A Small Business Guide to Branded Workwear: Embroidery, Print, Sizing & Setup

Branded workwear is one of the cheapest, most effective bits of marketing a small business can buy. Every time a member of your team turns up at a customer's door, walks through a busy site, or serves at the counter, your logo is doing the talking. Done well, a uniform looks professional, builds trust and saves your staff a daily decision. Done badly, it ends up creased at the bottom of a drawer.

If you've never set up workwear before, the choices can feel overwhelming — what to order, how to brand it, what sizes to buy. This guide breaks the whole process down so you can get it right the first time.

Step 1: Decide what your team actually needs

Start with the job, not the catalogue. Think about what your staff do day to day, where they work, and what the weather and conditions demand. A useful way to plan is in layers:

• Base layer — polo shirts and t-shirts for everyday wear, usually the first thing you'll brand.
• Mid layer — fleeces, sweatshirts and hoodies for warmth indoors or in cooler months.
• Outer layer — softshell jackets, waterproofs and bodywarmers for outdoor and on-site staff.
• Safety layer — hi-vis vests, jackets and trousers where the role or site requires them.

A small office team might only need branded polos and a few softshells for events. A trades business will likely want polos, hoodies, hi-vis and hard-wearing trousers. Map it out before you order so you're not paying to brand garments nobody wears.

Quality matters more than you think

It's tempting to choose the cheapest blank garment, but workwear takes a beating. Cheap fabric fades, shrinks and pills after a few washes — and a tired uniform reflects badly on your brand. Mid-range garments from established workwear ranges cost a little more up front but last far longer, which usually makes them cheaper per wear. Look for garments with a weight of at least 200 gsm for polos and 280–300 gsm for sweatshirts.

Step 2: Choose your decoration method

For most workwear, embroidery is the right choice. It looks smart, it's extremely durable — surviving hundreds of washes without fading — and it gives a professional finish that print can't quite match on structured garments like polos, fleeces and jackets. The main considerations are:

• Logo complexity. Embroidery works best with bold, clean logos. Fine detail and gradients don't translate into thread well. If your logo is complex, our team will advise on simplifying it for embroidery without losing the essence.
• Placement. A left-chest logo is the standard for most workwear. Back prints, sleeve text and cap fronts are also popular. Decide on placement before you order so the digitising is set up correctly from the start.
• Colour count. Each colour is a separate thread, but this rarely affects the price significantly for most business logos.

Screen printing and DTF printing are better suited to large back prints, t-shirt designs with lots of colour, or items like bags and totes. Some businesses use embroidery on the chest and print on the back — both methods are available from CentralCustom.

Step 3: Get sizing right

Ordering the wrong sizes is one of the most common and expensive mistakes in workwear. A few simple steps prevent it:

• Measure your staff rather than guessing — a size chart comparison against chest, waist and height measurements is far more reliable than "I'm usually a large".
• Order a mix that reflects your team rather than defaulting to M and L. Most teams have a wider spread than people assume.
• Add a small buffer — one or two units in the most common sizes — for new starters and replacements. Having spare branded garments on hand means no delay when someone joins.
• Check whether the brand you're ordering runs true to size, large or small. We can advise on fit for specific garment ranges before you commit.

Step 4: Set up reordering so it's effortless

The real value of workwear comes from maintaining it consistently over time. A uniform that degrades as staff leave and join loses its impact fast. The key is to build a system from the start:

• Keep your logo file. Once your logo is digitised for embroidery, we store the file. Reorders use the same digitised design at no extra setup cost.
• Note your garment choices. Record exactly which garments you chose — brand, style and colour code — so future reorders match precisely. Colours can vary between similar products, so exact specs matter.
• Set a reorder trigger. Many businesses reorder when they fall below a certain stock level, or at a set time each year. Either works; the important thing is not to leave it until someone has no kit.

Step 5: Think about the full uniform, not just the t-shirt

A common approach is to start with a branded polo or t-shirt and add layers over time as budget allows. This works well. Start with the most-visible garment your team wears, then add a fleece or jacket for colder months, and eventually build out to a complete layered kit. A consistent look across all layers — same colour palette, same logo placement — is what turns individual garments into a proper uniform.

It's also worth thinking beyond clothing. Branded caps, bags and accessories can reinforce your visual identity, particularly for customer-facing roles. Our merchandise range covers all of these.

Ready to set up your team's workwear?

Branded workwear is a small investment that pays off every single day your team is out in the world. Whether you need a handful of embroidered polos or a full multi-layer kit, plan around the job, choose quality garments, and set it up once so reordering is effortless. Explore our custom workwear range, compare our embroidery and printing services, and get in touch for a quote — our team will help you build a workwear setup that fits your business and grows with it.