So you’re fresh to the embroidery world and you’ve recently learnt about digitising. We’ll cover all you need to know about digitising in this post, so you’ll be able to make an informed decision by the conclusion. There are two approaches to digitization that your company might take. Outsourcing it to a digitizer or learning how to digitise it in-house.

First and foremost

With the purchase of an embroidery machine, most firms provide basic or lite digitising software. The process of digitising artwork into a format that your embroidery machine can read and sew is known as digitising.

What do digitizers charge for their services?

They either charge a fixed rate, charge by stitch count, charge by design complexity, or don’t charge to scan the file at all. There are four basic reasons that digitizers set their price points.

Complexity

This mainly applies to patterns like 3D fluff and small letters, which are more expensive to digitise since they require specialised knowledge and effort. The digitizer would quote pricing that reflects the overall labour cost after determining whether it needs to be redrawn and other intricate elements. This requires the digitizer to evaluate a design using his or her industry experience, and the price is determined by the design’s complexity.

Flat Fee

The term “flat-rate pricing” refers to a price that does not change and is usually determined by the location and size of the item. Large, complicated designs, on the other hand, would be priced at a higher level, such as $30. Smaller logos, such as those on the left chest, normally cost between $10 and $15.

Count of Stitches

Digitizers charge around $1.50 per thousand stitches on average. Stitch count is another way that digitizers charge for their services. This works out to roughly $10 for a typical left-chest logo with 7,000 stitches.

Digitization can be outsourced

It’s hazardous to put your trust in a contract employee, but if you don’t have the time, money, or technical know-how to keep your digitization in-house, outsourcing is the way to go. Give your digitizer a reasonably complex design that you would want your clients to submit, and assess their work to ensure it matches your expectations.

Whether you can charge extra for outsourced work and profit from it depends on your market, and it’s something worth exploring. On the other hand, some embroiderers charge the customer an artwork or setup fee that is double or triple the cost of digitising. We think it’s a good idea to “test” your digitizer before agreeing to work with them.

Make sure your digitizer has legally downloaded digitising software if you don’t want to pay for their application or face a future lawsuit. This method can be presented as “no setup or artwork fee,” and it’s a great way to entice clients while still keeping track of your true costs.

If you opt to digitise for free, you keep ownership of the file, and the customer will have to pay to have it scanned the next time they need custom embroidery from a competitor. This is a smart way to establish recurring business because some artwork and setup fees vary from $50 to $60. 

Whether you can profit from outsourced work by charging more depends on your market, and it’s worth investigating. Some embroiderers, on the other hand, charge a customer an artwork or setup fee that is twice or three times the cost of digitising.

Keeping your digitising in-house is a great way to save money

You’re undoubtedly wondering why businesses retain their digitization in-house. If they desire creative control over their artwork, don’t want to wait hours for little modifications, or take on a lot of one-off orders, some companies choose to retain their digitization in-house.

If you have past graphic design experience or are confident in your ability to work with computer tools, this may be a suitable fit for you. Simple online embroidery software, which is commonly included with the purchase of an embroidery machine, can be used to make designs like this.

In reality, the level of expertise you require is determined by the types of assignments you are assigned. In this case, you charge less yet still make the same profit and spend the same, if not less, time (because dealing with digitizers can take more time than digitising a simple design). 

You may quickly mock up one design and charge your customer a one-time cost for digitising while producing a large number of products using that design. Companies who want to take on small, personalised orders, on the other hand, profit from keeping their digitising in-house because they won’t have to pay a digitizer for each one.

Conclusion

You’ll need to strike a balance between outsourcing and retaining your designs in-house. Relying on someone else to set your turnaround times is always a risk because anything can happen at any time. You want to maintain control and have basic embroidery software and skills on hand as a backup.