Application Methods

Thanks to our state-of-the-art machinery, Workwear Express can provide you with a range of techniques to apply your logo to a garment of your choice.

Our embroidery and printing machinery will bring your logo to life on any garment. However, there are factors, like the material of your garment, which you should consider before you decide on what kind of application you wish to use.

As a brief guide to help you choose what method of customisation is best for you we have put together a short video and a few points on each type of logo application:

Embroidery

Embroidered garments are ideal for a number of purposes, the most popular of which being used by employers to give their workforce a strong identity and help to promote their brand.

With this technique when adding a logo to your garment via embroidery, a metal frame is placed onto the garment and backing fabric is applied to the logo area. This ensures that the garment is secure while the logo is stitched. Occasionally, this process may leave a mark on the garment but is nothing that can’t be easily rubbed or washed off. The actual embroidery process is carried out by a computerised embroidery machine. Your logo is digitised and submitted to the embroidery machines, with the process beginning once additional instructions like the colour of the threads have also been submitted. We use only the best threads and embroidery machines to guarantee the highest quality result.

In terms of suitability, embroidery tends to work the best on polo shirts, business shirts/blouses, aprons/tabards, jackets & headwear.

Print

Printing gives you many advantages: it's durable and it can create unique and complex designs using extremely vivid colours' we use the highest quality printing machines to guarantee the highest quality end product to leave you with a smile on your face. There are a range of different print techniques available, and one may be more appropriate than the others depending on the garments you are using or the complexity of your logo. As an overview we can use screen print, DTG or Transfer - these methods are explained below.

Screen Printing

If your logo has bright and vibrant colours then screen printing could be the best choice for you to bring those colours to life. This process is advised for multiple garments with the same design. Screen printing uses multi-coloured inks to recreate your logo, which are then applied to the garment through mesh screens. Once we have received your logo, it is then separated into different colours for each screen, after each screen the garment will be put under a heat lamp then once each colour screen has been applied the garment will go through a drying process to ensure the ink does not wear or wash out. This process is great for a range of different garments from t-shirts to hoodies, this type of logo application works great for big back designs where multiple garments are using the same logo. Screen printing is for larger orders.

DTG

DTG, or Direct to Garment print, is a method that sees a printer directly apply ink to the garment (as the name suggests).To ensure the highest quality application when applying ink directly to a garment, a specialist printer is required, along with specialist ink which is absorbed by the fibres of the garment. A fixing agent is also applied to the garments before they go into production to help the colour adhere to the garments. Due to this, the garments will often need to be washed before they are worn the first time to take away the slight smell of the fixing agent. This type of customisation is best for complex logos and multiple colours, typically used for one off, full colour jobs needed with a fast turn around. This type of print works particularly well with t-shirts and hoodies.

Transfer

The third and final way we can print on a garment is by transfer, the best way to think of transfer is comparable to the names and numbers on the back of a football shirt. A sheet of vinyl is carefully cut into the specific shape of your logo or design, the remaining design is then flipped and finally heat sealed onto the garment using a heat press.

A vinyl transfer is great for less complex designs with low colours, typically a logo with 1-2 colours would be applied with this method. This process works well for relatively low quantity orders. Vinyl transfer is suitable for the majority of garments (apart from fleece and wool) we recommend this process for Hi-Vis garments.

Other notes

To adhere to our own quality standards, we do not provide embroidery on garments that have a weight under 175gsm (the reason for this is because the material is so thin it cannot hold the embroidery and therefore tends to pukker, we therefore don't offer embroidery on thin garments as it doesn't give the polished logo appearance that we pride ourselves on). Due to the same reasons, we also do not offer printing via DTG on garments that are 100% Polyester as the fabric cannot hold the print (screen print can be used as an alternative print method - but this service is only available on larger quantity orders of 20 garments and above).