Embroidery or printing on workwear

Washing comes first

It is the first question we ask, because it rules options out. Workwear washed at home at 40 °C and workwear sent to an industrial laundry every week do not call for the same marking.

Embroidery is thread stitched into the fabric: it does not peel, does not crack, and withstands 60 °C as well as professional laundering. On a garment that goes to a laundry, it is what we recommend for the logo.

A DTF transfer holds up well in a home wash, at 40 °C and inside out. What damages it is high temperature and repeated tumble drying. If your garments go through a tunnel dryer, tell us before you order: that is the case where the choice needs discussing.

The fabric

An embroidery machine pierces the fabric; a transfer press heats it above 150 °C. Each material copes better with one than with the other.

• Work jacket, softshell, piqué polo, sweatshirt: a fabric with some body. Embroidery stays taut on it, and a transfer goes on too.
• Fine or technical knit, breathable T-shirt, lightweight polo: DTF transfer. Dense embroidery pulls on a light knit and makes it pucker.
• Rain jacket with a waterproof membrane: every embroidery stitch pierces the membrane. A transfer can be applied, away from the taped seams.
• High-visibility: the technique matters less than the position. The marking stays on the neutral areas, clear of the retroreflective strips, so the garment does not drop out of its class.

The logo: its size and its colours

Embroidery renders solid colours and clean shapes very well. It renders gradients, drop shadows and text under 4 mm high poorly: thread does not go that fine.

A DTF transfer prints what the file contains. A gradient, a photo, seven shades or one: the price does not change. A logo with many colours or fine details goes through in DTF without being simplified.

Size points the same way. On the chest, an embroidered logo is rarely more than 8 cm wide; larger, it weighs the garment down. A fully embroidered back is possible, but thick, stiff and more expensive: for a company name that reads from a distance, large-format DTF is the better fit, up to 30 × 30 cm.

The placement

Chest, sleeve, nape, thigh: the small placements, up to 10 × 10 cm, take both techniques. Centre chest and full back, up to 30 × 30 cm, do too, but that is where the transfer has the edge.

Two precautions specific to workwear. Under a harness or a strap, a marking rubs all day: we place it above, or on the chest. And trousers wear out and are replaced sooner than the top: many companies leave them unmarked.

Quantity and price

Both techniques can be ordered from a single piece, and the marking price does not depend on quantity: €12.00 for a small format and €20.00 for a large one in embroidery, €5.00 and €10.00 for a DTF transfer, per placement and per piece.

The difference lies in the set-up. An embroidered logo first has to be digitised, that is, converted into a stitch programme: €30.00 for a small format, €50.00 for a large one, paid once and valid for every later order. DTF has no set-up fee.

On two or three pieces, digitising weighs on the invoice and DTF works out clearly cheaper. For a team you kit out year after year, it is paid on the first order only: a new employee's outfit then costs just the garment and its marking.

On the Tricorp range in the catalogue, DTF transfer printing is free: you pay for the garment only.

Both on the same garment

Nothing forces you to pick a single technique. The company logo embroidered on the chest, the first name or job title in DTF just below it, different on each piece at no extra cost; and, on a site where several companies work side by side, the name in large-format DTF on the back.

In every case the approved file is kept: a reorder goes out identically, with no new set-up.

Embroidery and DTF transfer, criterion by criterion