Minimum order

None

Digitizing fee

$0 — included

Thread colours

Up to 15

Turnaround

10 business days

Stitch count, colours and detail

Placement and sizing get set on your proof, against the actual garment. What follows is what decides how a logo comes out.

Stitch count

Up to 12,000 stitches per placement is included in the piece price. A dense left-chest logo usually lands between 4,000 and 9,000. Anything heavier — a full-back design or thick solid fills — we quote before we run it, so there is never a surprise on the invoice.

Thread colours

Up to 15 colours per logo, no extra charge. Unlike screen printing, colour count does not change the price in embroidery — stitch count does. We match to Madeira thread numbers and keep your matches on file so the second order looks like the first.

The one hard limit: small text

Lettering under 5 mm (0.2 in) tall closes up and turns into a smudge. It is a needle-and-thread limit, not a machine limit. If your logo has a tagline or a licence number that small, we will tell you before you order and either enlarge it, simplify it, or move that element to a DTF print instead.

What we will not embroider

Being straight about this up front saves you a ruined garment.

• Waterproof shells with taped seams or a membrane. A needle makes thousands of holes through the waterproof barrier. We print these instead.
• Over reflective tape on CSA hi-vis. Stitching through the tape compromises the certified retroreflective surface. We move the logo to a clear panel above or beside the tape.
• Ultra-light knits and mesh under roughly 140 g/m². The stitches pull the fabric in and the garment puckers. DTF is the right call on these.
• Finished, coated, or heat-sensitive technical fabrics where the backing cannot be hidden or removed cleanly.

Your logo file

You do not need a vector file. Embroidery is not traced from your artwork — it is redrawn as a stitch path, needle by needle. We work from whatever you have: a PNG, a JPG, a PDF, a screenshot, even a photo of your business card or the decal on your truck.

That redraw is the digitizing step, and at ForTee it is free and one-time. We build the file, keep it on record under your account, and never charge for it again — not on your second order, not three years from now.

1. Send the logoAny format. Higher resolution is better but not required.
2. We digitize itStitch path, thread colours, underlay and pull compensation, matched to the fabric it is going on.
3. You approve a proofA stitch simulation showing size, placement and thread colours before anything is sewn.
4. We run it and file itYour file stays on record for every re-order.

Turnaround

10 business days from art approval to shipping is our standard on embroidery. The clock starts when the proof is approved and the garments are in stock, not when the order is placed.

On a deadline? Tell us the date before you order. Rush production is often possible on in-stock garments; we would rather turn one down than miss it.

Embroidery or print?

Short version: embroidery is the finish people expect on caps, polos, jackets and anything a client will see up close. It does not crack, fade or peel, and it reads as permanent. Printing wins on large designs, photographic artwork, fine detail, light performance fabrics, and anything going on the back of a tee.

Most of our uniform programs use both — stitched logo on the cap and jacket, printed on the tees. See DTF & digital printing →