EMBROIDERY BUSINESS
3
Digitizing
- In-house or Outsource
When it comes to digitizing, you have two options. Keep the digitizing in-house or contract out. Even if you
are doing the digitizing yourself, as a beginner there is a learning curve and there will be times when you will
need to rely on an outside service to help you out.
There are several questions you should ask when using an outside service for your digitizing needs:
• What is their average turnaround time for a design?
• Will I receive a sew out of my design?
• Ask if they give you a le of the digitized design or if they digitize a design but only provide the em-
broidery on the nished garment. If you are paying for a digitizing service, you want to make sure you
recieve a le.
• What format will the le be in? Is there an additional charge for this?
• Do you provide a “Rush” service? Is there an additional charge?
• Where are they located?
• Do they charge a fee for edits and how long is the average turnaround time for design edits?
• What is their minimum setup or digitizing fee?
• Other items that need to be addressed when outsourcing digitizing are the size of the design, the
material(s) that it will be embroidered on and the color scheme.
You’ll want to establish a partnership with the digitizer, so it is important to give them a test order rst to see
if the designs digitized are high quality, production friendly and ideally, compatible with your embroidery soft-
ware in case you need to manipulate the le later. The lowest cost isn’t always the best choice, it could wound
up costing more in production time. A well experienced digitizer will know how to digitize designs for caps and
a variety of different materials.
Remember if you are unsure of who to use for digitizing, you can refer to Stitches Magazine’s Annual Digitizer
Guide, or if you are a member of the Embroidery Trade Association (ETA) or National Network of Embroidery
Professionals (NNEP) they will give you a list of digitizers to contact.
Digitizing Fees and Set up
A good base for digitizing is a minimum charge between $30 - $40 per piece. For a simple name drop or
monograming the charge should be in the $6 - $10 range. In design creation you will want to take into ac-
count the complexity of digitizing and how long it will take to complete. The stitch count formula is another
way to set prices. The national averge for design creation/digitizing runs from $7 - $15 per thousand stitches.
Remember price structures in this country varies from region to region. Pantograms recommends that you
contact other embroiders within a 50 mile radius of your location to see what prices are in your area. If your
business is reaching a niche market or creating specialty work your prices should be higher.
The average cost for sew outs are $1.00 per thousand stitches on a single head machine, this fee will usually
decrease with more embroidery heads or large quantity orders.
Don’t sell your product for less then it cost to produce it. Remember to add value to your product by knowing
your competition and providing something that they cannot or do not offer. Think outside the box, find some-
thing that sets your business apart from others. If you find your prices are too high for your current market,
find another market that will fit your price structure. People will pay the price for something they value.
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