A company that wants its polos embroidered rarely asks the right question. It compares the price of a file to the price of software. But software is only the first line of a longer calculation.
The real cost of doing it in-house
The licence. Serious digitizing software costs from several hundred to several thousand euros, sometimes as an annual subscription. That is an investment amortised over dozens of files, not three logos.
The training. Digitizing is not drawing. You need to understand stitch types, densities, underlay, pull compensation and how fabrics behave. Expect several weeks before producing a clean file, and months before producing quickly.
The time. A simple logo takes 15 to 30 minutes for an experienced digitizer. A crest, an hour or more. On a ten-polo order that time is invisible in the quote — except that it has to come from somewhere.
The revisions. A file is rarely right first time. Two rounds are the norm: preview, test on a scrap, correction, new approval.
The calculation that settles it
| Item | In-house | Outsourced |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Several hundred to several thousand € | 0 |
| Training | Weeks | 0 |
| Time per logo | 30 min to 2 h | 0 |
| Revisions | On you | Usually included |
| Time to first file | Several days | Minutes to 48 h |
| Cost per extra file | Your time | The file price |
The conclusion hinges on one number: how many different logos per year. Below ten, outsourcing is almost always cheaper. Above fifty, in-house makes sense — provided someone trained is available.
What outsourcing really brings
Not just the file. It brings three things in-house does not easily give:
Consistency. The same logo stitched in March and in November must be identical. A file made by a third party does not depend on who produced it or on the day they did.
Responsibility. If the file does not produce the expected result, the supplier must fix it. In-house, the fix falls on whoever pressed the button.
Speed at the start. An urgent order for a trade show, a seminar, a championship: the file arrives the same day. In-house, you first have to find the software, the licence key and the trained person.
What to ask before ordering
- the DST and, if you need it, the PES or JEF;
- the stitch count and number of colours;
- a preview before approval;
- the revision policy and how many rounds are included;
- the licence: internal use, resale on your garments, or transfer of the file;
- the final size in millimetres, for each placement (chest, back, sleeve).
The most frequently forgotten point is the licence. A file bought for “personal use” does not cover a batch of garments sold to your clients.
The case of clubs and associations
A sports club has a stable logo, stitched on hundreds of items every season, with variants (jersey, tracksuit, bag). The calculation flips: have the logo digitized properly once, then keep the file and reuse it every year.
That is where DST shows its value: a 20-kilobyte file, kept for ten years, stitched on every machine the club owns.
A third way
For simple logos — two or three flat colours, readable text, compact shape — automatic conversion is often enough. It costs a few euros, takes a minute, and produces a directly usable DST.
The sensible method is hybrid: convert automatically, stitch one piece, and only pay for professional digitizing if the result does not pass.
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