Contract Embroidery - HELP !?

Tyrko

Hi all -

I'm still a newbie in a lot of ways to this, so bear with me.

Today I got in the mail an advertisement for a contract embroiderer, and it intrigued me, I want to know some opinions on this.

Its from a contract embroiderer, its a winter special flyer for now thru March 1st 2010. It says ANY flats UP TO 10,000 stitches and 9 colors embroidered for only $2.00 per piece with no minimum.

Also any Cap UP TO 10,000 stitches and 9 colors for $3.50 per piece. No Mins.

It says that all items are embroidered in USA, using state of the art Barudan or Tajima equipment, free pickup and delivery within 50 miles, (which I am within)

Then it says the usual, solvy extra, metallic thread extra, etc. etc. etc.

What do you all think of this? Like I said I'm new to this whole thing, is this cheap? To me it seems rather cheap. I have a very small shop, with an old clunker SWF that I swear at daily, I could easily unload some work on them for things I sell at retail in my gift shop, still make some decent money, and save myself some real headache. I am within 50 miles, SO they would pickup and deliver for free. I have heard of them before, so I'm not too freaked out about getting screwed. I'd just like some input from all of you.

Thanks in advance, and sorry for rambling.
Tyrk

karensemb

It seems really cheap to me too. But try out the service, they might do quality work, who knows.

Karen Castillo
Karen's Embroidery
www.karensdigitizing.com

Eric

It seems like a very odd price structure to me. Most contracts are done per thousand stitches. That could either be very cheap, or very not.

Think of it this way ... if what you need contracted is only 3k stitches, then at $2.00 a pc thats almost $1.00 per thousand stitches, not a super deal. If what you are having sewn is around the 10K mark, then thats only 30 cents per thousand, so in that case ... yeah, thats pretty cheap.

The free pickup/delivery is a great point to me, shipping costs are killer these days. As far as the machines go, its nice to see a business that invests in quality machines, but in the end, as long as what you are getting looks good, who really cares what kind of machine it came off of?

I agree with Karen, Give it a shot, give them something fairly low run, and somewhat of a complicated design and see. If its garbage, then you know. A lot of quality is in the digitizing, if its a good design file, then there is no reason why you shouldn't get good embroidery out of them.

Just my $.02

Elle

Yes I agree with Karen and Eric ... try their service ...

twok4hd

Where are they located? Heck, I may give them a shot LOL.

__________________
Glenn
Sew Fine Designs

Tyrko

Just thought I would give you all an update on the contract embroiderer I mentioned:

I contacted them, sent them a file, and told them what I wanted done. Which was 144 terry-cloth hand-towels with a 4 color design at 6K stitches. They took my file, sewed it out, on stabilizer, and their sales rep dropped it off to me for approval. It looked great. Then I noticed on their "contract" it said estimated delivery date of January 8th! A MONTH!? When I asked the rep why so long, he explained that they were a little busy with the promotion, and that the promotion only applied to their production schedule, they used this special contract price to fill in the "holes" in their production schedules, and that January was the next "hole"

If I wanted it at $2 a pop, I had to take them at their connivence.

In all fairness, the flyer DID say, "delivery date subject to production schedule" I mean, if I was in no hurry, I probably would have done it, I don't care, $2 is cheap, and the design I gave them is a pain to sew. The sample they dropped off was BEAUTIFUL, way better than my SWF could have ever done, but its retail christmas ... I need them like in a few days.

Just thought I'd give you all an update.

Eric

As ashamed as I am to admit ... I've told a few customers it's going to be 6 weeks. This was back when I was taking jobs over my head, with not enough machines. I lost some customers, but a surprising number actually said OK.

As much as I hate to burst your bubble there Tyrk, I have to say, the "industry average" turnaround time for contract embroidery is 7-10 days. Most shops don't / can't do things in only a few days.

Right now the lead time in my shop is about 8 days. So I guess I'm "normal" (i put that in quotes for a reason, lol)

However ... I don't mean to take the wind out of anyone's sails ... but if you need that above mentioned job done, I'll match the $2 price. My production time is about 8ish days though, not counting proofing/shipping.