The Cost of Branding Apparel

We’ve heard it before – Why are branded products more costly? We’re here to break down the process of personalizing your apparel to help you understand the costs behind putting your logo on your business apparel, workwear and team uniforms. There are a number of process you can use to put your logo onto your shirts, jackets, hats, hooded sweatshirts, jerseys and more. Most of these processes have setup charges for time required to get your logo or design ready for your apparel, so we’d like to help you better understand these charges and how they might affect the pricing of your branded apparel.

Screen-Printing Costs

When screen-printing, the biggest factor for price is the number of colors in your design. In general, the more colors there are, the more costly it is, and the longer it takes to produce. If you’ve had apparel screen-printed before you may have seen a “screen charge”. This is essentially a charge per color associated with getting the screens prepared for printing. Generally this is a flat fee for each color in your design. The number of locations you’re printing on will also affect the cost of your garment. Adding printing on the back, sleeves, etc. is a great way to enhance the design, but will also add to the cost.

Embroidery Charges

When getting a logo embroidered the first step is always to digitize the logo. In short, digitizing is the process of converting your logo into a digital “stitch file” suitable for embroidery. This stitch file dictates the type of stitches to use, when to change colors, and the size of the design among other things. A good stitch file is important to ensuring you get clean and consistent embroidery across the entire order. Any graphic file type can be digitized, (png, jpg, pdf for example). Digitizing is usually a one-time fee. However, because stitch files are size-specific, any resizing to the original stitch file may incur an additional edit fee or digitize fee.

Vinyl Heat Transfer Pricing

Similarly to screen-printing, pricing for vinyl heat transfers is also dependent on the number of colors in the design, as well as the number of locations being printed. However, since there is no messy chemical processes associated with preparing screens, there is no screen charge. Complexity of the logo will affect price when it comes to vinyl. Because the design needs to be “weeded” out by hand, design complexity and weeding time is a consideration.

Apparel Costs

The last factor in pricing your apparel project is the cost of the actual piece that we’re printing on or embroidering. Brand name products like Nike and Under Armour generally have higher price tags, but we work with dozens of apparel suppliers for hundreds of brands. If you are looking to stay within a specific budget, that is usually not an issue. Our team has vast experience with the brands we carry, and we have a track records of being able to provide cheaper alternatives to more expensive brand name gear.

For Pricing

If you need help pricing a project for your company, team or event, feel free to reach out to us at 908-575-9700 or send us an email. Our team is always available to talk with you regarding your needs and help provide options that will best fit your budget and requirements.