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Strawberry Stitch Co. is of one of the most sought after embroidery design firms in the world. Talents ranging from corporate logos, interior design and fashion have set Strawberry Stitch Co. apart from others and earned the embroidery design firm over Forty National awards. All designs are completed with style and excitement. Your projects will be addressed with passion and the expertise that has attracted many of the top manufacturers in the world to using SSC exclusively.
Over the twenty plus years of being in business we have realized comparing digitizers is often like comparing apples to oranges. Much too often the choice of who will be the digitizer is based on price alone. Like any field, digitizer's abilities range from very poor to extraordinary. We have also discovered the detail a digitizer includes in their work is directly related to their skills. What one digitizer would deem impossible is second nature to another digitizer. The problem in this is the quote doesn't reflect what detail will or won't be included. Deciding based on price is not an effective way to decide who you will use.
Here is a real life example to illustrate what often takes place. A long standing customer submits a piece of art for a quote and comments, "The hotdog must look exactly like the art!". Based on those instructions, we understood the design was to include as much shading as is possible in thread. We quoted the job at $190. The customer called back and cancelled the order stating they had found someone who would do it for $90. I offered to eliminate some of the shading work and by doing so we could do the job for $90 as well. The customer said the other person did not mention eliminating ANY detail, but said they could make the design look exactly like the art for $90. You be the judge if they received what they asked for. Does it look exactly like the art?
What troubles me most is the embroiderer made their decision not only based on price, but they made the decision for the buyer. If the customer were shown the three options, which design do you think they would have chosen for their company's garments?
Offering several alternatives to a design has allowed us to meet the needs and budgets of our customers. Not every job warrants all the detail. What we guarantee is that every design we create will have 100% of our quality. The more detail in a design, the more time required to digitize and test, and that is where the additional cost comes from. When we down play the design to what the competition is going to deliver, our pricing is very competitive.
One last comment along these lines. When your competition is providing embroidery services which look like the one marked "Theirs $90", you have an excellent chance of taking the business away from a competitor with a design of higher quality and artistic flare. Also, if you are offering your customer a design such as the one marked "Ours $190", it is going to take a lot before your competition will be able to entice your customer away from using you. This is smart business. Raise the bar to where the competition is hard pressed to compete with you.
When the garments are the same, and the designs look the same, it becomes a price war. Raising the bar of your business will force the competition to chase your quality. Isn't $100 worth the investment to ward off the competition?
Our quoting process is more than firing off a guesstimate. It is the first step to a thorough process of creating an embroidery design you will be 100% satisfied with. During the quoting process we will see that all the pertinent information is collected to ensure we meet the highest quality standards in the industry.
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The quoting process begins with this on-line form. This streamlines the process for both the customer and for us, organizing everything we need to know into a single form which arrives just seconds after it is submitted. We highly recommend all customers use this form for each job as it reduces the need for follow-up calls and eliminates miscommunications often found when a request is made via email or fax. In just a few clicks, this form aids you in gathering your needs into a form which clearly communicates to us what you expect our staff to create. |
Once you submit the quote form, we will assign your project a SSC tracking number and ensure all needed information is in order. The corresponding art will be matched to the project's information and then forwarded to our design room for the following steps.
- The information and art will be reviewed by one of our graphic designers
- A price estimate will be assigned for the artwork
- The information and art will be reviewed by one of our embroidery designers
- Recommendations will be made on how the design can best be replicated in thread
- A price estimate will be assigned for the digitizing
Our internal process will be finalized and we will email the completed quote form back to the email address provided. The entire process should take less than half of a day if all the information is provided at the time the quote is submitted.
When we receive the customer's authorization to "proceed" with a project, we will schedule the project for production. If you have further questions on our quoting process, you should consult our FAQ section or email us with your question.
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Two days prior to the scheduled production date, one of our graphic artists will begin to prepare the art for the customer's approval. Many digitizers will slap bitmap art down on their scanners and begin to digitize away. There is no customer approval process, no art prep and no standard of quality. These are the same designs which don't register and require several rounds of edits before you are satisfied with the results.
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Your time is worth more than that, so we go to great lengths ensuring quality art is prepared. "Garbage in, Garbage out" is a motto we live by. We won't skip any steps and we won't put out garbage. You expect more and we deliver more.
This is a very important step in the digitizing process, and an art proof will be emailed to you for approval. This is our way of communicating how the design has been sized and/or modified to ensure the quality of your embroidery. If quality vector art is not available, then we will gladly create it so every job you do with us is of the highest quality standard.
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Sample 1
In this example the text "It's a family thang!" was too small for quality embroidery. The text was enlarged without enlarging the overall desired size of the logo. |
Sample 2
In this example the text "A community-based solution" was too small for quality embroidery. The text was enlarged and stacked into two lines so the overall desired size of the logo did not have to change. |
Sample 3
In this example the text "www.fatdogcreative.com" was too small for quality embroidery. The text was enlarged, the "www" was dropped and the text was justified a small amount further left and right so the overall desired size of the logo did not have to change. |
If you have further questions on our art preparation process, you should consult our FAQ section or email our Art Department with your question.
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Digitizing is the process of creating a computerized file which contains instructions that instructs today's computerized embroidery machines on how to sew a particular design. Although some people describe the process as a "conversion" of art to thread, this can be misleading. There is no such thing as an automatic conversion from art to thread for complex designs such as corporate logos or any other commercial application.
This may contradict information you have been told, and we realize this. Be assured SSC is not only in touch with today's embroidery technology, we are a major player in driving technology into the next century. The digitizing software we use costs $20,000 per copy and is the most sophisticated in existence. The advanced features of our software speed along our work, but it is no more automatic at creating an embroidery file than Adobe Illustrator is at automatically creating artwork. Both require an experienced designer if either program is going to create something worth talking about.
Digitizing is a learned skill which when accomplished correctly will save money in production and win jobs during sales presentations. Don't settle for digitizers who believe their only task is to "trace" the art. Your projects deserve more attention and that is just what we are known for. Strawberry Stitch Co. sets the standard in today's computerized embroidery industry.
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Strawberry Stitch Co.'s design team is managed by Master Embroidery Designer Thomas L. Moore, Jr. Thomas is world renowned for his creative design skills backed by his mastery of embroidery mechanics. Thomas is the author of the book Digitizing 101, contributes to more trade magazines than any other writer and is a popular international speaker on the subject of embroidery design. When you use Strawberry Stitch Co. for your designs, you get all of this experience plus the best customer service in the industry. |
Our embroidery design team is just that, a team of professionals who work together creating embroidery designs of the highest quality standards. Unlike some digitizers who work alone, with every SSC design you receive the benefits of an entire staff of award winning designers. Members of a team pushing each other to higher levels, proofing each others work, solving problems together and serving you together.
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Sample 1
Our goal is to produce designs that win our customers jobs. They also ward off the competition because your customers will be so spoiled by your work, unless the competition can produce a better design then you have already provided, they won't take their business anywhere else. |
Sample 2
The Stacks design was created in three versions, jacket back, left crest and cap. It is the First place winner of the 2003 EMB Honors Jacket back competition. This is just one example of how our daily work has proven to be Award Winning. |
Sample 3
This leopard is a wonderful example of our ability to bring wildlife to thread. It is the First place winner of 2003 EMB Honors Stock Design competition. Many observers have commented on how the eyes appear to follow you as though the cat is alive. |
If you have further questions on our digitizing process, you should consult our FAQ section or email Thomas Moore with your question.
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After an embroidery design is completed by a designer, it is then tested for accuracy. There is no better way to ensure a design will sew well, within registration and give the desired look if it is not thoroughly tested. Because embroidery is a physical process, no experience in the world can compensate for the need to test a design for the fabric it is intended to be sewn on. This is referred to as proofing. Proving that the digitizers formulas and judgement are valid.
Commercial embroidery machines are not cheap. At around $16,000 a piece, some digitizers will choose not to purchase a machine. Their rock-bottom prices won't allow for the needed purchase of a machine. This means the required proofing is pushed onto their customers in the form of several rounds of edits until the design is considered satisfactory. SSC has four single head commercial machines used for testing designs. Your design will be run 2-12 times, depending on the complexity of the design, before it is ever sent to you. In this way we reduce the amount of time and frustration placed on our customers. We feel it is the digitizer's responsibility to deliver a design as close to being ready for production as possible.
Properly testing a design doesn't only cost the capital required to purchase a machine. It costs time each and every day. A left chest design that takes 20 minutes to sew may require 4 sew outs before it meets our quality standards. This accounts for one hour and twenty minutes outside the time required to actually create the design. Some jacket back designs take 3.5 hours or more to sew. There may only be time to test the design twice in the course of a business day. Four test sew outs would account for two business days and again, we are not taking into consideration the time required to create the design. You may now understand why some digitizers will not take the time to thoroughly test their designs. We don't see it that way and we stand by our decisions to protect our customers by taking on the expense of testing their designs as a matter of standard practice.
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Customer embroidery instructions
Embroidery price options
What the customer got
Embroidered Silver option
Best Embroidery design
Give your customers the best embroidery possible.
You decide which embroidered logo looks the best.
Don't decide which embroidery design to use based on price alone.
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