Embroidery Digitizing - The Digitizing Side of the Promotional Fence (Part I of II)

For all you Distributors out there:

I was reading some posts on a popular promotional distributor industry message board site today and I keep coming across people who are looking for insight as to whether to use their embroiderer for digitizing along with production or to have their own outside source for digitizing.

Of course, being a commercial freelance digitizer, I’m going to say that this is a better way to go, right? Not necessarily, but I will tell you why, in most cases, it is.

I’ve been doing this a long time, relatively speaking, and in all my years (16), I have repeatedly come across a few situations I'd share with you. There are arguments on both sides of this topic; It is good to use a one-stop-shop when you're new to this and you need to get your feet wet. In this case, the embroiderer would be responsible for the overall quality of the embroidery process and until you know what to look for and how it all works, this may be the best choice in the beginning. Hopefully, the embroidery company happens to have a fabulous digitizer and the price is right.

But...seasoned promotional people understand a few things. You should know the person who's actually doing the digitizing. (Not all embroidery companies are large enough to have a full time digitizer on staff. AND, if they do, ask their experience. If they don’t, they are sending the digitizing out also). Having embroidery software and machines doesn’t mean they are great digitizers. You can’t purchase artistic ability after all. Be able to build a rapport with and speak to the digitizer about your embroidery designs.

What happens if the embroiderer’s digitizing is not so great but the prices for production are good and you don't really want to stop using them for embroidery? What happens if you want to go to another embroidery company but the first one has all your designs and they don't want to give them to you? Many times when an embroiderer says the digitizing is free or "included" in the production price, it's not, it's just built into the price and then they can hold you hostage for the design saying that you never paid for it.

It's also difficult to use web-based dig companies (here or abroad); the results can be inconsistent because you never get the same person doing your work and it's hard to get someone to talk to if there's a problem or edit needed. You may sometimes get a good design, sometimes not. There’s no way to build a relationship with them. They are just pounding out a product at a low price and if they are overseas, it’s night time when you’re open so they’re not available to you when you need them. BTW, Do you speak Japanese?

Ask questions. I’ve known “punch houses” that advertise 20 yrs in the business but that’s just how long they’ve been open; upon further investigation, there’s not a person digitizing there that’s been doing it longer than 4 years and it’s not the same person doing your designs every time.

You should always protect yourself and your business by keeping a copy of your customer’s designs. I know it takes a bit more effort but it pays. If you use a separate digitizer, changing embroiderers is never an issue and you can work your margins your own way. The best of both, you can match your digitizer of choice to your embroiderer of choice.

The best situation for you would be to know and develop a relationship with a reputable digitizer, be able to speak to that person directly so they know exactly what you want/need, (especially when there are changes) and someone who knows commercial production well. No embroiderer can make a crummy design sew beautiful on your customer’s garments with a poorly digitized stitch file. And no digitizer can turn out professional embroidery designs without understanding and experience in multi-head embroidery production.

Experience, consistency and artful technical ability is what makes a digitizer worth their salt (money). A great digitizer can charge more and get it because most people understand that quality costs.

...Just a little insight from the digitizing side of the fence.