ImagesMagUK_March_2022

Validating your value For decorators, offering ‘value for money’ is more pertinent now than ever, especially given the rocketing cost of living in the UK. Erich Campbell looks at how you, as an embroiderer, can increase efficiencies and boost your chances of winning jobs in today’s marketplace T hroughout the pandemic, there has been a move towards making apparel more accessible, longer-lasting, and more eco- friendly, along with a growing need for embroiderers to prioritise clients’ concerns and convince them of your unique value. It’s time, then, to examine the way you design and digitise your decorations, the kinds of products and solutions you offer, and the materials you employ, in order to maintain embroidery as a viable, desirable and affordable option in the customer’s eyes. Consultants, coaches and experts continually beat the drum of ‘value propositions’, pushing us to convince customers of our unique value. Read on to find out how you can do this in your embroidery business... Design and digitising Simple alterations to the way you design and digitise can reduce machine time and material costs and thus reduce the prices you need to charge to remain profitable while potentially increasing the production rate, resulting in affordable and accessible decorated apparel. The best embroidery designs will be stitch-conscious, employing the minimum stitch count necessary to create coverage on the material and colour contrasts in the decoration. Employ structural underlay stitching to lift top stitching and provide colour coverage while reducing topstitch densities. Fill and mesh underlays can greatly support fill stitching, while contour or edge run underlays shore up edge quality and cover looser densities on the outside edges of satin stitch curves. Zigzag and double zigzag underlays can provide enhanced coverage for satin stitches overall, but greatly decrease show- through when using durable auto-split or length-limit stitching on wide columns. When filling large areas with complete coverage or embroidering objects that don’t require extremely fine detail, consider replacing 40wt thread with a thicker 30wt variety. 30wt thread can be swapped, providing the same coverage as 40wt thread while requiring 20% less stitching, potentially without even changing your needle. Keep stitches longer where durability allows and look to swatch testing to find the least dense settings that provide adequate coverage. Substituting appliqué for filled areas can be similarly time-saving, just remember to be sure to calculate for cutting, application time and material costs when evaluating this option. Watch for other efficiency boosters when reviewing your designs. Pathing refers to the motion of the needle through your design. Practise efficient pathing: refrain from jumping or trimming as much as possible, ending one object close to the beginning of the next object to prevent unnecessary movements. Use ‘travelling’ stitches that can hide beneath future topstitching when moving between elements; regular running stitches are far faster to execute than tying off, trimming and moving with the needle up over the same distance before tying in with a sequence of slow starting stitches. Efficient sequencing is also critical; when possible, refrain from revisiting the same colour change repeatedly unless it is required to maintain the layering of stitched elements. Even without altering a digitised design, some editing software offers smart ‘colour sort’ tools that collect like colours into a single instance while preserving layering. Art and design alteration While some customers find altering their art a harder pill to swallow than small material and density changes, designing with the goal of reducing costs can provide results beyond simple optimisation. Consider the following Opting for a single-colour option, omitting excess text and using text-only or icon coordinating decorations, can reduce the cost of individual decorations. In this piece, a 17,000+ stitch design is rendered in only 9,000 stitches by moving to single colour. Dropping the text saves 4,000 stitches from the full-colour or single-colour option. Ask your customer what is ‘essential’ when discussing budget-motivated alterations. KB BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT www.images-magazine.com 66 images MARCH 2022