Impressions - January 2013 - (Page 64)

talking SHOP Embroidery Production Create Embroidery That Sells Itself How to present your work and get the order — at your price. By Deborah Jones, Contributing Writer Figure 1. The closest-point lettering technique connects letters at the closest point to the next character, but they may appear crowded to make this connection less visible. Trimmed letters can be spaced less closely and are sometimes more readable. t’s one thing to be a great embroiderer, but you also must have strong sales to keep your business alive. But what if you could create embroidery that sells itself? Does it sound too good to be true? Accomplishing this goal may involve changing some of your embroidery and selling habits, but this is a tried-andtrue formula. The foundation of this idea is the embroidery itself. It’s important that your embroidery quality has identifiable differences that you can point out to the customer. This may mean changing not only your work habits, but perhaps even your basic philosophy about embroidery production. For example, a common practice that increases efficiency is “closest-point lettering.” In this type of digitizing, small letter sizes (less than ½-inch) connect at the closest point between any two characters. This 64 Impressions | January 2013 i is a very good practice for extremely small lettering, where the lockdown stitches required for trimming would create clarity and quality issues. But as lettering gets closer to the ½-inch threshold, I think embroidery lettering looks demonstrably cleaner and easier to read when each letter is trimmed. You can use this visible difference in your sales presentation by showing two stitched samples that are identical, except that one has trimmed letters and one uses the closest-point lettering technique (Figure 1). Tell your prospect something like this: “Unlike most embroiderers, we don’t use the closest-point lettering technique. We trim each letter, which makes it much cleaner in appearance and easier to read.” Your prospect will have to agree with the proof right before his eyes. In fact, if he has used embroidery before, it’s likely that he will inspect his own logos for the “inferior” closest-point lettering. Good work — you have planted the first seed. Of course, this approach only works with small lettering. On the opposite end of the spectrum, let’s say you are selling towel monograms. This is another instance when you can use stitched samples to demonstrate your point. I think towel monograms should last as long as the towel, without pile peeking through the embroidery thread. Unfortunately, the convenient watersoluble topping that we all love to use is no longer present under your embroidery stitches after the towel’s first washing. Don’t get me wrong — I am a huge fan of water-soluble topping and I use it on many things, including piqué golf shirts. However, for towels, you might want to consider permanent topping and additional underlay to create longer-lasting embroidery with a visible difference and more lifespan. For topping, I suggest that you use drycleaners’ bags, tearing the excess away after the underlay has stitched (Figure 2), but before applying the top layer of stitches (Figure 3). Increase your underlay to a double zigzag style, using more density impressionsmag.com http://www.impressionsmag.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Impressions - January 2013

Impressions - January 2013
Table of Contents
First Impressions
From the Show Director
FYI
Product Gallery
ISS Conference
Sharing the Spotlight
Tracking Today's T-Shirt Trends
Tees: Tried and True
How to Shop a Trade Show
Shop Spotlight
Embroidery Production
Screen Printing Technique
Digital Decorating
Online Directory
Business to Business
Classifieds
Ad Index

Impressions - January 2013

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