What is digitising?
Digitising converts your artwork into a stitch file — the instructions an embroidery machine follows for every stitch: its position, direction, length and thread. It is skilled work; the same logo digitised well or badly looks completely different in thread.
Why it matters
It is the one-off cost of embroidery — around $25 for a typical logo, $35 for 3D puff — and the reason a reorder is cheaper than a first order. A file digitised for flat embroidery does not work for puff; it has to be redone.
On our floor
Done in-house, confirmed on a stitch-out, and kept on file. Pull compensation, underlay and stitch direction are what separate a good digitiser from software.
Common questions
- What does digitising cost?
- Around $25 for a standard logo, $35 for 3D puff, from our current rate sheet. Once.
- Can I supply my own stitch file?
- Yes — DST or similar. We test it on a stitch-out before bulk.
- Why can't you embroider from a JPEG directly?
- Machines need stitch instructions, not pixels. Digitising is the translation.
- Is digitising kept for reorders?
- Yes — reorders carry no digitising cost.
Related terms
embroidery
Embroidery stitches your artwork into the garment with thread, from a digitised file that tells the machine where every stitch goes. Priced…
stitch count
Stitch count is the number of stitches the machine makes to embroider a design — set by the design's size, its density, and how much of it…
stitch-out
A stitch-out is a test embroidery of your digitised logo on the actual garment fabric, made before bulk so you can approve the thread…
3D puff embroidery
3D puff embroidery lays a sheet of foam under the stitching so the thread wraps over it and the design stands two to three millimetres off…
Where this applies
Put it to work
Price any garment, decoration and quantity live in the calculator, or send us what you have for a quote within a working day.
Get a quote