A few Substacks back we mentioned patches were joining the lineup, built in-house and then we moved on like it was no big deal. It was kind of a big deal. So now that patches have had a minute to settle in, let’s actually get into them, so you’ve got real specs for your customers.
A patch isn’t embroidery, it’s embroidery’s more independent cousin. Regular embroidery stitches a design straight into the product, needle meets tote, done. A patch gets stitched into its own piece of fabric first, cut into shape, and then attached to whatever it’s going on, which means it’s a finished object the moment it comes off the machine. Same design can land on a tote this month and a hat next season without anybody redoing the setup from scratch.
Patches run 1 to 5.5 square inches in half-inch increments, at 2,000 stitches per square inch, with up to 9 thread colors pulled from a 40-color library. Custom shapes come at no extra charge, so a logo keeps its actual outline instead of getting squeezed into a circle. Backing is heat-activated adhesive standard, no upcharge.
One little caveat: a patch sits a little raised, with a visible edge, because it is a separate object attached to a product. Usually that’s the whole point, it reads as tactile and intentional. Just worth a gut check if a customer needs something dead flat, and a clean color palette is going to embroider a lot better than artwork built for a screen.
Tidbit Time: How to actually spend an end-of-year promo budget
Since we’re on pricing anyway, a quick tangent. Every year there’s customer budget sitting around with a “use it or lose it” clock on it, and every year a lot of it gets burned in November on whatever’s fastest to order rather than what’s worth ordering. Today’s Tip: if a customer already has a one-time setup or digitizing fee on file for anything they've ordered before, that reorder is the easiest budget in the room to spend, since most of the cost was already paid the first time around. More tidbits coming soon!
There’s an $80 USD ($111 CAD) one-time digitizing fee per design, waived on reorders, and MOQ is 25 pieces across every size, with pricing stepping down the bigger the order gets.
Bags, apparel, hats, and beverage insulators are the easy pairings, canvas and jute give a patch something sturdy to show off, and a small can holder gives it enough real estate to become the whole personality of the piece.
And if a client wants patches to be the event and not just the merch, there’s Patch Party: bags, can holders, and our accessories ship out with a rented heat press so people customize their own gear on the spot. $250 USD deposit, $125 refunded on return, USA only for now.
Everything above lives on the embellishments page too, and it earns a bookmark, because the next time a customer says they want something “a little extra,” you’ll know exactly what they need.
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