To get a logo ready for embroidery, send us the highest-quality version you have — ideally a vector file (.ai, .eps, .pdf or .svg) — and let us digitise it. Digitising is a separate step from design: it converts your artwork into a stitch file that tells the machine where to put every needle. You pay for it once per logo, we keep the file on record, and every reorder after that carries no setup. What you do need to think about before sending is whether your logo suits stitching at all, because fine detail and small text behave very differently in thread than they do in ink.
What file should you send?
A vector file is best. Vector artwork is drawn as shapes and lines rather than pixels, so it can be scaled to any size without going soft at the edges, and the person digitising it can see exactly where one colour stops and the next begins.
| File type | How it works for embroidery |
|---|---|
| .ai, .eps, .svg, vector .pdf | Ideal. Clean edges, scalable, every shape separable |
| High-resolution .png with a transparent background | Usually fine, especially for simpler logos |
| .jpg from a website | Workable, but it has to be redrawn first |
| A photo or screenshot of a logo | Has to be redrawn from scratch |
If all you have is a screenshot or a photo of a sign, send it anyway. We will tell you honestly whether it is usable or whether it needs redrawing first, and redrawing is a one-off too.
Does my logo actually suit embroidery?
This is the question worth asking before anything else, and it is the one most people skip.
Embroidery builds an image out of thread. A single stitch is roughly a millimetre wide. That sets a floor on how much detail can survive: anything finer than about a millimetre either disappears or turns into a lump of thread. Ink has no such floor, which is why a logo that prints beautifully can stitch badly.
Things that stitch well:
- Bold shapes with clear outlines
- Solid blocks of colour
- Text at roughly 5mm tall or larger
- Two to six colours
Things that fight back:
- Hairline strokes and thin outlines
- Text under about 4mm — a strapline under a logo is the usual casualty
- Gradients and drop shadows, which thread cannot blend the way ink can
- Photographic artwork
- Very fine serifs on small type
None of this means we turn the job away. If a design can be stitched, we will stitch it. What we will do is tell you upfront when part of it won't survive, and usually there is a simple fix — drop the strapline, thicken a stroke, or stitch the logo slightly larger than you first pictured.
What is digitising, and why does it cost something?
Digitising is the step between your artwork and the machine. Someone decides the order the shapes are stitched in, which direction the stitches run, how dense they sit, how the fabric will be stabilised underneath, and where the machine should trim and jump. Those decisions are what make the difference between a logo that still looks sharp after thirty washes and one that puckers the first time it goes through a tumble dryer.
It is skilled work and it takes time, which is why it carries a once-off charge. The important part is the word once. We keep your stitch file on record, so the second order, and the fiftieth, carry no setup at all. If you ever want a copy of the file, ask and we will send it to you — it is your logo.
There is more detail on this in our guide to what embroidery digitising is.
How big should the logo be?
For a left-chest logo on a shirt, most company logos land somewhere between 70mm and 90mm wide. That is wide enough to read across a room and small enough to look deliberate rather than loud.
The size that matters more than the width, though, is the smallest piece of text in the design. Measure the height of the lettering at your intended logo size. If it comes out under about 4mm, something has to change: either the logo goes bigger, or that text comes out.
| Placement | Typical width |
|---|---|
| Left chest | 70–90mm |
| Sleeve | 50–70mm |
| Nape, below the collar | 50–80mm |
| Cap front | 100–120mm |
Does the garment change anything?
Yes, more than people expect. A stable, closely knitted fabric holds a stitch cleanly. A loose or stretchy one moves under the needle and needs more stabiliser behind it, which in turn limits how dense the design can be.
A pique golf shirt is about the easiest thing to embroider well. Heavier hoodies and sweaters at 320gsm and 380gsm take a logo very happily too. Thin technical polyester — a dry-fit shirt — will take a chest logo fine, but keep the design reasonably light, because a big solid block of stitching drags on a light knit in a way it won't on pique.
You are also not limited to our stock. Plenty of customers bring their own garments and caps for us to embroider, and that is ordinary work for us, not an exception.
What to send us
- The best version of your logo you can find — vector if it exists, high-resolution PNG if not
- The thread colours you want, if you already know them. Pantone references are useful; so is "match the blue in the logo"
- Where you want it, and roughly how wide
- What it is going on, and how many
That is enough for us to come back with a quote, usually the same day, and a mock-up before anything is stitched. Nothing goes on a garment until you have seen it and approved it in writing.
Send your artwork through on our quote page, or read more about what we do on the embroidery page.