Kitting out a team and stuck between screen print and embroidery? They suit different garments, different budgets and different impressions. Here is how to choose.
The quick answer
Embroidery for collars, corporate and outerwear. Screen print for tees, large designs and tight budgets at volume.
Embroidery
Your logo is stitched into the fabric with thread. It has physical texture, it survives industrial laundering, and it reads as considered — which is why it is the default on corporate uniforms, polos, caps and jackets.
Strengths
- Premium appearance and feel.
- Extremely durable — outlasts the garment, will not crack, peel or fade.
- Works on thick and textured fabrics where print struggles: fleece, softshell, canvas, caps.
Limitations
- Detail has a floor. Fine lines and small text fill in — allow about 5 mm minimum lettering height.
- Colour is matched to available thread shades, so exact PMS matching is not possible.
- Priced by stitch count, so large designs get expensive fast. It is a left-chest method, not a full-back one.
- One-off digitising cost to convert your logo into a stitch file — though we keep it on file for reorders.
Screen Print
Ink is pushed through a mesh stencil, one screen per colour. It is the workhorse of garment decoration: flat, opaque, and very cheap per unit once the screens exist.
Strengths
- Cheapest method at volume — the more units, the lower the unit cost.
- Excellent PMS colour accuracy, and dense opaque coverage even on dark fabric.
- No practical size limit. Full-front and full-back designs are straightforward.
- Soft, flat finish suited to tees and casual wear.
Limitations
- Setup is per colour, so short runs and many-colour designs are poor value.
- Not suited to photographs or gradients.
- Sits on the fabric surface, so it will eventually crack or fade with heavy washing.
- Struggles on thick, textured or highly technical fabrics.
Choosing between them
- Polos, caps, jackets, workwear — embroidery. It is what the garment expects.
- Tees and hoodies for an event or team — screen print.
- Small logo on the chest — either. Embroidery if the impression matters, screen print if the budget does.
- Large design across the front or back — screen print. Embroidery at that size is prohibitive.
- Under about 25 units — consider neither. Setup costs dominate, and a full-colour heat transfer is usually better value.
- Photographic or many-colour artwork — neither. Use a full-colour transfer or sublimation.
You can use both
A common and effective combination on a uniform order: embroidered logo on the left chest for the everyday polo, screen-printed large design on the back of the event tees. Same brand, same artwork, each method doing what it is good at.
Full detail on every method we offer is on our decoration methods page — or tell us the garment and the quantity and we will price both so you can compare. Get in touch.
