Need Advice on Sewing Machine & Embroidery

stevenryals

Hi All,

Currently I sell customized sports uniforms.. but i have to contract out all of my embroidery & sewing..

The only real sewing i need to do is when a customer adds Tackle Twill numbers/Name/etc to a football/baseball/cheer jersey.. but I'd like to be able to have that here to save time and maybe even some $$..

Also, in the process, i'd like to add an embroidery machine, probably start with single head to see how it goes (currently contract that out as well, but i get a good deal on that, so i wouldnt save much $$, just time... but you know what they say.. time = $$)

Anyway, i was wondering if you guys & gals could give me some advise on which route to take..

Thanks!!

-Steven

minimalist

Who is going to run the machine?

If you are, then step away from the idea and concentrate on selling

If your employees are then you better get ready for the expense of training 2 or more to do the task. Guess what will happen if one person does the job and decides to go work somewhere else?

As it is you are looking at getting a cutter to cut the letters, an embroidery machine to tack them down and sew the satin around it, and software to enable you to do the above. If the items are all the same you'll need a 4 head at least and if your items are singles, plan on multi single heads just to keep up.

What percentage are you paying for outsourcing as opposed to the price of the item?

Robert Young

I agree with Minimalist... but would caveat that with... add up how much you spent last year with your embroiderer? was it enough for you to pay a machine payment and still make some profit? factor in your sewing time or an employee before you answer that question

time does = money... that is the point.. I think you might be penny wise and pound foolish unless you really do quite a bit.

__________________
Modern Embroidery Designer
www.volant-tech.com
www.volantfineart.com

minimalist

I'll add a bit more to the discussion.

An employee is going to cost you roughly 26.8K a year bare minimum. You can expense the machine out but the employee is going to have to produce X per hour/day. That is where the figures come in. The OP appears to not have any experience in machines or embroidery. This is going to take some expense to learn. That alone will cut into the OP's time to sell. I'd go after the easy money. Why reinvent the wheel?

If you running high volume most likely you'll go 7-10 years on your machine and then get new ones. Realistically the 10 year old machine is worth 1/3 of what you paid (reputable machine). So the expense is around $2640 in depreciation per year (40K purchase price new 4 head). Figure in 2-3% per year on personal property taxes and sales tax if it is leased (Texas, don't know about other places). Add in the maintenance, replacement parts, ancillary stuff too. Hell, hooptech alone cost me almost 5% of what a new machine cost just to run some bags.

If the guy is spending $3-5 in contract and is getting a good margin I'd say keep doing what works. If the OP wants to learn it so the business can expand into other products/services then the OP might want to look into it.