Promotif - help and faqs

Price Promise PRICE PROMISE – FAQs

What is the Promotif Price Promise?
In these days of highly competitive web businesses we at Promotif are well aware that it is increasingly difficult to be sure that what you are buying is competitively priced.
Here at Promotif we go out of our way to ensure that all our quotes are checked regularly (at least weekly) against our main online competition.
In a very few instances we are under-sold by a company wishing to shift excess stock or generate short-term turnover; but being able to match every short-term promotion simply isn’t realistic.
What we do promise you, our customers, is that we won’t be beaten on price on regular, non-discounted, stock lines. If you can find a genuine better everyday price anywhere (which we doubt!) then do let us know and we will try our best to better it.

Clothing – Embroidery – FAQs

Why embroidery?
Embroidery is permanent; in fact it is so highly durable that it often out-lasts the garment upon which it is sewn!
Embroidery has a high perceived value and is considered the best quality method of ‘decorating’ a garment.
Embroidery is often a more cost-effective option that any other form of garment decoration.

When is embroidery not suitable?
Garments need to be clipped into frames in order to be held steady in an embroidery machine. The minimum frame size is a 12cm diameter; so embroidery onto areas smaller than this is often not possible.
Pockets, collars, ties, socks, golf club-head covers, etc. are all examples of places/items that it is incredibly difficult to embroider onto; in the vast majority of cases where these are embroidered the stitching is completed before the garment/item is put together.

Will my logo be suitable for embroidery?
The vast majority of corporate logos can be embroidered no problem at all, although the quality of the finished product will depend on a number of factors.
The complexity and amount of detail contained in the logo are major factors to be considered, but so too are the size of the embroidery and the type of fabric that it is to be sewn onto, for example: very small lettering on a lightweight and stretchy fabric (i.e. knitwear) can be a problem whereas if it were to be embroidered on a sturdy material such as cotton drill (i.e. coveralls) it may well embroider perfectly.
Embroidery is not suitable for photographic type images, or those that contain vignettes / shading of colour.
If you have any concerns please CONTACT US for advise.

How much does it cost to ‘set-up’ a design for embroidery?
Set-up costs are usually based on a ‘cost per thousand stitch’ basis; typically between £7 and £10 per thousand stitches. A typical ‘left breast’ design would contain approx. 5,000 stitches so the usual set-up charge for this would be between £35 and £50.
At Promotif we try to avoid set-up charges where possible, and where they are unavoidable we keep them to an absolute minimum; please SEND US A VISUAL OF YOUR DESIGN and we will quote for you.
If you have had embroidery produced for you before by another company, and have paid a charge for the set-up of your logo, then you are legally entitled to a copy of that design on disc – if you can supply such a disc you will avoid the need for set-up charges.

How much does it cost per individual embroidered design?
Unlike printing embroidery is not charged per colour.
Once the logo has been set-up, the costs to actually stitch it out onto a garment are also usually charged on a ‘cost per thousand stitch’ basis; typically between 20p and 40p per thousand stitches depending the number of garments to be embroidered and the size (stitch count) of logo.
For the typical 5,000 stitch logo this would mean a charge of between £1 and £2 depending on the quantity.
There is a minimum embroidery charge that applies to small embroidery designs; usually a minimum of 80p per logo per position irrespective of stitch count.
Embroidery charges will be higher for garments supplied by the customer as we will not make any margin on the sale of the garment itself to help off-set the production costs (prices on application).

Will you embroider onto a garment that I supply?
As mentioned above we will embroider onto garments supplied by customers, but the charges will be higher since we will not make any margin on the sale of the garment (prices on application).
We also expressly point out that all garments supplied by the customer will be embroidered AT THE CUSTOMER’S OWN RISK. Although every care is taken with all garments that we embroider, the machines very occasionally do ruin a garment when stitching out; this risk must be accepted by our customers or we will not undertake the work for them.

Is there a minimum order for embroidery?
No! At Promotif we will embroider any number of garments for you; and with us keeping set-up charges to a minimum there is unlikely to be a more competitive place to have the work done!

Does embroidery spoil the waterproofing of jackets, etc.?
The technical answer is ‘yes’ although in practice jackets with standard-sized embroidered logos added after their manufacture seldom, if ever, leak.
There is a process whereby a waterproof pad can be heat applied to the back of the stitched logo (price on application), or alternatively a waterproofing spray can be sprayed over the top of the logo, but as has been said; unless the jacket is to be worn in a hurricane there will be little effect felt from the embroidered design.

Why should I choose Promotif for my embroidery job?
We have been specialists in the embroidery industry for the last 13 years.
Arguably the most crucial element in the embroidery process is the initial set-up of the logo/design; as all subsequent embroidery uses this computer template.
At Promotif we are responsible for the set-up of embroidery designs for some of Scotland’s most prestigious knitwear companies; Peter Scott Knitwear, The Hawick Cashmere Company, John Laing to name but three.
We also have our own in-house embroidery machinery; ensuring that we keep control of the whole embroidery process and provide you the customer with the best value and quality available!

Clothing – Print – FAQs

Why print onto a garment?
There are many types of printing process that are available to the garment decoration industry, all developed to fill a necessary application requirement within the industry.
Printing can produce very accurate images and there is no problem with photographic-type images.
Printing large areas (i.e. printing T-shirts with large designs front and back) doesn’t prove as ridiculously expensive as it would with embroidery.

What types of printing are available?
The most common form of printing is SCREEN PRINTING which provides the most cost-effective solution; assuming that order quantities are sufficient to negate the effect of the set-up charges involved (see below).
Printing can also be completed using one of a whole host of types of HEAT APPLIED TRANSFERS. There are CAD-cut transfers, laser and dye-sublimation transfers, litho-plastisol transfers to name just a few.
The method of printing will depend on the size, complexity and number of colours contained in the design to be printed and other important factors will be the colour and fabric type that it is to be printed on, and also the printed garment order quantity.
Please CONTAT US for further details.

When is print not suitable?
Some fabric types simply won’t accept print readily (e.g. polar fleece) so printing isn’t an option.
Other fabrics are coated with certain chemicals (e.g. Teflon, Scotchguard, etc.) to protect them; in most cases this chemical coating will also repel inks / print.
Certain designs may not be cost-effective to print; for example a small production run of, say, 12 screen printed T-shirts needing a 4 colour print would involve £100 of set-up charges (see below) before buying the shirts or producing the print itself!

Will my logo be suitable for printing?
Owing to the flexibility and variety of print processes involved there is almost no limit to the possibilities that can be reproduced as a printed logo.
Usually the main limiting factor is that of cost; to set-up the printing process to print multiple colours can often be prohibitive to the production of small production runs (see below).
A couple of methods which allow for printing of multi-coloured logos (and tonal / photographic images) are laser printer and dye-sublimation transfers. These processes simply involve printing the image out onto specially coated paper that is then heat-sealed onto the garment. Although very cost-effective, the drawback for these methods is that in order to work properly the print must appear on a white garment.

How much does it cost to ‘set-up’ a printed design?
Set-up costs will vary depending on the type of print to be used.
With laser-printed transfers for example there is no set-up charge involved if artwork can be supplied; although this form of printing isn’t commercially used on large volumes of, say, printed T-shirts.
When screen printing the set-up costs are worked out on a ‘cost per colour basis’; the process actually involves the making of a very fine mesh screen through which the ink passes. There is one screen required for each colour and the cost of a screen is £25.
The only additional charge for screen printing set-up is a ‘flash’ screen which is needed (on quantities over 100 as this process is automated rather than individually hand produced) when printing onto coloured garments. The flash print lays down a pre-print layer of white to prevent the coloured inks from sinking into the dark fabric and either being lost or altering colour owing to the fabric dyes used.

How much does it cost per individual printed design?
As with all of the answers in this section it really is hard to give a figure; it really depends on which print method is being used, onto what type of garment, and in what quantities.
If you have any doubts at all please do CONTACT US.

Will you print onto a garment that I supply?
From our retail premises we will print names and numbers onto football shirts and the like (at the customers own risk).
We do not undertake large-scale print production runs on customers own garments owing to the vagaries of the fabric business. We can guarantee that all garments we sell or designed specifically for the printing process, whereas those supplied by a customer may have a coating of some description that prevents the process being completed properly.

Is there a minimum order for print?
No!
We can supply single printed T-shirts featuring a photograph if required; but they must be white.
We can supply printed polo shirts (i.e. with a one colour printed name/number on the back) singly if required.
Problems can arise when a customer wants small quantities of dark coloured garments printed with multi-coloured logos; please ASK US for our advice if this is the type of job you require.

Why should I choose Promotif for my print job?
We have been fulfilling orders for printed T-shirts and the like for over 13 years.
We have in-house equipment to fulfil your printing requirements.
We have experience of producing printed T-shirts in order quantities from 1 to over 10,000.
We work for individuals and for multi-national blue-chip companies.
We pride ourselves on our Customer Service, quality and value!

Artwork – FAQs

What sort of artwork do I need to supply for embroidery?
When setting up embroidery files the whole design needs to be re-drawn from scratch. The process involves importing an artwork file into the embroidery software and manually ‘tracing’ the individual design elements (to simplify things incredibly!).
Artwork formats that can be accepted are: .bmp, .jpg, .tif and .gif files so long as they are of reasonable resolution (upwards of 300dpi). Other formats that we can use are vector graphic .eps and .ai files (from Adobe Illustrator version 9.0 or earlier) with ‘outlines’ created around all fonts used.

What sort of artwork do I need to supply for printing?
In order to print effectively the only acceptable artwork useable are vector graphic files: Adobe Illustrator (version CS3 or earlier) .ai or .eps files, with ‘outlines’ created around all fonts used.
When printing full colour images (four colour process rather than ‘spot’ colours) we can accept some other formats although this all gets a bit technical – please call us to discuss!

What if I don’t have any artwork?
If you don’t have any available artwork there are a number of options available:
1. For embroidery work we can work from a letterhead, comp. slip, or similar – just send it to us and we can scan it.
2. For printed items if you have a stationary printer they are likely to have the necessary artwork. If you let us have their details we can contact them on your behalf (to save you time, hassle and any ‘techy’ questions!).
3. We can re-draw the logo for you – we aren’t specialist graphic designers but can usually re-draw simple logos/designs at a fraction of the costs usually involved.
4. For complicated designs we can get some ‘tame’ graphic designers to re-draw them for you (prices on request).

Ordering Process – FAQs

What is the process involved in an order?
Whether you are buying 1 T-shirt or 10,000 pens from us the ordering process is essentially the same:
1. After your initial enquiry we will confirm to you the exact cost of the items required; including any set-up, carriage or other additional costs.
2. Once you have accepted the costs we will require a Purchase Order (or some other written confirmation) from you to confirm that you accept the prices involved and would like us to produce the goods for you.
3. If you are a new customer we will require pro-forma payment for initial orders (thereafter payment terms are usually 30 days).
4. We will then require the artwork from yourselves in the correct format (please see ‘Artwork FAQs’ section).
5. We will provide you with either a printed / embroidered sample to approve, or will email or fax over an artwork approval form (showing the logo, colour splits, size, positioning, etc.) depending on the product being ordered.
6. Subject to your approval of the artwork (we will need a copy signed and dated by you) we will then begin production and deliver to the pre-arranged timescale and delivery address.