroy or imitation suede, turn the garment inside out and heat press the back of the design. This will prevent the pile from flattening.

Pricing appliques:

Appliques are labor-intensive, so price them higher than most other commercial embroidery. The advantage is that appliques can replace thousands of stitches, saving sewing time. Yes, the embroidery machine stops, slowing down production. However, the stitch savings make up for the downtime, in addition to the higher value of the finished garment.

For more information about creating appliques or anything on commercial embroidery, visit www.ColDesi.com or call 877-792-3278 today!

The post Using Appliques in Commercial Embroidery appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

They are an easy way to add extra value with a “touch of class” to a wide variety of garments and other products.

Monograms are one of the most sought-after designs in commercial embroidery. You can see them in all sorts of garments and products, from dress shirts and jackets to purses and tote bags.

Until the 20^th Century, single initials were the norm for monograms in commercial embroidery. Today, monograms with one, two, three initials or more are common. Some are made with a combination of the names of two individuals—a way to celebrate a wedding or other domestic relationships.

Today, large monograms are an easy way to add a touch of elegance and class with extremely popular in designs for chair backs, pillows and shower curtains. Many can be seen in some of the best home décor magazines and catalogues.

Your Sierra Stitch ERA Liberty embroidery software and commercial embroidery system are natural partners to make the monogram designs your customers want.

How to create standard three-letter monograms

It is easy to make monograms for a variety of products:

• Open the Stitch ERA Liberty program to bring up the file name for the letter you want to use.
• A popular trend in three-letter commercial embroidery monograms is a large center letter flanked by two smaller letters. In some programs, there are separate files for each letter. For a quick start, Stitch ERA Liberty has an automatic monogram wizard with a variety of styles.
• In most commercial embroidery monograms, the large center letter is the surname (or initial of last name). Add the two letters to each side, so that the sewing sequence can provide a longer connection threads. This is ideal for commercial embroidery systems that do not have an automatic thread trimmer. This technique will force the fabric away during sewing.
• Customary monogram construction puts the middle initial in the center with the last initial on the right, especially if the letters are the same height. This is the most popular monogram layout for men’s dress shirts. Slightly enlarging the last initial at the center gives attention to the last name, and emphasizing the middle initial is not consistent.

The spacing of letters, as well as the letter position in relation to each other, is a personal matter. Always discuss the details of the monogram before embroidery, and never assume a certain spacing is what your client wants.

The customer always should have the final say. Best practices for a commercial embroidery shop should be a teacher to the customer. Supply them with advice on what is “customary” in monograms, so they can make the best decision.

Tips for monograms in commercial embroidery

Most commercial embroidery digitizes monograms for  ”average” fabric; not many support lettering specifically for “specialty” fabrics, like leather or suede. Be careful about the stitch density, and adjust the density as necessary after test stitching the design.

The benefit of working with each letter individually, as opposed to using the monogram wizard in the Stitch ERA Liberty, is that you have complete control over placement and orientation. Simply change the letters around until you are happy, and do not forget to save your work with a new filename.

Hooping monograms

Individual letters in a majority of monogrammed styles will fit within a 4” hoop restriction. A few will exceed the 4” hoop size, towels, shower curtains and the like, needing a minimum of 5” x 7” hoop. Make sure you choose the right size hoop for creating a three-letter monogram in one sewing.

A commercial embroidery shop can still produce three-letter monograms with smaller, 4” hoops, but each letter will be sewn separately, and each letter rehooped. This method makes explicit spacing and positioning of each letter extremely difficult.

Monograms made by hand have a raised and rounded quality, using a way that is difficult to imitate with commercial embroidery. The process aligns strands of thread in bundles, then with a top thread to “wrap” around the bundle, passing through the supporting cloth each time around. Commercial embroidery machines do not naturally produce these long strands of thread, instead going back-and-forth, rather than around-and-around. Hand embroidery is the easiest way to create this effect.

One way to replicate this effect in commercial embroidery is with puffy foam. However, it may not suit every customer, especially some “purists.” Put down puffy foam before sewing the underlay. This pushes the foam down a bit, so adjust the top thread tension to compensate. Experiment first, to see if this works for you.

For more information about monograms for commercial embroidery, visit www.ColmanAndCompany.com or call 800-981-1094.

The post Creating Monograms for Commercial Embroidery appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

Using images off the internet, you can avoid legal problems with copyright holders; by making sure images you use are legitimately available.

Technology changes everything, and nowhere is this truer than with direct to garment printers. With a DTG Viper, DTG M2 or the new DTG M4 Garment Printers and desktop publishing software, anyone can be a graphic designer and print outstanding images on T-shirts, garments and other promotional products.

The internet provided a ton of information and resources, primarily for direct to garment printer shops looking at images for various projects.

Accessing images online bring up an extremely serious issue: Usage Rights and Copyright Law.

There is nothing new about fair use and copyright as professional graphic designers and photographers know well.  Today, the world is different, with the rise of consumer-level desktop publishing software and powerful and easy-to-use direct to garment printers.

Technology has changed everything with a flood of budding graphic designers, many of which are unaware of rules that govern the use of commercial images available online.

The truth about images found through search engines.

Images discovered through Google and other search engines are not all free to use. Think of it this way, Google is what it claims to be—a search engine. That is it! If something is online, Google will help you find it.

Unless the artist is smart enough to carry all of their copyrighted photos offline or available to only a select few, Google will be able to help you get virtually any image. All it takes to download a copy to use for your own purposes is a painless “right click” and save to the computer.

Two things to remember when using online photos and images:

• Every image online is owned by someone.
• For photographs, images or any other digital art, the person who created it owns it and is usually who must give you permission to use the photo for direct to garment printer apparel.

However, like almost anything online, there are some notable exceptions. For one, there are businesses or companies that will hire a photographer or graphic designer. In paying an artist, the company will often buy the rights to use an image or photo exclusively.

There are also companies that manage stock photography. Photographers will often sell their work to stock photography websites, who in turn make the images available for public use. Although some images will be available free, it is more common that they will charge for a subscription or for individual download without a watermark.

This is probably the best way to get images to use in a direct to garment printer if you do not want to develop your own graphics. Even altering an original image, in case your T-shirts become a viral hit, you will have to contend with publishing rights from the copyright holder.

Consider the case of Shepard Fairey and his iconic “Hope” poster of Barack Obama in 2008. Fairey had to defend himself against claims that the poster was “perpetuated illegally” using a photo owned by the Associated Press. In an ironic twist, Fairey had to make other artists stop using his images with same techniques he was using.

Ignorance of the law is no defense

As with any law, ignorance of copyright and fair use does not make using these images legal.  Avoid suffering the suffering the consequences for you and your clients. Customers pay you for creative, original direct to garment printer designs; using images illegally downloaded from the internet will damage both your reputation and (even worse) your sales!

The right way to get images for your direct to garment printer, and stay out of trouble.

The best way to get images for your direct to garment printer products is to make them yourself. If you are an embroiderer or screen printer looking to grow your business with a direct to garment printer, you probably already know how to use Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or CorelDraw. If you still need motivation, or require images to use as a starting point, there are many places to buy online stock photography legally.

If (for some reason) you still think Google is an alternative to acquire images suitable for direct to garment printer designs, there are ways to do it right.

The four steps for finding Google images that are suitable for commercial use:

1. Search Google for the theme you want (i.e. “Tigers”)
2. Click “Images” on the top of the search results. Click on the gear icon at the upper right, and then select Advanced Searches.
3. There is a “Usage Rights” dropdown at the bottom of the Advanced Searches page. Since there are several settings, you can decide if you only need to see available images with no restrictions, choose “free to use.”  For direct to garment printer images, you will probably want images available for commercial use. Choose images tagged for “commercial reuse.”
4. After clicking on the Advanced Search button, you will see some images. They are images available for use with permission of the owner.  To use them, you should credit the copyright holder, whose name will be available when you select the images. You can then contact them for permission or purchase.

There are some resources for information on Graphic Design ethics, Copyright Law and Fair Use. One of the best can be found by visiting Aiga.org.  It has a lot of information to help you or your direct to garment printer customer.

For information on how to get the most of your direct to garment printer, as well as Genuine DTG Inks and supplies, visit ColmanAndCompany.com  or call 800-891-1094 today!

The post Direct To Garment Printers: How to Find Legal Images Online appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

Here are 10 productivity tips that save you time and money. Use them to keep your commercial embroidery workflow running smoothly!

As the saying goes, “time is money.”  In commercial embroidery, each second counts. By finding ways to streamline production and increase productivity, an extra minute gained results in bottom line profits.

This is a list of 10 of tips to increase commercial embroidery production, even if it is a few seconds:

Be organized

Keep your work area organized to save as many steps as possible. The tools you frequently use should be kept in the area or during a production run stored somewhere in that area. This might mean duplication of tools, but that is perfectly acceptable!  Saving time during commercial embroidery will balance out the minor business expenses of a few extra items. For example, keep scissors in the place where you cut or trim backing, as well as near the machines. Leaving an area to pick up a tool is a monumental waste of time.

Stay clean

For the best productivity, work areas must be clean and ordered at all times. In a busy shop, this can be difficult, but it takes more time to move things around and out of your way to be able to work properly. It can get confusing, especially if there are several people working in the same area using the same tools.

Store threads by color

Store commercial embroidery thread by color, as well as keep them clearly marked. It will save a few moments when looking for a single thread color.

Keep commercial embroidery thread dust-free

Thread always should be dust-free.  Although most polyester embroidery thread is strong, it could spoil after a prolonged storage, resulting in excessive thread breaks.

Keep your thread close to the needle

Keep thread colors used in a design on the closest needles for each color. This step saves color change time. If there are four colors in a design, those colors should be needles 1, 2, 3 and 4. This way the system moves the shortest distance and saves color change time.

Store commercial embroidery thread nearby

Store the thread for each device near the commercial embroidery machine you are using. When working with various machines, you must have your thread in a location as close to the machines as possible.

Always follow needle changes

Always indicate the location of your commercial embroidery needles in the machine. With an ordered system, you can monitor needle changes. Some commercial embroidery shops use a “needle replacement sheet.” You can develop a log sheet for any commercial embroidery machine. They are perfect tools to stay on top of needle replacement. For a single-head machine like the SWF E-1501C, you only need to use one sheet. On the SWF K-Series Multi-Head Commercial Embroidery Machines, you should have one for each head. When changing a needle, note it on the sheet, including the date, size, needle type, and the reason you changed the needle. Have the sheets in a binder at the machine.

Buy backing in cut sizes

Purchase backing in cut sizes and store them close to the hooping area. Make sure you order several sizes for maximum efficiency. Of course, you want to save money by purchasing backing in large rolls, so make sure you cut enough in advance. Have a supply of different sizes on hand for lots of jobs. Having your backing ready to go, instead of cutting pieces for each job, can be a terrific time-saver.

Shake the dust off every morning

Every morning, prior to beginning production, you should brush and blow out both the rotary hook and knife area in your commercial embroidery machine. Add one drop of oil just outside the bobbin case on the rail of the hook.

Schedule weekly maintenance for Friday afternoons

Use Friday afternoons to perform weekly maintenance. Stop production early and make it a routine. This will pay off on Monday morning. You will begin the week knowing all your commercial embroidery machines will be in excellent shape and ready to go. Monday morning, you can begin quickly without worrying that a machine will fail during production!

For more information on how to maximize commercial embroidery production, visit www. ColDesi.com or call 877-793-3278 today!

Do you have your own timesaving tips to increase commercial embroidery production?  Let us know in the comments below!

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Three basic principles to providing the best for your clients, and making your business a long-term success.

It takes more than outstanding products to make a garment printing shop a long-term success. Commercial embroidery, rhinestone decorating, direct to garment or screen printer shops are an intensely competitive industry and can have more than its share of challenges.

What it actually takes to succeed in garment printing, other than exceptional designs, is excellent customer service.

Every organization says they provide the best customer service. From experience, you know that is not the case. Anyone who has experienced lousy service at a restaurant or a retailer understands that there is an enormous difference between words and action.

Unfortunately, outstanding customer service is less common than we would like to think.

Customer service is more than words; it is a philosophy!

It should be obvious to everyone in the garment printing industry that exceptional customer service is the answer to longevity. Treat customers poorly, and you cannot expect to make it for the long haul.

Customer service, especially in garment printing, is not a slogan plastered on a wall or a sign hung over a doorway. It is part of the fabric of every employee, in every shop. Treating the customer right is not just an act; it is a philosophy.

With the ups-and-downs that are part of garment printing industry, there will be times where it is difficult to maintain a high level of customer service. That is precisely the point! Giving your best, even when it is easier to let the “little” things slide, is what will keep your garment printing company afloat—in good times and bad.

Three guidelines to ensure your garment printing company offer nothing but the best customer service. Make these principles a part of your company’s DNA and your customer base will remain loyal to your shop:

When it comes to customer service, every employee should see the big picture

The best salespeople know one thing; they are not in the business of selling a product, their primary duty is making people happy! Make that belief the basis of your garment printing business. You want to sell a product, but that is not your client’s problem. They want something that will fulfill a need or solve a problem. Customers need to be happy, and you have the tools to make it so!

When motivating employees to deliver the best customer service, they should know exactly who they are working for. Yes, you might be signing the paychecks, but they are actually working for the customer! Your employees should know how each of their jobs contributes to the goal of making people happy. Without the customer, there is no garment printing business!

Give the customer plenty of choices

When it comes to making people happy with garment printing, a wide range of choices is the best tool you have. However, before presenting the range of alternatives—and potentially overwhelm the customer—your staff must understand their needs. How can someone solve a problem before they even know what the problem is?

Your garment printing company should ensure every customer has all the necessary information to make a decision. Give them access to all the pricing, embellishment and garment choices available to them.  Anything less falls short of the goal of providing stellar customer service.

Don’t sell, teach! This goes for both customers and employees

Technologies in garment printing, especially the latest generation of direct to garment printers, can produce a vast number of different options. Your client may have never seen so many products before. A customer can easily get confused. This is why your business focus should be on learning.

Customers respond to expert advice. That means your staff should be knowledgeable in all the products and services you have to offer. Make sure you fully train all employees, so they can, in turn, best inform the customer. A well-educated customer is more likely to return to the experts (you!) when they need more information or products.

Besides, what is the point in having the best products, like CAMS Automatic Rhinestone Setting Machines, SWF/E-1504DF Four-Head Embroidery System or DTG M4 Garment Printer, if your employee does not know all of the remarkable things they can do?

For more information about making money in the fast-growing garment printing industry, visit www.ColDesi.com or call 877-793-3278 today!

What are your guiding principles for outstanding customer service in the garment printing industry? We would like to know! Join the conversation in the comments below.

The post Garment Printing Customer Service: Three Basic Principles appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

Embroidery on leather can look fantastic, as long as you follow the basics, and be careful. There are several tips for successful leather embroidery.

Many embroiderers are afraid of leather embroidery. They are convinced that puncturing “unforgiving” materials such as natural or synthetic leather is not worth the risk. If they have to remove stitches, the error is there for everyone to see.

With leather, they feel they have only one chance to blow it!

Yes, holes in leather may be irreversible, but that shouldn’t scare you off. The gorgeous results of embroidery on leather should be worth the risk. In addition, it is a service that few commercial embroidery shops will provide, which means it is wide open for you to make great profits!

In fact, since leather embroidery is limited in many markets, you should be able to charge a darned good premium for the work. The profit potential is out there, waiting for the right embroiderer, and that could be you!

Before you decide to take on the challenge of leather embroidery, you should remember some of the basics:

Some embroiderers think that leather will bust out when embroidered. They see it the same as a cutout paper doll. It is true that punching out can create that effect, but it happens only with certain kinds of leather.

This makes it crucial to understand the variations of leather, and how they react to embroidery. The first issue is identifying how leather is tanned. The two basic techniques for tanning leather:

Oak, Bark or Vegetable Tanning

This technique produces a hard surface suitable for tooling, the enhancement process using a metal die and mallet to impress motifs directly on the surface of the leather.

Chrome-Tanned

Chromium salts are used to create chrome-tanned leather. This technique leaves the skin soft and supple.  This style of leather is used in upholstery and garment leather and is the best suited for embroidery.

Another factor to consider is what skins were used in making leather. Most garment leathers are made with cow, goat, lamb, boar and deer skins. The surface can be either smooth full-grain, top-grain or the suede surface of a split. The body part of the animal that makes the skin is another thing. Leather made from the stomach area will have more stretch than leather taken from the back.

Thickness will also affect the suitability of leather for embroidery. Leather will range in thickness from one-ounce (1/64” or 0.4 mm) to twelve-ounce (3/16” or 4.8 mm). Commercial embroidery machines will safely sew leather up to six-ounces thick (6/64” or 2.4 mm).

Stabilizing Leather for Embroidery

Treat leather as an unstable material, so a stabilizer is necessary to control movement. The best backing for leather embroidery is the Hollingsworth & Vose / Style 1720 TearAway-WashAway, especially for thin or fragile leather. If the leather is sturdy, a soft tear-away is the way to go. Soft tear-away is made up of both long and short fibers and doesn’t tear as cleanly as more crisp tearaway. The 1720 TearAway is ideal for a medium like leather, which have good form and a small amount of stretch.

Always try to bond the stabilizer to the back of the leather, if possible. Fusible polymesh is another good choice. Embroidery spray adhesive will help the backing adhere, but be careful that the adhesive does not bleed through the leather. Spray a little stabilizer, and then press the stabilizer with your fingers to the reverse side of the leather.

Hooping Leather for Embroidery

Another reason why some people shy away from leather embroidery is that they are afraid the Durkee Hoops will leave a indelible mark. Lower-grade leather will mark when hooped, but better-quality leather will not. When hooping suede, simply brush any ring with a toothbrush.

Leather is sensitive to over-tightening of the hoop Avoid this by opening the hoop a tiny bit wider than needed to accommodate more traditional material. Frame it by gently pulling it tight in the hoop. Once framed, tighten the adjusting screw just enough to keep the piece secure for embroidery.

Remove the hoop as soon as possible after embroidering. Keeping the hoop on longer will increase the chances of leaving a ring.

The thickest leather is on boots and belts, and they are also the most difficult to hoop. Your best bet is to use a bag clamp or one of the framing systems intended for adhesive backing. Fast Frames or Quick Change frames are recommended.

Top-grain leather can also be protected during hooping with a slight cushion placed between the hoop and the skin. 3M Brand Vetrap Veterinarian Bandaging Tape is good for this purpose; it is designed not to stick to hair or animal skins. Magnetic hoops and clamps are also available to help protect leather while hooping.

Programming Designs for Leather Embroidery

Leather embroidery requires less underlay and a little lighter density, but is not too much more difficult to program designs. When using garment or upholstery leather, stock designs can be used without problems. When using existing designs or stock design, up the design 10 to 15 percent. This spreads the stitches out a little bit. Designs too tight will carve out in the leather.

Programming letters are often with a standard stitch spacing of 30 points. Your software may indicate this number differently, such as .3, .30, or 3.0. If the stitch spacing system on your embroidery program uses 30 points, lettering for leather should be using a slightly higher density of 40 points. Change the three to a four in wherever it appears in your specific software. You will get a slightly lighter concentration of stitches and still provide appropriate coverage.

Special note: If your software packages defines density as lines of thread per millimeter or stitches per inch, ignore this rule.

The Right Needles for Leather

Choosing the needle for leather embroidery gives embroiderers the most stress. The most recommended needle for garment leather is a light ball point 75/11. The blade size should be adequate to avoid needle deflection as the needle enters the leather. You can also use reinforced blade needles to help reduce deflection.

Troubleshooting Leather Embroidery

First thing to do when a problem arises in leather embroidery is not to panic! Sewing malfunctions like as thread breaks or birdnesting are common, and rarely will affect the results. You biggest challenge will be to remove stitching and cover up the needle holes in the leather.

If there are only a few needle holes within the body of the design, it might not be visible to anyone but you. A few more holes and your best choice will be to cover them up. You can expand the design or lay down a fill background.

Hesitant about leather embroidery? Oddly enough, that is a good thing! Think about it; you have better results when you work with materials you don’t like. You get much more cautious, and less likely to make mistakes.

Cover all the details and move slowly before you start. Double check every detail! There is no need to avoid leather embroidery, especially if you are careful. Leather may be an unforgiving material, it is not impossible to work with, as long as you follow the details, you should expect it to be right the first time.

In commercial embroidery, the right supplies are the key to great results, especially with expert support and training. Colman and Company carries a full line of embroidery supplies for sewing on all substrates, in addition to all the professional support you need for success!

For any questions on supplies, contact the commercial embroidery experts at ColmanAndCompany.com, for commercial embroidery equipment contact ColDesi at 877-793-3278

What are your best leather embroidery tips? Let us know in the comments below.

The post No-Fear Leather Embroidery Tips! appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

Things to look for when choosing a perfect heat press (or two!)

All heat press machines do one thing: deliver heat under pressure for a definite amount of time. For professional and high-quality results, standard laminating devices and consumer hand irons simply cannot get close to the temperatures required for a dependable transfer.

The Digital Knight 16×20 AUTO Clamshell from ColDesi

Why use a heat press?

To make money, of course!

There is no limit to what can be heat pressed: T-shirts, caps, ceramic plates and tiles, mugs, mouse pads, canvas tote bags, lettering, numbers, wood, metal and other fabrics and materials.

The right equipment is essential to the success of your business. The heat press machine is no different. In fact, you could see it as one of the hardest working things you will ever own.

What to look for in a heat press

The selection of designs may make choosing the right heat press a little intimidating, but they all have the same purpose: the commercial use of heat for a transfer onto a printable surface.

The most important features when deciding on the perfect heat press for your shop:

Size

Consider the type of work you will be doing and your space limitations. This will determine the size of heat press (as well as how many) you will need. General sizes of heat presses are:

Very small, or “Label Presses.” Often used for small items like baby clothes and small items with seams, like tote bags, where the object is opened and pulled onto the press. The smallest sizes are 4”X 6” to 6”X 8”.

Small presses range in size from 9” X 12” to 12” X 14” and are relatively inexpensive and portable. Many designs will range around 8 ½ X 12”, such as printed transfers and other smaller items. A small press is good for small production runs and one-offs.

Medium presses, sized 16” X 16”, 15” X 15” and 14” X 16”, are the most popular with decorators. They often have higher wattage for repeated use and cost considerably less than a 16” X 16”.

Large presses are 16” X 20” and over, like the Geo Knight 16×20 Auto Clamshell. Few garment decorators need anything larger since an 11” X 17” is the largest preprinted transfer measurements from an inkjet printer.

Of course, there are presses up to 20”X 25” and even giant “monster” 40” X 64” presses. If you still think you might need a massive heat press, examine your options first with a ColDesi representative.

The DK7 4×7 Cap Press from ColDesi

Type

There are two main types of heat presses: Clamshell and Swing Away.

Clamshell presses have platens that lift straight up to open completely. Frequently found in these sizes:

• 11” X 15”
• 15” X 15”
• 16” X 16”
• 16” X 20”

This type of press is easy, efficient and hugely appealing. Platen size and construction in the top and bottom can affect the pressing, depending upon the type of work in your shop.

Swing-away presses lift straight up, with the top platen swinging to the right. For work with shirts, the top platen swings to a point just past perpendicular (about 100 degrees). A few models of swing-away presses will have separate “swing-arms” (to the left of the upper platen) for easier movement. This is a handy feature on larger presses. Standard swingers range between 9” X 12” and 16” X 20”, with a few larger models for specialty work.

Other types of heat press include the Geo Knight DK7 4×7 Cap Press, used for curing the design on the front side of conventional headwear. Similar to a standard clamshell, the DK7 grips the rear of the cap and presses it down to the heated surface. DK7 Cap Press comes with a standard size platen for caps, as well as accepting other interchangeable platens for specific headwear.

Features

Air Automatic heat presses use compressed air, push button operation and requires little effort to manage. They are generally larger (in the 16” X 20” range) and can be quite expensive for startups and smaller shops. Instead of a high-end automatic press, you may want to consider several better-quality manual presses for efficient and economical production.

Digital or Analog?

Time and temperature are more accurate with digital timers than analog, which often only go to 60 seconds. Reading from a small gage can be hard to view correctly. For most garment decorating shops, a digital heat press is not a deal breaker, but they can make your shop more efficient, giving you less to deal with.

Platens are another valuable consideration. An elevated platen gives you more flexibility in the designs you offer. For example, it can let you press one side of a shirt and then take the shirt and press a second design inside. Teflon-coated platens also make the process easier.

Consider your product line

Interchangeable platens can help you press designs onto odd sized products, like mugs, helmets and other hard surfaces. Think about the direction of your product line and discuss it with your ColDesi sales representative for the right heat press to suit your needs.

There are other benefits, both form and function, which could be relevant to you. Having two or more presses is another choice. Start your search for the right heat press by visualizing exactly how you approach your business. Select a press that best offers you those benefits. Features are only a benefit if they make your business profitable.

ColDesi is a distributor of Geo Knight Heat Presses, and can help become more profitable by choosing the right equipment and supplies. For more information, contact ColDesi.com or call 877-793-3278.

The post Choosing the Perfect Heat Press for a T-shirt Business appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

Tips to help you manage growth responsibly, and maintain the high level of customer service your customers want.

Expanding business is the purpose of every direct to garment printer shop, but success rarely comes without a few growing pains.  The challenge is balancing the ability to handle a higher demand with the money to pay for it.

Having a strategy that takes in the practical development of your business will help alleviate any adverse effects of too-quick growth. Good planning makes sure you can satisfy every customer that comes through your door.

Signs you are growing too fast, and what to do about it!

The worst sign of disappointing growth control is when customer service begins to decline. One or two late orders, left unattended can grow to a history of making pathetic excuses to more of your customers. This can be a slippery slope, resulting in the failure of your business!

If you feel your direct to garment printer business might be falling behind, the first place to look for a solution is in your turnaround time. A good strategy for an established turnaround time that needs to be extended will be to post a message on your website, social media or send an email to your customer list. For new clients, don’t forget to tell your customers about any prolonged delivery times.

When faced with growth, scheduling becomes an art form.

One example is the customer who comes in on a Monday and desperately needs an order completed by Thursday. Unfortunately, you are fully booked. Instead of sending the customer to a competitor, now is the time for your best customer service. Start making phone calls to clients and see if you can move a few jobs around to fit in the urgent order.

An old saying in sales is “never over promise and under deliver.” Be careful when saying yes. Taking an order that you can’t handle will do your reputation more harm than good.

Have staff work overtime

The first thing you can do is ask your staff to work overtime. Most companies have at least one employee who would be interested in a little extra income.

Remember, overtime will cost you more. Paying time-and-a-half for employees who work over 40 hours in a week is the law. If increased productivity is only short term, the costs will be worth it.

The best thing about overtime is the consistency of current employees, the people who will provide the same quality control standards. They already know the ins and outs of your shop. Overtime is also a safe option, especially when an increase in volume is only temporary.

Overtime is a good way to see how much extra capacity you actually need. Employees working 40 hours, then working 60 hours, without making headway to meet production schedules, you may want to add another direct to garment printer, not more staff.

Time to outsource?

The problem with excessive overtime is the possibility of employee burnout.  To take some of the pressure off your staff, you might want to outsource some direct to garment printer projects. This is a strategy that even the largest companies rely on in a pinch. It is as old as garment decorating itself.

When outsourcing, a good habit is to run some test orders in advance. The growth of the direct to garment printer industry means there is a variety of different machines and varying degrees of quality-control. Not everyone will have your DTG M2 or DTG Viper Digital Garment Printer!

In contracting direct to garment printer output, you submit your good reputation to the work of someone else. You want to be quite sure you go with the right people. Sending out a product from an outsourced vendor with the same quality as yours, you need to know the people you are dealing with, before handing over an important order for one of your best customers.

Build a list of trusted contacts for emergencies and don’t fail to reciprocate when they want you. All business is social, and not everyone is a competitor or rival.  Make good connections with others in the business.

Add a second shift

Taking on an extra shift is a serious responsibility. You will need to teach a full crew of new people, getting them to work independently as soon as possible. You simply cannot keep an eye on them 24/7. It defeats the purpose! You want to be comfortable with the people in your shop when you’re not around.

Unlike screen printing, where there is a production manager supervising a staff working the system, a direct to garment printer production manager often also is the system’s operator. Getting someone to be competent and independent takes time.

Your shop provides a level of quality and reliability that you worked hard to reach.  It is why you are growing! Don’t compromise quality just to fill orders.

A second shift is an enormous obligation. You can’t just hire more people, and then turn around and say you don’t need the extra employees. When you are in the same spot later on, don’t expect them to come back. Make sure you have the added production to justify another shift.

A part-time second shift could be one option. You could have one team from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., with a second shift from 3 p.m. until 8 p.m. Part-time work could help you face higher production without the challenges of a full-time second shift.

When looking to add a second shift, examine your workflow.  If you are producing 2,000 shirts a week and a part-time second shift can increase capacity 30 to 50 percent, you just improved capacity to 2,600-3,000 pieces a week. This level of success is significant for a direct to garment printer business.

When to add a new direct to garment printer

Stay on top of production needs, while anticipating added capacity. Have a weekly analysis of your orders to identify patterns and the flow of your business. Once you discover a pattern, see if over a six-month period there was lost income because you could not meet demand. You may want to extend your company physically.

The option to add a new DTG M2, DTG Bullet or DTG Xpress Direct to Garment Printer will be based on how much more capacity you need. A new system should have greater capacity than one you currently have.

If you now make 200 shirts a week, and your needs are to provide 275 shirts weekly, that is quite different from printing 1,000 shirts a week and want to do 2,500. Know your current capacity so you can arrange to meet future demand.

Direct to garment printers with higher performance will be more expensive. ColDesi Inc. offers a Digital Garment Printer “Trade up Value” Guarantee that allows you up to 80 percent trade in value for your existing DTG Digital Printer, to help offset the cost of expansion.

Make sure your production spikes are a trend, as opposed to being seasonal. There is little value in spending extra money if your additional output is temporary. You would be better off either outsourcing, overtime or adding a second shift.

Where is the new business coming from? If production is up because of new customers, you have reliable information that your direct to garment printer business is growing. If a surge in new orders are because of a single customer, you may want to hold off on the purchase of another system. Losing that customer could cause you to scramble to fill your newly increased capacity.

Do not make the investment on a new system pinned to the hopes that you will increase traffic in the future. A higher priority on making sales (by adding on a sales manager, for example) should have you relying on overtime, outsourcing and a second shift. It will be a better strategy than committing money for something you have no guarantees will happen.

Weigh all your options before more orders start coming in. Check with your current employees to see if they will work overtime if it is available. Don’t be surprised if some decline the offer to work more hours.

The best thing for a direct to garment printer business is growth. It is something every business wants. Begin your smart growth by planning in advance and periodic evaluation of sales patterns. That way, you can always meet customer expectations, as well as saving yourself a lot of growing pains.

For more information on how you can get the most of your direct to garment printing business, contact a ColDesi.com representative, or call 877-793-3278.

Do you have a secret for managing growth in your direct to garment printer business? Let us know in the comments below!

The post Managing Business Growth for Direct to Garment Printers appeared first on Apparel Decorating & Supplies.

Now is a good time to revisit your production scheduling habits, make a few changes and keep your shop running smoothly, and your customers satisfied.

Scheduling is the lifeblood of a commercial embroidery shop.  With global competition and increasing customer demands, an efficient workflow will be critical to your success. You must have the supplies and manpower you need, when you need them, to get your product to the customer on time.

Good production scheduling balances customer needs with available resources and restraints in capacity.  As your commercial embroidery business grows, so does need to meet strict deadlines. Late shipments are simply not acceptable.

Without a realistic production schedule, you will always play catch-up to keep your customers happy.

Proper production scheduling is more than an important to your business; it is the beginning of good business development and growth.

What are the basics for a good commercial embroidery production schedule?

A functioning production schedule determines delivery dates and anticipates maintenance downtimes. It also gives workers, sales staff and customers a reasonable expectation of what is expected. Production schedules also provide a framework to measure performance and efficiency.

Another consideration in production schedules for commercial embroidery is inventory. Works in Process (WIP) inventories are minimized, and resource conflicts are resolved quickly.

For example, you want all your SWF K-Series Multi-Head Embroidery Machines running at peak efficiency, so you need the exact color embroidery threads and garment blanks in stock when you want them.

Traditional scheduling has not done much to improve workflow, especially with the newest generations of high-performance commercial embroidery machines. The problem is that most production schedules fail to take in account the unexpected, something that is part of every commercial embroidery workplace.

Uncertainty makes flexibility critical in planning, and manageable production scheduling is accomplished through simplicity. You have to keep it simple and willing to change course as the need arises.

Supply-chain management can be both fast and responsive, with a healthy dose of common sense. The perfect production schedule will link directly with both the buyer’s and your supplier’s schedules.

Why have an updated commercial embroidery production scheduling system?

Several key decisions are easier after improving your production-scheduling system:

•             Holding and preparing jobs for production

•             Setting a preference for projects that involve different resources, such as metallic threads, rhinestones and other decorations

•             Assigning the right people, supplies and equipment

•             Moving resources between similar jobs

•             Determining when projects should begin to meet production deadlines

•             Interrupting jobs that should be stopped to accommodate rush orders

Production scheduling is based on allocation of resources and prioritizing tasks. These two will  deliver the highest quality products and services, especially in commercial embroidery. Scheduling by hand alone can make it extremely difficult to understand the interactions in a high-volume shop.

Scheduling commercial embroidery means embracing technology (but don’t ditch the whiteboard)

Spreadsheets have long been used in scheduling systems, but often only during planning. They are great for setting up a thumbnail of production flow, but are are quickly forgotten in the heat of an important deadline.

If you truly want to maximize production, you need to take spreadsheets out of the planning stage, and put them into action on your shop floor.

Yes, the real world is different from computerized models, but that doesn’t mean that they should be ignored in favor of seat-of-your-pants production schedules.

Spreadsheets to model and simulate are only the first step in designing an advanced planning and scheduling system. Today’s spreadsheets are as easy to use as they are powerful so complete estimate of capacities can be pre-loaded into an operating plan. Use them for everything from ordering supplies, scheduling workers and dovetailing one job into another.

This doesn’t mean you have to ditch your trusty dry-erase whiteboard. In fact, the most valuable part of your scheduling system is creating a single way for all members to have access. Whiteboards are perfect to accommodate a plan where everyone who needs information gets it in a glance. With a visible schedule, everyone keeps an eye on each other.

It is difficult in commercial embroidery to sew shirts if the blanks are not ordered. Production scheduling helps us all know limitations and capacities, and can make reliable projections a reality.

Scheduling commercial embroidery is a group effort

Cooperation is the foundation of any scheduling system, your staff is the essential element. Regular communication, through daily or weekly meetings with each department, keeps everyone informed and on the same page.

Schedules in commercial embroidery should see your production as a part of an intricate flow of information and decision making. What it is not is an isolated optimization problem, waiting passively to be solved.

Production is not just one job. It is filled with variables that affect the outcome. A scheduling process must take in account all significant constraints that exist in commercial embroidery. It should help you achieve the relevant activities for an unpredictable environment, so it can be used to solve unexpected and unpredictable events. (That almost never happens, right?)

Scheduling with a system of checks and balances in a visible system, can be more like a symphony than a circus act. Deep down, scheduling is only a juggling act, but an act that gives you all the expertise of a master performer.

For more information about efficient commercial embroidery, visit www.ColDesi.com or call 877-793-3278 today!

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