How your logo gets onto the product

Ten ways Merchwell can put a mark on something, what each one actually does to the material, and what it costs. Every product page names the methods carried for that item.

Send us your logo Browse the catalog

Embroidery

Thread stitched into the fabric

Ink laid onto the surface

Digital Print

Full color, no color limit

Three of ten. Each one is explained in full further down the page.

Embroidery

Thread stitched into the fabric

Apparel, headwear and bags

Ink laid onto the surface

Apparel, drinkware, office and bags

Digital Print

Full color, no color limit

Drinkware, bags, tech and outdoor

Engrave

Laser cut into the material

Drinkware, wellness, office and tech

Deboss

Pressed into the cover

Office and accessories

Patch

A made mark, then applied

Bags, and headwear on request

Foil Stamp

Metallic leaf under heat

Office

Heat Transfer

Printed, then heat applied

Bags

Sublimation

Dye bonded into the fiber

Apparel

Custom Knit

Knitted in, not added on

Apparel and headwear

How decoration is priced

Two charges, and they behave differently.

Setup, once per order

Charged per decoration location and banded by how many colors your logo needs. It covers preparing your artwork for that process. One figure per order, not per piece.

Run charge, per piece

Per piece and per location, stepping down as the quantity goes up. The price on every product page already includes it for one logo in one location, so the table on that page is what you pay.

Several methods also appear in an extended form on a product page: XL, Full Wrap, Full Cover or Wrap. That is the same process over a larger area, sometimes continuing around the whole item, and it carries its own setup and per-piece charge. Where a product offers both, the standard area is the default and the extended version is priced separately.

What the run charge actually is

One logo, one location, on top of the product price. Live from our catalog, read off the products linked beneath them.

Embroidery

per piece

Embroidery charge per piece by order quantity
Quantity	Charge per piece
6 to 47	$8.75
48 to 71	$7.92
72 to 143	$7.50
144 to 249	$6.67
250 to 499	$5.83
500+	$5.00

See it on a product

Print

per piece

Print charge per piece by order quantity
Quantity	Charge per piece
24 to 47	$6.50
48 to 71	$5.50
72 to 143	$3.75
144 to 249	$2.50
250 to 499	$1.85
500 to 999	$1.80
1000 to 2499	$1.65
2500+	$1.45

See it on a product

Side by side

The four things that decide which method fits: how many colors it holds, where the mark ends up, how long it survives, and what it runs on.

Decoration methods compared by color capability, finish, durability and materials
Method	Colors	Where the mark sits	Durability	Runs on
Embroidery	Thread colors, no practical limit	In the fabric	Highest	Knits, wovens, fleece, caps
Print	Up to 4	On the surface	High	Cotton, blends, canvas, coated metal
Digital Print	Unlimited	On the surface	Medium	Powder coated metal, nylon, plastic
Engrave	1, set by the material	Cut into the material	Permanent	Stainless, anodized metal, wood, leather
Deboss	None, it is an impression	Pressed into the surface	Permanent	Leather, faux leather, soft cover board
Patch	Unlimited, on the patch	Applied on top	High	Canvas, nylon, twill, leather
Foil Stamp	1 foil	Pressed into the surface	High	Cover board, leather, paper
Heat Transfer	Unlimited	Film on the surface	Medium	Technical and coated fabrics
Sublimation	Unlimited	Inside the fiber	Permanent	Light polyester only
Custom Knit	Limited by the yarn	Knitted in	Highest	Yarn, made to order

Colors: Thread colors, no practical limit
Finish: In the fabric
Durability: Highest

Apparel, headwear and bags

Embroidery

Embroidery stitches your logo directly into the garment with thread, so the mark is part of the fabric rather than sitting on top of it. It is the standard for polos, jackets, vests, fleece and headwear.

Best for

Anything a recipient will keep and wash repeatedly, and anything worn in a setting where the mark should read as tailoring rather than merch. Logos with clean shapes and few colors stitch best.

What it cannot do

Thread cannot hold fine detail. Text under about a quarter inch tall, hairline rules and photographic gradients will fill in, so a logo with small type usually needs a simplified stitch version of itself. Large solid areas add stitch count, which is what the per-piece charge is really measuring.

Artwork it needs: Vector art is ideal. Whatever you send is converted into a stitch file, a step called digitizing, which maps every stitch, color change and direction. A stitch file is specific to one logo at one size, so a noticeably larger or smaller version has to be digitized again.
How it is made: The stitch file drives a multi-needle machine. The garment is hooped so it holds flat, backing is placed behind the stitch area, and the needles lay the thread into the fabric. Caps run on a cap frame rather than a flat hoop.
How quantity affects it: Digitizing is per logo, not per piece, so cost per piece falls as the run grows. Short runs stay practical because a logo that has already been digitized runs again on a reorder with no new setup.

Browse apparel

Colors: Up to 4
Finish: On the surface
Durability: High

Apparel, drinkware, office and bags

Print

Print lays ink directly onto the surface: screen printing on apparel, silk screen or pad printing on hard goods. Each color in the logo is a separate screen, so the color count drives both the setup and the per-piece charge.

Best for

Tees, sweatshirts and tote bags, and any large graphic where embroidery would be too heavy. The cheapest method per piece at volume by a wide margin, so it is the right answer for giveaway quantities.

What it cannot do

Carried at up to four colors depending on the product. Not a photographic process: gradients and drop shadows need the full color digital print instead. On a dark garment the ink needs an underbase, which counts as a color.

Artwork it needs: Vector art, or raster at 300 dpi at final size. Each ink color is separated onto its own film and burned to its own screen, so the number of colors in the logo is what drives setup. Spot colors can be matched to Pantone. Gradients have to be simulated with halftone dots.
How it is made: Ink is pushed through a mesh screen onto the item, one color per pass, then cured with heat so it will not wash out. Multi-color art is registered between passes so each color lands on the one before it.
How quantity affects it: Screens are made once per color and then run quickly, which makes this the cheapest method per piece at volume and the least efficient at low quantities.

Browse apparel

Colors: Unlimited
Finish: On the surface
Durability: Medium

Drinkware, bags, tech and outdoor

Digital Print

Digital print sprays the artwork on in full color in a single pass, the way a desktop printer works, so gradients, photographs and unlimited colors cost no more than one color does.

Best for

Logos with gradients or more than a few colors, and any artwork you are not willing to simplify. This is the default on most hard goods for exactly that reason.

What it cannot do

The imprint area is usually smaller than the screen printed equivalent on the same item, and the finish sits on the surface rather than biting into it, so it is less abrasion resistant than an engraving. Not carried on apparel.

Artwork it needs: Raster or vector, at 300 dpi at final size. Full color, photographs and gradients print with no separations and no color limit. There is no spot color system, so a Pantone match is an approximation rather than an exact ink.
How it is made: Ink is jetted straight onto the item from the file and cured, usually under UV light. Nothing is made in between, so a single piece looks the same as the hundredth.
How quantity affects it: No per-color setup, so a one-color run and a full-color run cost the same, and small quantities carry no penalty. At high volume screen printing is cheaper per piece.

Browse drinkware

Colors: 1, set by the material
Finish: Cut into the material
Durability: Permanent

Drinkware, wellness, office and tech

Engrave

Laser engraving burns the logo into the material itself, leaving a permanent mark in the natural color of the layer underneath rather than adding any ink.

Best for

Stainless steel bottles and tumblers, anodized metal, wood and leather. It cannot scratch off or fade, which makes it the right choice on anything that lives in a dishwasher or a backpack.

What it cannot do

One color only, and you do not choose it: the mark is whatever the material turns. On a powder coated bottle that is usually the bare steel underneath. Small imprint areas compared to a print, and no option for a second logo color.

Artwork it needs: Vector art. A laser follows a single path, so it has no colors to work with, only where it marks and where it does not. Grayscale, gradients and drop shadows have to be flattened to solid shapes first.
How it is made: The laser removes or discolors the top layer of the material. On stainless it burns to a frosted gray, on anodized metal it reveals the raw metal underneath, and on wood and leather it darkens. The mark is the material's own color, not an ink.
How quantity affects it: Setup is a file rather than a tool, so there is no color-count penalty and short runs are practical. Each piece takes machine time, so cost per piece levels off instead of dropping steeply.

Browse drinkware

Colors: None, it is an impression
Finish: Pressed into the surface
Durability: Permanent

Office and accessories

Deboss

A deboss presses a heated die into the material to leave the logo recessed below the surface, with no ink at all. It reads as the quietest, most finished option on a notebook or a leather good.

Best for

Hardcover journals, leather folios and anything where the brand should be felt rather than seen. The usual pick when the gift is for an executive audience.

What it cannot do

One color, which is to say no color. Low contrast by design, so a logo that depends on color to be legible disappears. Needs a material with enough give to hold the impression.

Artwork it needs: Vector art, kept to solid shapes. A die is cut from the logo, so it reproduces an outline and a depth rather than tones. Fine serifs and hairline rules can collapse as the material compresses.
How it is made: A metal die is heated and pressed into the surface, leaving the logo recessed in the material's own color. On leather and faux leather the pressure also darkens and polishes the impression.
How quantity affects it: The die is a physical tool, made once and kept, so a reorder skips it. That tooling is what makes very small runs relatively expensive.

Browse office

Colors: Unlimited, on the patch
Finish: Applied on top
Durability: High

Bags, and headwear on request

Patch

A patch is decorated separately and then applied to the product, so the logo can carry its own shape, border and background independent of the item underneath. Leather patches are the same idea in leather.

Best for

Bags and caps where a stitched mark would distort on a seam or a textured panel, and any logo that needs a hard edge or a background color the product does not have.

What it cannot do

The patch is an object with a visible edge, so it does not disappear into the product the way embroidery does. Adds a step to production, which is why the lead time on a patch item runs longer than a stitched one.

Artwork it needs: Vector art. The patch is made before it reaches the item, so the logo's shape can be the patch's shape instead of sitting inside a rectangle.
How it is made: The patch is produced on its own as woven, embroidered, leather or printed twill, then sewn or heat pressed onto the item. Because it is built off the garment, it can carry detail and color the garment itself would not take.
How quantity affects it: Patches are produced in batches, so there is a real minimum, and cost per piece drops once past it. Applying them is per piece.

Browse bags

Colors: 1 foil
Finish: Pressed into the surface
Durability: High

Office

Foil Stamp

A foil stamp presses metallic leaf into the surface under heat, leaving a reflective gold, silver or colored mark that no printing process can reproduce.

Best for

Journals, menus and anything meant to look formal or celebratory.

What it cannot do

One foil color per stamp. The reflective finish photographs badly and can look dated against a modern brand palette, so check it against your own guidelines before choosing it.

Artwork it needs: Vector art, solid shapes only. Foil is opaque metal leaf, so there are no tints and no gradients. A shape is either foiled or it is not.
How it is made: A heated die presses metallic foil into the surface, leaving the logo in gold, silver or a colored metallic rather than ink. It is often combined with a deboss so the mark is both metallic and recessed.
How quantity affects it: As with deboss there is a die to make, so the first run carries the tooling and reorders do not.

Browse office

Colors: Unlimited
Finish: Film on the surface
Durability: Medium

Bags

Heat Transfer

A heat transfer prints the artwork onto a carrier and then presses it onto the product, which gets full color detail onto surfaces that cannot be stitched or screened directly.

Best for

Coated and technical fabrics, and panels too small or too structured to hoop for embroidery.

What it cannot do

The mark sits on the surface as a thin film, so it is less durable than thread or an engraving under heavy abrasion. Not suitable for waterproof shells.

Artwork it needs: Vector or high-resolution raster. Full color is fine. The art is printed in reverse onto a carrier film and cut to shape, so the finished mark has a defined edge rather than blending into the fabric.
How it is made: The printed film is pressed onto the fabric with heat and pressure, bonding the ink layer to the surface. It suits technical and coated fabrics that cannot be stitched through or screen printed.
How quantity affects it: Setup is light and there is no per-color cost, so it works at low quantities and for a set of many small logos.

Browse bags

Colors: Unlimited
Finish: Inside the fiber
Durability: Permanent

Apparel

Sublimation

Sublimation turns dye into gas under heat so it bonds inside the fiber itself, which allows all-over full color coverage with no hand feel at the printed area.

Best for

All-over patterns and edge to edge coverage that no screen can reach, on polyester.

What it cannot do

Polyester only, and it cannot print white or go lighter than the garment, so it works on light fabrics and not on dark ones.

Artwork it needs: Raster or vector at 300 dpi, full color, and it can run edge to edge. The dye only shows on light polyester, so the art has to be designed for a white or pale base.
How it is made: Dye is printed onto transfer paper, then heat turns it to gas and bonds it inside the polyester fiber. The color becomes part of the fabric, so there is nothing on the surface to crack or peel and nothing to feel.
How quantity affects it: No screens and no color limit, so complexity costs nothing. Pieces are often printed as flat panels and sewn afterward, which is what sets the minimum.

Colors: Limited by the yarn
Finish: Knitted in
Durability: Highest

Apparel and headwear

Custom Knit

Custom knit builds the logo into the garment on the knitting machine, so the mark is made of the same yarn as everything around it and there is nothing applied to the surface at all.

Best for

Socks, beanies and holiday sweaters, where any applied mark would look stuck on.

What it cannot do

The highest minimum and the longest lead time of any method here, because the garment itself is being made to order. Detail is limited by the knit gauge.

Artwork it needs: Vector art, simplified. The logo is knitted from yarn on a stitch grid, so it reads as blocks of color. Small type, thin outlines and more than a few colors do not survive the translation.
How it is made: The item is manufactured to order with the logo knitted in as the fabric is made, rather than decorated afterward. Nothing sits on top, so the logo has the same weight and stretch as the rest of the piece.
How quantity affects it: This is a production run rather than a decoration run, so minimums are the highest of any method and lead times the longest. Cost per piece is competitive once the quantity is there.

Common questions

The ones we answer most often when someone is choosing between two methods.

Not sure which fits your logo?

Send the artwork and the product you are considering. We will tell you which methods it holds up in and what each one costs at your quantity.

Ask us

Which decoration method is best for a company logo?

On apparel it is embroidery for polos, jackets, fleece and headwear, and screen print for tees, sweatshirts and tote bags. On hard goods it is laser engraving on metal and full color digital print on everything else. If your logo has gradients or more than a few colors, choose a full color method: embroidery and screen print both need the artwork simplified.

What is the difference between embroidery and screen printing?

Embroidery stitches thread into the fabric, so the mark is part of the garment, holds up to washing indefinitely and reads as tailoring. Screen printing lays ink on the surface, handles large graphics and fine detail that thread cannot, and costs far less per piece at volume. Embroidery suits polos, jackets and caps. Screen print suits tees, sweatshirts and bags.

How is decoration priced?

Two charges, and they work differently. Setup is one time per order, charged per decoration location and banded by how many colors your logo needs, and it covers preparing your artwork for that process. The run charge is per piece, per location, and steps down as the quantity goes up. The per-piece price on every product page already includes the run charge for one logo in one location.

Can I put my logo in more than one place on the same item?

Yes. Each additional location carries its own setup and its own per-piece run charge, and the available locations differ by product because they depend on what the item physically allows. The locations carried for a given product are listed on its page.

How many colors can my logo be?

It depends on the method. Full color digital print, sublimation and heat transfer have no practical color limit. Screen print is carried at up to four colors depending on the product. Engraving, deboss and foil stamp are single color by nature: the mark is the material or the foil, not ink.

Do I see the logo before it runs?

Yes. You approve a mockup showing exactly where the logo sits and at what size before anything is produced, and production time is counted from that approval rather than from the order.

Where is the decoration done?

At production facilities in the United States. Apparel is decorated after the blank garments arrive, which is why apparel turnaround is quoted separately from the hard goods on the same order.

Last updated: October 15, 2026

How your logo gets onto the product

Ten ways Merchwell can put a mark on something, what each one actually does to the material, and what it costs. Every product page names the methods carried for that item.

Send us your logo Browse the catalog

Embroidery

Thread stitched into the fabric

Ink laid onto the surface

Digital Print

Full color, no color limit

Three of ten. Each one is explained in full further down the page.

Embroidery

Thread stitched into the fabric

Apparel, headwear and bags

Ink laid onto the surface

Apparel, drinkware, office and bags

Digital Print

Full color, no color limit

Drinkware, bags, tech and outdoor

Engrave

Laser cut into the material

Drinkware, wellness, office and tech

Deboss

Pressed into the cover

Office and accessories

Patch

A made mark, then applied

Bags, and headwear on request

Foil Stamp

Metallic leaf under heat

Office

Heat Transfer

Printed, then heat applied

Bags

Sublimation

Dye bonded into the fiber

Apparel

Custom Knit

Knitted in, not added on

Apparel and headwear

How decoration is priced

Two charges, and they behave differently.

Setup, once per order

Charged per decoration location and banded by how many colors your logo needs. It covers preparing your artwork for that process. One figure per order, not per piece.

Run charge, per piece

Per piece and per location, stepping down as the quantity goes up. The price on every product page already includes it for one logo in one location, so the table on that page is what you pay.

What the run charge actually is

One logo, one location, on top of the product price. Live from our catalog, read off the products linked beneath them.

Embroidery

per piece

Embroidery charge per piece by order quantity
Quantity	Charge per piece
6 to 47	$8.75
48 to 71	$7.92
72 to 143	$7.50
144 to 249	$6.67
250 to 499	$5.83
500+	$5.00

See it on a product

Print

per piece

Print charge per piece by order quantity
Quantity	Charge per piece
24 to 47	$6.50
48 to 71	$5.50
72 to 143	$3.75
144 to 249	$2.50
250 to 499	$1.85
500 to 999	$1.80
1000 to 2499	$1.65
2500+	$1.45

See it on a product

Side by side

The four things that decide which method fits: how many colors it holds, where the mark ends up, how long it survives, and what it runs on.

Decoration methods compared by color capability, finish, durability and materials
Method	Colors	Where the mark sits	Durability	Runs on
Embroidery	Thread colors, no practical limit	In the fabric	Highest	Knits, wovens, fleece, caps
Print	Up to 4	On the surface	High	Cotton, blends, canvas, coated metal
Digital Print	Unlimited	On the surface	Medium	Powder coated metal, nylon, plastic
Engrave	1, set by the material	Cut into the material	Permanent	Stainless, anodized metal, wood, leather
Deboss	None, it is an impression	Pressed into the surface	Permanent	Leather, faux leather, soft cover board
Patch	Unlimited, on the patch	Applied on top	High	Canvas, nylon, twill, leather
Foil Stamp	1 foil	Pressed into the surface	High	Cover board, leather, paper
Heat Transfer	Unlimited	Film on the surface	Medium	Technical and coated fabrics
Sublimation	Unlimited	Inside the fiber	Permanent	Light polyester only
Custom Knit	Limited by the yarn	Knitted in	Highest	Yarn, made to order

Colors: Thread colors, no practical limit
Finish: In the fabric
Durability: Highest

Apparel, headwear and bags

Embroidery

Best for

Anything a recipient will keep and wash repeatedly, and anything worn in a setting where the mark should read as tailoring rather than merch. Logos with clean shapes and few colors stitch best.

What it cannot do

Artwork it needs: Vector art is ideal. Whatever you send is converted into a stitch file, a step called digitizing, which maps every stitch, color change and direction. A stitch file is specific to one logo at one size, so a noticeably larger or smaller version has to be digitized again.
How it is made: The stitch file drives a multi-needle machine. The garment is hooped so it holds flat, backing is placed behind the stitch area, and the needles lay the thread into the fabric. Caps run on a cap frame rather than a flat hoop.
How quantity affects it: Digitizing is per logo, not per piece, so cost per piece falls as the run grows. Short runs stay practical because a logo that has already been digitized runs again on a reorder with no new setup.

Browse apparel

Colors: Up to 4
Finish: On the surface
Durability: High

Apparel, drinkware, office and bags

Print

Best for

What it cannot do

Artwork it needs: Vector art, or raster at 300 dpi at final size. Each ink color is separated onto its own film and burned to its own screen, so the number of colors in the logo is what drives setup. Spot colors can be matched to Pantone. Gradients have to be simulated with halftone dots.
How it is made: Ink is pushed through a mesh screen onto the item, one color per pass, then cured with heat so it will not wash out. Multi-color art is registered between passes so each color lands on the one before it.
How quantity affects it: Screens are made once per color and then run quickly, which makes this the cheapest method per piece at volume and the least efficient at low quantities.

Browse apparel

Colors: Unlimited
Finish: On the surface
Durability: Medium

Drinkware, bags, tech and outdoor

Digital Print

Digital print sprays the artwork on in full color in a single pass, the way a desktop printer works, so gradients, photographs and unlimited colors cost no more than one color does.

Best for

Logos with gradients or more than a few colors, and any artwork you are not willing to simplify. This is the default on most hard goods for exactly that reason.

What it cannot do

Artwork it needs: Raster or vector, at 300 dpi at final size. Full color, photographs and gradients print with no separations and no color limit. There is no spot color system, so a Pantone match is an approximation rather than an exact ink.
How it is made: Ink is jetted straight onto the item from the file and cured, usually under UV light. Nothing is made in between, so a single piece looks the same as the hundredth.
How quantity affects it: No per-color setup, so a one-color run and a full-color run cost the same, and small quantities carry no penalty. At high volume screen printing is cheaper per piece.

Browse drinkware

Colors: 1, set by the material
Finish: Cut into the material
Durability: Permanent

Drinkware, wellness, office and tech

Engrave

Laser engraving burns the logo into the material itself, leaving a permanent mark in the natural color of the layer underneath rather than adding any ink.

Best for

Stainless steel bottles and tumblers, anodized metal, wood and leather. It cannot scratch off or fade, which makes it the right choice on anything that lives in a dishwasher or a backpack.

What it cannot do

Artwork it needs: Vector art. A laser follows a single path, so it has no colors to work with, only where it marks and where it does not. Grayscale, gradients and drop shadows have to be flattened to solid shapes first.
How it is made: The laser removes or discolors the top layer of the material. On stainless it burns to a frosted gray, on anodized metal it reveals the raw metal underneath, and on wood and leather it darkens. The mark is the material's own color, not an ink.
How quantity affects it: Setup is a file rather than a tool, so there is no color-count penalty and short runs are practical. Each piece takes machine time, so cost per piece levels off instead of dropping steeply.

Browse drinkware

Colors: None, it is an impression
Finish: Pressed into the surface
Durability: Permanent

Office and accessories

Deboss

A deboss presses a heated die into the material to leave the logo recessed below the surface, with no ink at all. It reads as the quietest, most finished option on a notebook or a leather good.

Best for

Hardcover journals, leather folios and anything where the brand should be felt rather than seen. The usual pick when the gift is for an executive audience.

What it cannot do

One color, which is to say no color. Low contrast by design, so a logo that depends on color to be legible disappears. Needs a material with enough give to hold the impression.

Artwork it needs: Vector art, kept to solid shapes. A die is cut from the logo, so it reproduces an outline and a depth rather than tones. Fine serifs and hairline rules can collapse as the material compresses.
How it is made: A metal die is heated and pressed into the surface, leaving the logo recessed in the material's own color. On leather and faux leather the pressure also darkens and polishes the impression.
How quantity affects it: The die is a physical tool, made once and kept, so a reorder skips it. That tooling is what makes very small runs relatively expensive.

Browse office

Colors: Unlimited, on the patch
Finish: Applied on top
Durability: High

Bags, and headwear on request

Patch

Best for

Bags and caps where a stitched mark would distort on a seam or a textured panel, and any logo that needs a hard edge or a background color the product does not have.

What it cannot do

Artwork it needs: Vector art. The patch is made before it reaches the item, so the logo's shape can be the patch's shape instead of sitting inside a rectangle.
How it is made: The patch is produced on its own as woven, embroidered, leather or printed twill, then sewn or heat pressed onto the item. Because it is built off the garment, it can carry detail and color the garment itself would not take.
How quantity affects it: Patches are produced in batches, so there is a real minimum, and cost per piece drops once past it. Applying them is per piece.

Browse bags

Colors: 1 foil
Finish: Pressed into the surface
Durability: High

Office

Foil Stamp

A foil stamp presses metallic leaf into the surface under heat, leaving a reflective gold, silver or colored mark that no printing process can reproduce.

Best for

Journals, menus and anything meant to look formal or celebratory.

What it cannot do

One foil color per stamp. The reflective finish photographs badly and can look dated against a modern brand palette, so check it against your own guidelines before choosing it.

Artwork it needs: Vector art, solid shapes only. Foil is opaque metal leaf, so there are no tints and no gradients. A shape is either foiled or it is not.
How it is made: A heated die presses metallic foil into the surface, leaving the logo in gold, silver or a colored metallic rather than ink. It is often combined with a deboss so the mark is both metallic and recessed.
How quantity affects it: As with deboss there is a die to make, so the first run carries the tooling and reorders do not.

Browse office

Colors: Unlimited
Finish: Film on the surface
Durability: Medium

Bags

Heat Transfer

A heat transfer prints the artwork onto a carrier and then presses it onto the product, which gets full color detail onto surfaces that cannot be stitched or screened directly.

Best for

Coated and technical fabrics, and panels too small or too structured to hoop for embroidery.

What it cannot do

The mark sits on the surface as a thin film, so it is less durable than thread or an engraving under heavy abrasion. Not suitable for waterproof shells.

Artwork it needs: Vector or high-resolution raster. Full color is fine. The art is printed in reverse onto a carrier film and cut to shape, so the finished mark has a defined edge rather than blending into the fabric.
How it is made: The printed film is pressed onto the fabric with heat and pressure, bonding the ink layer to the surface. It suits technical and coated fabrics that cannot be stitched through or screen printed.
How quantity affects it: Setup is light and there is no per-color cost, so it works at low quantities and for a set of many small logos.

Browse bags

Colors: Unlimited
Finish: Inside the fiber
Durability: Permanent

Apparel

Sublimation

Sublimation turns dye into gas under heat so it bonds inside the fiber itself, which allows all-over full color coverage with no hand feel at the printed area.

Best for

All-over patterns and edge to edge coverage that no screen can reach, on polyester.

What it cannot do

Polyester only, and it cannot print white or go lighter than the garment, so it works on light fabrics and not on dark ones.

Artwork it needs: Raster or vector at 300 dpi, full color, and it can run edge to edge. The dye only shows on light polyester, so the art has to be designed for a white or pale base.
How it is made: Dye is printed onto transfer paper, then heat turns it to gas and bonds it inside the polyester fiber. The color becomes part of the fabric, so there is nothing on the surface to crack or peel and nothing to feel.
How quantity affects it: No screens and no color limit, so complexity costs nothing. Pieces are often printed as flat panels and sewn afterward, which is what sets the minimum.

Colors: Limited by the yarn
Finish: Knitted in
Durability: Highest

Apparel and headwear

Custom Knit

Custom knit builds the logo into the garment on the knitting machine, so the mark is made of the same yarn as everything around it and there is nothing applied to the surface at all.

Best for

Socks, beanies and holiday sweaters, where any applied mark would look stuck on.

What it cannot do

The highest minimum and the longest lead time of any method here, because the garment itself is being made to order. Detail is limited by the knit gauge.

Artwork it needs: Vector art, simplified. The logo is knitted from yarn on a stitch grid, so it reads as blocks of color. Small type, thin outlines and more than a few colors do not survive the translation.
How it is made: The item is manufactured to order with the logo knitted in as the fabric is made, rather than decorated afterward. Nothing sits on top, so the logo has the same weight and stretch as the rest of the piece.
How quantity affects it: This is a production run rather than a decoration run, so minimums are the highest of any method and lead times the longest. Cost per piece is competitive once the quantity is there.

Common questions

The ones we answer most often when someone is choosing between two methods.

Not sure which fits your logo?

Send the artwork and the product you are considering. We will tell you which methods it holds up in and what each one costs at your quantity.

Ask us

Which decoration method is best for a company logo?

What is the difference between embroidery and screen printing?

How is decoration priced?

Can I put my logo in more than one place on the same item?

How many colors can my logo be?

Do I see the logo before it runs?

Yes. You approve a mockup showing exactly where the logo sits and at what size before anything is produced, and production time is counted from that approval rather than from the order.

Where is the decoration done?

At production facilities in the United States. Apparel is decorated after the blank garments arrive, which is why apparel turnaround is quoted separately from the hard goods on the same order.

Last updated: October 15, 2026