Posted by Tim Geiger on November 11, 2009 under apparel, awards | 
Employee recognition is a large part of any well run business or organization. When an employee or volunteer is recognized they feel appreciated.
Plaques and crystal awards are a great way to get that point across on an individual basis. “Employee of the Month” and “Salesperson of the Month” awards are easy ways to give recognition and it also helps to motivate your team.
Imagine the heading plate of a plaque that says something like this, “These are the employees who were awarded the employee of the month for this year. They best exemplify the organization’s Vision and Mission.” This plaque would be displayed in a prominent location for all to see. The employees so recognized are likely to be proud of their accomplishments and will continue to live by the example they set.
When you have a larger group of employees that need to be recognized simultaneously some popular ideas include golf shirts, caps, t-shirts, and jackets. They not only give recognition, but they also help to create visibility for the company or organization and the employee.
I always say that an imprinted or embroidered garment becomes a walking billboard. Garments decorated with an organization’s logo provide a great way for people to start a conversation when they meet someone new.
Posted by Tim Geiger on October 30, 2009 under apparel, embroidery |
Have you ever noticed how great an embroidered logo looks on the hanger in the store? It’s bright, it’s shiny, and it has great well-defined edges.
Then you buy it, take it home, and wash it. That’s when the trouble becomes apparent. The threads start to unravel. Now the logo doesn’t look so good. The edges get jaggy and the rest of the logo doesn’t seem quite as tight.
Many embroiderers, especially new embroiderers, fail to use a locking stitch at the end of satin stitches. Satin stitches are the type of longer stitches that make up the bulk of embroidered text and some designs. They are usually 1/8″ or 1/4″ in length. If these are not locked down at the end of the letter or logo the stitch will unravel in the wash or when pulled on.
To prevent this problem with embroidered shirts, the person creating the logo can add three small stitches, thus making a knot that will hold the top thread and bottom thread in place.
Click here for some examples of fashion golf shirts, performance sport shirts and woven dress shirts. Each of these shirts will stand up well to professional embroidered logos!
Posted by Tim Geiger on September 22, 2009 under apparel, embroidery |
When you’re designing a logo that you wish to have embroidered, keep it simple. In fact, the simpler the better.
Consider a salesperson at your company. Maybe that person is you. Maybe it’s someone else. Regardless of who the salesperson is, no doubt they have a lot to say about what they can offer potential new customers. Can you imagine how ridiculous it would be if they tried to put their entire sales pitch on the chest of a shirt? :) The more text and information you add to the embroidered logo the messier it starts to look.
For many the first step in the sales process is to sell the sales person. The next step is to sell the company. Keep embroidery logos clean and sharp, simply allowing the logo to catch the eye of your potential customer. A great shirt should catch the eye of a prospect and make it easier for them to strike up a conversation with you, “Oh do you work for…”
If the logo looks like it contains more information than a Google search result, it will be sloppy and hard to read. What does that say about the person and the company? Allow the embroidered shirt to start up a conversation and let the sales person do the selling.
Need an embroidered cap or embroidered knit shirt, check out these products that can easily support your logo!
Posted by Tim Geiger on September 10, 2009 under apparel, embroidery, screen printing |
When designing your logo to be printed on a shirt, one of the hardest questions to answer is what size you would like your logo. Most chest size and sleeve logos are 3 to 4 inches wide. Full front and full back logos can be 9 to 12 inches wide. The size you choose depends on your logo and the product it is going on.
A great way to help visualize the size is to print your design to the size you think you might want the final version to be. If you cannot print that big, use a photocopier to enlarge to the desired size. You can even enlarge a business card size logo to 12 inches wide through several enlargement cycles. If the design has to be larger than the output paper then enlarge and print portions onto 2 or more sheets. You can cut out the appropriate parts and tape them together. Once you have a reasonable representation of the logo at the desired size, place it on the garment and see what you think.
Going through this process, and then viewing against the garment, will give you a good feel for whether the size you chose is appropriate. If you like the results, great! If you don’t, then try a different size. This is much smarter than creating a run of t-shirts or golf shirts and then deciding that your logo should have been a different size.
Here some examples of silk screen t-shirts and embroidered polo shirts that would be great with a logo.
Posted by Tim Geiger on August 5, 2009 under apparel, screen printing |
Have you ever received a screen printed t-shirt and, after just a few washings, the ink started to crack and come off? This can be rather disappointing. If you paid to enjoy this shirt for yourself you’d like it to last until you want to stop wearing it. Of course if you purchased the shirts for clients or employees you might feel embarrassed by the quality or maybe you even take some grief because of it.
You’re not alone, but this is not supposed to happen. If the plastisol ink (truly a plastic) is cured correctly, it will behave much like a rubber band. When pulled apart it should stretch without cracking. Of course even rubber bands break if you stretch them too far, so proper curing does not solve reckless behavior.
The problem is that some screen printers have small electric ovens for curing. There simply is not enough forced circulating air. To do a great job of curing the ink you need a screen printer who has a gas oven with forced air on the top and bottom. This way the ink reaches its curing temperature on the surface and the underside, thus curing the ink at all layers. By reaching the correct temperature the ink is fully cured and can then stretch without cracking. Your imprinted shirts can last until you wear them out.
Click here for Silk Screen T-Shirts with quality you can be proud to wear.
