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| 2005
catalog |
October
Web Specials Big Savings For You! |
Product
of the Month |
Customer
Spotlight North American Embroidery |
Technical Tip The Appliqué Advantage |
Design
of the Month Logomakers |
Contact
Us We’re Always Ready To Help |
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October 2005
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Each
month, the Embroidery Store offers some great deals on the supplies
you need most on its Web site at www.embstore.com.
It’s a wonderful opportunity to stock up on things you use
everyday at bargain prices. To order, call (800) 504-9757. These
are available for the month of October only so don’t delay. Medium
Cutaway Stabilizer Kingstar
Polyester Thread Six-inch
Metal Embroidery Hoop Hydrostick Black
Neb Bobbins |
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Save money with a brand new thread offered by The Embroidery Store. Poly X 40 is an exclusive line of 100% polyester embroidery thread that comes in 1,000-meter (1,100 yard) and 5,000-meter (5,500 yard) cones and in 288 colors. THE
EMBROIDERY MALL |
The
Embroidery Store Adds The Embroidery Store is now offering an exclusive line of 100% polyester embroidery machine thread. This specially priced thread collection, Poly-X 40, comes in 1,000-meter (1,100 yard) and 5,000-meter (5,500 yard) cones and in 288 colors. Color cards are available to pick and choose or to accommodate special requests from their customers. The thread comes on a convenient snap spool and offers all the great characteristics of a polyester thread. It’s durable, has a high sheen, and is ideal for general purpose embroidery. It’s almost twice as strong as rayon, which means it runs longer without thread breaks or unraveling, while providing just the right amount of elasticity to minimize looping and puckering. It comes packaged 12 cones per box/per color. Call The Embroidery Store to find out what an unbelievable bargain this thread is at (800) 504-9757 or e-mail info@embstore.com. The Embroidery Store stocks more than 10,000 parts and supplies and offers the top brands in the industry. It also is a resource for custom digitizing via the Internet at www.embdigitize.com. All parts and supply orders placed on the Internet, fax, or phone by 3 p.m. EST Monday through Friday are shipped the same day. Check the Web site often at www.embstore.com for new products and specials.For more information, contact The Embroidery Store at (800) 504-9757 or e-mail info@embstore.com. Visit the Web site at www.embstore.com to see the full online catalog. |
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North
American Embroidery
Rick Goebel, Vice President, North American Embroidery
Today, North American Embroidery, Reno, Nev., runs 46 heads in its 10,000-square-foot facility. The company specializes in custom work for corporations, construction companies, and resorts.
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Reno
Embroiderer Doesn’t North
American Embroidery succeeds by focusing on high-end, high stitch
count designs for its corporate and construction customers. Although many embroiderers try to get orders on and off their machines as quickly as possible to make more money, Rick Goebel prefers to take his time stitching designs. “We don’t price things by stitch count; we make things look good,” he says. “We don’t skimp on stitching. We’re not the cheapest, but our customers get a really good product. That’s our job security.” The philosophy works well for his family-owned company, North American Embroidery, Reno, Nev.—and it makes good sense, because the shop focuses on high-end embroidery on hard-to-hoop items like Carhartt jackets. “If we’re going to go through the hassle of hooping a jacket, another five minutes under the machine doesn’t make any difference to us,” Goebel says. The custom-only company sells a lot of workwear, Goebel says, including Cutter & Buck and the popular Carhartt brand, for which it’s a full-line distributor. “We really focus on high-end items,” he says. “A lot of our dollar volume comes from heavy jackets. In the West, a lot of people wear Carhartt jackets every day, not just for work.” Although it does some school uniforms, including school crests for Catholic high schools, and some work for small local businesses, North American Embroidery gets most of its orders from resorts, construction companies, and corporate accounts, about 75% of whom are out of state. “We have customers all across the country,” Goebel says. “We have a small local customer base, although it’s growing.” Because so many of its corporate customers give out jackets and caps as holiday gifts, North American Embroidery usually ramps up later in the year. “From October to December last year, we did triple the business that we did all year,” Goebel says. “We try to stay busy year-round, but we slow down in January.” Founding
American Embroidery “It was pretty challenging when we started. None of us had ever worked an embroidery machine before, so we learned the hard way. We sewed through a lot of hoops,” Goebel recalls. “It took a year before we really revved up and kept the machine going for at least a full shift.” After that experience, Goebel advises newcomers to spend time in a shop before starting one. “The biggest advice I can give is that if you’ve never done embroidery, go work in shop,” he says. “Work for six months and see what it’s like.” In 1992, Goebel moved into a 10,000-square-foot building on one of Reno’s main streets. His company now has 19 employees, including two digitizers, and 46 embroidery heads: a 12-head, two 8-heads, two 4-heads, a six-head, and four singleheads, which it uses for names and samples. Lately, the shop has been scanning sewouts and e-mailing proofs to customers instead of sending physical sewouts. “It cuts down on shipping and speeds things up,” Goebel says. “Last week, we received an order, digitized the design, and shipped 150 shirts all the same day.” Attracting
and Retaining Customers North American Embroidery attracts its customers through word of mouth and a liberal digitizing policy. “We don’t charge people to digitize their design, and we’ve done that since we started,” Goebel explains. “As long as customers place an order with us, we don’t charge them for digitizing.” Caps remain North American Embroidery’s best-selling product. “That’s our biggest category. We’re always backlogged on caps,” he says. “We’re doing lots of logos on the sides and backs of them.” Goebel says his average order size has decreased to about 48 pieces, which is why he purchased a four-head machine recently. “We’re seeing a lot of smaller orders. We get orders for 800 pieces, but many are for only 12 pieces.” But no matter how big or small a customer’s order is, Goebel says, the company spends the necessary time to ensure quality embroidery. “Our secret is focusing on the details and treating all customers the same,” he says. “Customers may order only 12 the first time, but they’ll order 70 to 100 the next time. We’ve grown with a lot our customers.” |
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Because this design had extremely fine detail on the leaves, it made it impractical for sewing on a piqué knit as the thread would simply sink into the loosely knit fabric. By using a rectangular appliqué piece behind the logo, the detail could be preserved. Photo courtesy of Grand Slam Designs.
For this logo, the large, bold BCN initial embroidered just fine on piqué, however the smaller lettering at the bottom posed a challenge. The solution was to marry an oval appliqué with the small lettering and the larger lettering that was embroidered directly on the shirt. Photo courtesy of Grand Slam Designs.
This logo combines direct embroidery with appliqué. The fine columns needed for the gymnast’s body were done on a triangle piece, which fit perfectly with the shape created by the gymnast’s body. Then larger lettering was sewn along the outside. Photo courtesy of Grand Slam Designs.
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The Appliquè Advantage By Barbara Geer Are you struggling to get a client’s design to work on piqué fabric? Try using an appliqué. Let’s face it, knit fabrics can be difficult to embroider, especially when faced with a design that is highly detailed or has small lettering. When none of my usual tricks work, I have found that using a generic appliqué shape underneath the design makes my job easier and results in a happier customer. By using a woven fabric on top of the knit, you eliminate the problem of stitches sinking into the fabric or creating holes from cramming too many stitches in the same place. An appliqué background also can add depth, dimension, and texture to a design making it more eye-catching and visually appealing. The first step is to evaluate the design for its shape and problem areas. For example, with a highly detailed design, you may want to embroider the entire logo and lettering on an appropriate appliqué shape. Other designs may require that only part of the logo be backed with an appliqué piece. I was once asked to replicate a highly detailed crest for a computer company called Hackmasters. To accurately reproduce the design required layers of stitches with extremely fine detail on the leaves that bordered the outer edges. There’s no way a knit would ever support a design of this density. I chose a rectangular-shaped appliqué that allowed me to sew a crisp, clean crest to which I added stock lettering above and below. Another job where I encountered difficulties was a design for Business Computer Network. This logo had the initials BCN in a big, bold typeface, and then underneath spelled out the company name in small letters. Since the BCN was large enough that it would not cause problems, I chose to sew only the small lettering on an oval-shaped appliqué piece. I then overlapped the BCN on top of the oval marrying both components of the logo into one complete whole. The challenge presented by a logo I was asked to create for a gymnastics team was the thin columns used in creating the shape of a gymnast doing a hand stand. Since the position of the gymnast’s body suggested a triangle, I used that shape to provide support for the graphic and added stock lettering to the outside of the shape. Appliquès are a great solution for solving many challenges presented when embroidering on piquè knits. Start experimenting with how you can combine standard shapes to complement and enhance your client’s logos. Barbara
Geer, president, Grand Slam Designs, an embroidery stock design
and contract digitizing operation, has been in the decorated apparel
industry since 1990. She is a popular speaker at commercial decorated
apparel and home embroidery events. She also is a frequent contributor
to commercial and home embroidery publications such as EMB, Stitches,
and Printwear. You may reach Barbara at 800-569-8138; 218-222-3501;
e-mail barb@grandslamdesigns.com
or visit her Web site at www.grandslamdesigns.com. |
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With the Logomakers stock design section offered by The Embroidery Store, it’s easy to design a custom logo for your client’s business. The section includes 335 shapes that can be used as templates to get you started. |
Logomakers
Stock Design Section One of the most profitable ways to put stock designs to use is in designing custom logos for small businesses that do not already have a logo. The Logomakers section, offered by The Embroidery Store, is a complete collection of borders, shapes, and icons that will make it quick and easy to create an attractive, professional embroidered logo for your customers. Just a few examples included in the section, which has 335 designs, are circles, rectangles, triangles, hearts, an open book, shields, flags, ribbons, globes, wooden signs, and much more. The trucking logo makes it easy to insert a trucking company’s name in the provided space. Or consider using the tree logo, which features a tree with a bordered box making it ideal for landscapers, nurseries, tree farms, and other outdoor or horticultural type businesses. With Embroidery Store’s package options, you need to buy only what you’ll use. You can purchase any single design for $25, any five designs for $35, or any 10 designs for $50. The entire Logomakers’ section is priced at only $550. Designs come in all standard home and commercial formats. Designs are available via CD or e-mail. Catalogs are available for free with your first order; without an order, they are $25 each. For more information, check the Web site at www.embstore.com, call (800) 504-9757 or e-mail info@embstore.com. |
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Easy Ways to Order: All orders placed on the internet, fax or phone by 3:00 p.m. EST Monday through Friday are shipped the same day. e-mail: info@embstore.com
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