Executive Summary: Brief your workwear supplier well, and you get branded garments that look exactly like your brand – on time and on budget. Brief them poorly, and you get delays, reprints, and a result that doesn’t do your business justice. The essentials: supply a vector logo file, know your Pantone or CMYK colours, decide on placement and decoration method before you make contact, and never go to production without a signed-off proof. That’s most of what separates a smooth workwear order from a frustrating one!
Getting branded workwear made should be straightforward. You pick the garments, send through your logo, and your team shows up looking sharp. In practice, it’s one of the most common sources of wasted time and money in the workwear ordering process, and almost all of it comes down to the briefing stage.
Wrong file formats, logos too small for embroidery, colours that look nothing like your brand on screen or a placement that made sense on a mockup but looks off on an actual shirt – these are fixable problems, but only if you know what to ask for and what to provide before the order goes to production.
This guide walks you through exactly how to brief a workwear supplier; what information you need to have ready, what artwork requirements to meet, and how to avoid the most common mistakes that delay orders and compromise your brand.
Why The Briefing Stage Matters So Much
Once a decorated garment goes into production, changes become expensive. Embroidery is stitched directly into the fabric – there’s no “undo.” Screen printing involves setting up colour separations and print screens that are job-specific. If your artwork is wrong at the point of sign-off, you’re either accepting a result that doesn’t represent your brand properly, or you’re absorbing the cost of reprinting.
A thorough brief upfront takes just a few minutes. Fixing a production error takes days and costs real money. The two are not close to equivalent.
Your 5 Step Branding Guide
Creating an impactful brand identity through your workwear is more than just a design or colour choice; it’s a key element of your business’s visual presence. Here is a quick 5-step guide including everything from selecting the right products for your business to perfecting logo placement.
Step 1: Know What You Want Before You Make Contact
Before you contact your supplier, get a clear understanding of the following details. The more of this you have ready at first contact, the faster your order moves through the process.
- Garment Details: Which products are you ordering? What colours? What sizes and quantities per size? If you’re not sure which garments to choose, your supplier can help, but having a rough idea of the style and industry application speeds things up considerably.
- Decoration Method: Do you want embroidery or screen printing, or heat transfer? If you’re unsure, think about your use case. Embroidery is durable and professional-looking for polos, jackets, and caps. Screen printing suits high-quantity orders where large, flat logo areas are involved. Heat transfer is flexible and cost-effective for smaller runs or complex multicolour artwork. Your supplier can advise, but knowing your preference saves a round of back-and-forth.
- Logo Placement: Where do you want your branding to appear? Left chest is the most common placement for corporate and trade workwear. The right chest or the centre chest are alternatives. Sleeves, back yoke, and back centre are additional options depending on the garment and the brand effect you’re going for. You can request multiple placement locations, but each one is typically a separate decoration charge.
- Quantity And Timeline: When do you actually need the garments? Working back from your deadline, allow for artwork approval, production time, and delivery. Rushing production is possible but usually costs more. Give your supplier a realistic window.
Step 2: Provide The Right Artwork Files
This is where most orders hit problems. Providing the wrong type of artwork file is the single most common cause of delays in workwear decoration. Here’s what you need to know.
- Vector Files are built from mathematical paths rather than pixels. They can be scaled to any size (from a 20mm embroidery patch to a full back print) without any loss of quality. Vector files are what your supplier needs for almost all decoration work.
- Raster Files are built from pixels. When you scale them up beyond their original resolution, they become blurry or pixelated. A logo that looks fine on a business card or website will often be unusable for embroidery or screen printing if it’s only available as a raster file.
File Type Format Vector Or Raster And What They Are Suitable For
- AI (Adobe Illustrator) .ai file type – Vector – Preferred for screen print and embroidery
- EPS .eps file type – Vector – Widely accepted, good for all methods
- PDF .pdf file type – Vector (if saved correctly) – Accepted by most suppliers
- SVG .svg file type – Vector – Accepted by many suppliers
- PNG .png file type – Raster – Low-res logos (often not suitable)
- JPG/JPEG .jpg file type – Raster – Not suitable for decoration work
- Word/PowerPoint logos .docx – Not suitable
Insider Tip: If you can open your logo file and zoom in to 1000% without it going blurry, it’s likely a vector file. If it pixelates, it’s raster, and you’ll need to track down the original vector version from whoever designed your branding.
Artwork Requirements By Decoration Method
Embroidery: This process converts your logo into a stitch file, or in other words, a map of where each thread goes, at what density, and in what direction. This process is called digitising, and it’s specific to embroidery (you cannot use a standard vector file directly in an embroidery machine). When providing artwork for embroidery:
- Supply your vector logo file plus any brand colour references (see Step 3)
- Be aware that very fine detail, thin lines, and small text do not embroider well – anything smaller than approximately 4mm in height will likely be illegible in thread
- Gradient effects and photographic images cannot be replicated in embroidery – your supplier will simplify these to solid colour areas
- A stitch-out (physical sample) is recommended for new logos or significant artwork changes
Screen Printing: This one works best with flat, solid colour artwork. When providing artwork for screen printing:
- Supply vector files with all fonts converted to outlines (so your supplier doesn’t need your exact font installed)
- Specify the number of colours – each colour is a separate screen, and most quotes are based on colour count
- Gradients and photorealistic images require specialist processes (simulated process printing), which are more expensive and not available from all suppliers
Heat Transfer/Digital Transfer: The most forgiving method for complex artwork. High-resolution raster files can work here, though vector is still preferable. Full-colour and gradient artwork is achievable.
Step 3: Specify Your Brand Colours Correctly
Your logo might look exactly right on your laptop screen and then come out subtly (or significantly) wrong on the finished garment. This happens because screens display colour using light (RGB), while printing uses ink (CMYK), and thread has its own colour system entirely (typically matched to Pantone or Madeira/Isacord thread charts).
- For Screen Printing: Always provide your Pantone colour codes. Pantone is a standardised colour system that removes ambiguity from colour matching. “Our blue is PMS 286 C” tells a printer exactly what colour to mix. If you don’t know your Pantone codes, provide CMYK values as a minimum. RGB values alone are not sufficient for print colour matching.
- For Embroidery: Thread colours are matched to manufacturer colour systems (Madeira, Isacord, and Gunold are the most common in New Zealand). Your supplier will convert your Pantone or CMYK reference to the closest available thread colour. For critical brand colours, request a physical stitch-out sample to confirm the match before full production.
- For Garment Colour: Be aware that your logo will be applied to a coloured fabric background. A navy chest logo on a white polo looks different to the same logo on a charcoal polo. If you have a dark logo, confirm it will be visible on your chosen garment colour. Some suppliers will provide digital mock-ups showing your artwork on the actual garment for sign-off before production begins – request this if it’s not offered.
Step 4: Understand Placement Zones And Size Guidelines
Where your logo sits on a garment, and how large it is, affects both the look of the finished product and what’s technically achievable with each decoration method.
Standard Placement Zones For Decorated Workwear:
- Left Chest: The most common position for corporate and trade workwear. Typical embroidery size is 80–100mm wide. A good starting point for most logos.
- Right Chest: Used for secondary branding elements (taglines, employee names, subsidiary brands).
- Centre Chest: Suits bolder, larger logo applications – quite common on hi-vis and workwear where left chest placement is obscured by PPE.
- Back Yoke (Upper Back): A secondary branding opportunity. Embroidery at this position typically runs 200–280mm wide.
- Back Centre (Full Back): Used for large screen-printed graphics, slogan text, or trade information. Can run up to the full width of the garment back.
- Sleeve: Often used for compliance badges, union logos, or secondary brand marks. Typical embroidery width is 60–80mm.
Insider Tip: Size matters, and smaller is not always better. A logo that looks proportionate on a business card can disappear on a work jacket. Conversely, oversizing a logo looks heavy-handed and unprofessional. A good supplier will advise on optimal sizing for each placement. If in doubt, ask for a scaled mock-up before committing.
Step 5: Get A Formal Sign-Off Before Production Starts
Before your order goes into production, a reputable supplier will provide either a digital mock-up or a physical sample (stitch-out or strike-off) for your approval. Do not skip this step, even if you’re in a hurry. When reviewing your artwork proof or sample, check:
- Colour Accuracy: Does the decoration colour match your brand reference? Is there any noticeable difference from what you expected?
- Legibility: Is your logo name, tagline, or any text clear and readable at the finished size?
- Placement: Is the decoration positioned where you intended, and is it symmetrical or aligned as expected?
- Detail: Are fine elements of your logo – thin lines, small symbols, tight letterforms – reproducing correctly, or have they been simplified?
- Overall Impression: Does the finished garment look like something you’d be proud to put your team in?
Any changes at this stage are straightforward. Changes after production begins are expensive. Take your time with the sign-off.
5 Common Branding Mistakes (And How To Avoid Them)
- Sending A Logo Pulled From Your Website. Website logos are optimised for screen display, typically saved as low-resolution JPGs or PNGs. They are almost never suitable for workwear decoration. Always go back to your original brand files or your designer.
- Not Knowing Your Brand Colours. Telling a supplier “it’s a sort of dark blue” is not a colour brief. Find your Pantone or CMYK values – they should be in your brand guidelines. If you don’t have brand guidelines, ask whoever designed your logo.
- Assuming Your Current Logo Will Work As-Is For Embroidery. Logos with very fine detail, multiple small text elements, or gradient shading will need to be simplified for embroidery. The earlier you flag this, the more input you can have in how it’s interpreted.
- Ordering Without A Mockup Approval. Even experienced buyers occasionally get surprised by how a logo looks on a specific garment colour or position. Always see it before it goes into production.
- Leaving It Too Late. Decorated workwear is not a same-week product for most orders. Allow at least two to three weeks from confirmed brief to delivery for standard orders – longer for large quantities or if artwork digitising is required from scratch.
Common Workwear Branding Frequently Asked Questions
What File Format Do I Need For Embroidery? Your supplier needs your original vector logo file (ideally an AI or EPS file) along with your Pantone or CMYK colour references. The supplier will use this to create an embroidery stitch file (digitising). You cannot supply an embroidery machine file yourself unless you’ve had the logo professionally digitised previously.
What If I Only Have A JPG Or PNG Of My Logo? If it’s high resolution (300dpi or above at the intended print size), some suppliers can work with it for screen printing and heat transfer. For embroidery, a supplier can redraw the logo as a vector file — this is called artwork redrawn or logo recreation, and it’s typically a one-off cost. It’s worth doing, as you’ll then have a clean vector file for all future use.
How Do I Know What Size My Logo Should Be? A good starting point: left chest embroidery at 80–100mm wide works for most logos. For back placement, 200–280mm is typical for embroidery. Your supplier should include size recommendations in any mock-up they provide. If they don’t, ask.
Can I Have Multiple Logos On The Same Garment? Yes. Multiple placement locations are common – for example, a company logo on the left chest and a website URL on the back. Each placement is typically quoted and charged separately, as each involves separate artwork setup and decoration time.
Do I Need To Supply Different Artwork For Different Garment Types? You may need slightly different artwork configurations – for example, a simplified version of your logo for small embroidery versus the full version for a larger screen-printed back. Your supplier should advise if adjustments are needed. This is another reason to start with a clear vector file: modifications are much easier when you have the original.
What’s The Minimum Order Quantity For Branded Workwear? This varies by supplier and decoration method. Screen printing typically has a higher minimum than embroidery due to setup costs. Contact the Tradestaff team to discuss your requirements – we work with businesses of all sizes and can advise on the most cost-effective approach for your order volume.
If you’re still not sure where to start, the Tradestaff Workwear team is here to help. We work through the briefing process with you – from artwork checks to mock-up approval – to make sure your branded workwear gets done right the first time! Give a quick call to discuss your branded workwear needs today!