Calling all embroiderers – here is a simple idea in order to increase your profits by using applique instead of all direct embroidery on your garments.
I am going to use the sweatshirt example below to illustrate the decrease in stitch count and run time. This sample is fully embroidered – there is no applique used in this shirt. The stitch count for this design was a little more that 98,000 stitches. Sewing at 750 stitches per minute, it would take about 2 hours and 15 minutes to sew this design. How much would you charge for this sweatshirt? If you charge $ .80 per thousand stitches, the embroidery price would be $78.40. Tack on the cost of the garment at around $12.00 for an inexpensive sweatshirt and you’re up to $90.40. What would your profit be? You can figure this out individually for your business but I figure it would be somewhere in the $25-30 range, which would be about 30%.
Full Sewn Sweatshirt
Now, let’s take the Richmond portion of the design and substitute applique for those stitches. In this case we are using Poly-Twill™ but applique can be made out of just about any fabric. We have decreased the overall stitch count to about 49,000 stitches. At $ .80 per stitch, the embroidery price would be $39.20. Add the cost of the same sweatshirt at $12.00 and the applique cost of $1.78, we’re up to $52.98. What would you charge for this sweatshirt? You could charge $77.98 and get the same profit as the above example – But guess what? There is a perceived value for applique in the world, customers think that it costs more to embellish with fabric and therefore they should pay more. If you do charge the same as the direct embroidery example your profit would shoot up to 55%. The best part of the entire equation is that because the stitch count is lower it will take less time to run and therefore free your machines up to make profits on other jobs.
Close up of full embroidery design
You can see in the photos to the left the subtle differences. In a lot of cases, applique will add stability to the overall designs and decrease the amount of thread breaks that an embroiderer may experience. Another great feature of the applique is if you use a fabric with an adhesive backing, you can heat press it following sewing.
Close up of designs with applique.
The adhesive will melt into the stitching and adhere to the garment. This will eliminate puckering that occurs when applique garments are laundered – and the stitches will be locked in so even if one should get snagged, the design will not unravel.
Thought about trying applique but not sure where to start? Stahls’ ID offers some great sample kits that you can order to sew out some designs and get your feet wet.
As always share your thoughts, suggestions, and photos. We are looking forward to hearing from you.
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