Imprinting Basics

The ordering and cost estimating process for custom printed/embroidered products and novelty products may appear somewhat complicated, however it’s actually pretty straight forward.  The basic costs involved with manufacturing your printed/embroidered products or novelty items are:

  • Blank products or base cost of the items
  • Print/embroider costs or Novelty Items Costs
  • Overhead
  • Other costs

PRODUCT COSTS

Blank Polo ShirtBlank Products or Base Cost of Items - The first decision you will likely make is what products you are interested in embellishing.  When you search through our vast product database the prices that are returned to you are the cost for the blank products.  These prices are only indicators and are not final prices.  You can be sure that your cost will very likely be lower than the published prices.  If for some reason prices are not immediately available, remember we always give you a quote before asking for your approval to begin the project.

Print / Embroider Costs - Printing/embroidering is the key variable in the cost of producing your apparel and promotional products.  Factors that affect the final cost are number of locations in which your logo is printed/embroidered and the actual method of printing/embroidering used to produce the final product.  We operate automatic presses in our printing process and state of the art embroidery machines in our embroidery process so our costing is fairly simple. With our automatic presses we print 6 colors at one time so number of colors is not a factor.  Printing in 6 colors in two locations or embroidering in one location up to 7,000 stitches is the same cost.  Over 2 locations of printing ($1.25/additional location) or over 7,000 stitches of embroidery ($.75/1000 stitches) require additional charges in most cases. 

Embroidery Digitizing Costs -   If your logo requires digitizing there is a onetime charge of $5.50/1000 stitches with a $35.00 minimum.

Novelty Items Setup Costs - Novelty items require other printing methods with somewhat different setup requirements.  The key to remember is that these are fixed costs which are necessary for the factory to produce your items.  Think of this as the mold that all of your items are made from.  You still generally only need one “mold” whether you produce 1 item or whether you produce 100,000 items.

Overhead - Overhead is what it cost to run our business.  For example, administration, utilities, taxes, maintenance are examples of expenses that make up overhead.  This charge is added on a per item basis and is discounted for higher volumes.  Since the overhead factor is fixed the more items you order the smaller the per item cost is.  For example a coffee mug that is $3.49 each for 100, could be $3.29 for 250 and possibly $1.99 for 2000.Blank Polo Shirt

Other Costs - Other costs may apply for exceptional requests, such as; personalization, numbers, uniquely sized items, items that have to be printed manually, special shipping & handling requests and rush orders.  We can often rush your products through the process but there is a cost associated to that process and we have to pass that on to the customer.  We offer free local delivery.  Any delivery charges added are actual shipping & handling cost

 

SUMMARY:  Blank Products + Print/Embroider Costs + Overhead + Other Costs = Final Product Cost   or

Base cost of items + (Novelty Items Setup Costs/number of pieces) + Overhead + Other Costs = Final Product Cost

 

Call us at (843) 566-9139 or contact us today for help starting your next project!