How to Prepare Your Logo for Printing and Embroidery
The single biggest factor in how good your custom clothing looks is not the printer or the embroidery machine — it is the artwork you supply. A clean, correctly prepared logo prints crisp and stitches sharp; a low-resolution screenshot pulled from a website will look blurry no matter how good the equipment. The good news is that getting your logo ready is straightforward once you know what decorators actually need. This guide walks you through it step by step.
Start with the best possible file
When you send artwork for custom clothing, the format matters as much as the design itself. There are two broad types of image file, and knowing the difference saves a lot of back-and-forth.
Raster files (JPG, PNG, GIF) are made of pixels. They look fine at their original size but become blurry and jagged when scaled up. A logo lifted from a website is usually a small raster file and rarely prints well.
Vector files (AI, EPS, PDF, SVG) are made of mathematical paths rather than pixels, so they can be scaled to any size — from a chest badge to the back of a hoodie — with no loss of quality. Vector is the gold standard for both printing and embroidery.
If you have your logo as a vector file, send that. If you only have a small JPG or PNG, send it anyway — our studio can often redraw or vectorise it for you, and we will always tell you honestly if the source is too low quality to use.
Resolution and sizing
If you are working with raster images, resolution is key. Aim for at least 300 DPI (dots per inch) at the actual size the design will appear on the garment. A logo that fills your screen at 72 DPI may only be a few centimetres wide once it is the correct resolution, which is why web images so often disappoint when printed.
Think about the finished size early. A detailed, intricate logo that looks great on a business card may lose its fine lines when shrunk to a 7cm chest badge. For embroidery in particular, very small text and hairline details simply cannot be stitched cleanly — more on that below.
Colours: get them right before you print
Screens display colour in RGB, but garment printing works in CMYK and spot colours, and embroidery uses a fixed palette of thread shades. Colours can shift slightly between what you see on a monitor and what lands on fabric.
If your brand has specific colours, give us the Pantone (PMS) references where you can. For embroidery, we match your artwork to the closest available thread colours and can send you a thread chart to approve. The fewer colours your design uses, the more cost-effective some print methods become — though with DTF transfer printing full-colour artwork carries no per-colour penalty, so it is a strong option for detailed, colourful logos.
How embroidery digitising works
Embroidery is not simply “printing with thread”. Before a machine can stitch your logo, the artwork has to be digitised — converted into a stitch file that tells the machine the type, direction, density and order of every stitch. This is a skilled job, and a well-digitised file is the difference between a crisp, professional badge and a puckered, messy one.
A few practical points to keep in mind for embroidery:
- Keep it simple. Bold shapes and clear lettering stitch beautifully. Fine gradients, photographic detail and tiny serif fonts do not.
- Mind the minimum text size. As a rule of thumb, lettering below about 5mm tall becomes hard to read once stitched. If your logo has a strapline in small type, we may suggest enlarging it or leaving it off the smaller placements.
- Digitising is usually a one-off. Once your logo is digitised, that file can be reused on future orders, so repeat customers do not pay to set it up again.
If your project is logo-heavy workwear or uniforms, our embroidery service page explains placement options and garment choices in more detail.
Choosing between printing and embroidery
The right decoration method depends on your design and where it is going. As a quick guide: embroidery gives a premium, hard-wearing, textured finish that suits polos, fleeces, caps and corporate workwear, and it excels with logos and lettering. Printing — especially DTF and screen printing — is better for large, full-colour or photographic designs, soft-feel prints on T-shirts, and any artwork with fine detail or gradients. Many customers combine the two: an embroidered logo on the chest and a printed design on the back.
A simple pre-flight checklist
Before you send your artwork, run through this short list:
- Supply a vector file (AI, EPS, PDF or SVG) if you possibly can.
- If only raster is available, make it 300 DPI at actual size.
- Note your brand colours, ideally as Pantone references.
- Remove backgrounds and supply the logo on a transparent or plain background.
- Tell us the finished dimensions and where on the garment it should sit.
- Flag any small text so we can advise on legibility.
Tick those boxes and your order moves quickly, with fewer proofs and a result that matches what you pictured.
Frequently asked questions
Can you use a logo from my website?
Sometimes. Website images are often low resolution, but our studio can frequently redraw or vectorise them. Send what you have and we will assess it.
Do I have to pay for digitising every time?
No. Embroidery digitising is typically a one-off setup. Once your logo is digitised we keep the file for future orders.
What if I do not have a vector file at all?
That is fine — it is very common. We can recreate most logos from a clear image. We will let you know if the original is too low quality before any work begins.
Will my colours look exactly like they do on screen?
They will be very close. Because screens use RGB and garments use inks and threads, slight shifts can occur. Providing Pantone references and approving a proof keeps everything on track.
Ready to get started?
Send us your logo and we will tell you the best way to bring it to life. Get in touch for a quote or browse our custom clothing range to choose your garments — our team will handle the artwork side and make sure your design looks its best.
