Putting together your first clothing order with your company/club logo can often be fraught with difficulties, especially without expert advice. Howsafe,  industry specialists in logo application have put together this Buyer’s Guide so that you the customer can make an informed decisions before you part with your hard-earned cash. Obviously we hope you will give us the opportunity to quote for your requirements, if not we hope you have found our guide useful. If you would like a free quote with no obligation to buy please call Tel (01733) 560669 or email sales@howsafe.co.uk

1. advertise whilst you work
2. makes your crew feel part of a team
3. helps you stand out from the crowd
4. identifies the employees
5. re-assures your customers that the are dealing with a professional company
6. tax benefits for items that are not considered industrial work garments

Case study:

Adding your company logo to your workwear adds a professional image to your company, it also advertises your company and helps give your customers peace of mind that they are dealing with a credible organisation. A1 Honda are a family-run Honda motorbike dealer based in Stamford. Howsafe recently worked with A1 Honda to create a new workwear look for the growing Honda agent. The colours black and red were selected to create an extremely smart look with the addition of a high quality embroidered logo direct onto the workwear.

The Russell Workwear brand of clothing was selected for its visual appearance and long lasting qualities. The team pictured to the right were delighted to wear the clothing, remarking on the comfort and fit.

If you would like help in putting together a new workwear look for your company or club please call now on Tel: 01733 560669 – don’t forget Howsafe hold lots of sample stock here at The Workwear Store and use our own embroidery and printing machines to apply your logo.

The quality of equipment used to create embroidered and printed logos can vary greatly.  The use of poorly-maintained machines or equipment set at excessive speeds to achieve higher throughput can compromise quality of finish and produce poor results.

Howsafe uses on-site, state-of-the-art embroidery  and printing machinery to provide a superb finish to all logo’s.  All equipment is agent-serviced and configured to produce optimum quality,  not to achieve higher turnover of orders.  With multiple machines we are able to cope with fluctuating volumes.

As with all artwork, the smaller and simpler the designs is, the easier it is to produce at a lower cost.  We find that In most cases, smaller discrete logo’s can often be more aesthetically pleasing than bolder designs. The trick of course is to strike a balance between impact and style that successfully projects the image that you are looking for. Howsafe can apply logos from breast pocket size to backpatch size for the rear of high-visibility garments for example.

Simple – Howsafe do not have a minimum order size and we can cope with all sizes of order.

Once you have provided your logo Howsafe will then make up your design – this normally takes just a couple of working days. Once your design is ready we will embroider or print it onto some sample material for your approval. Only once this is accepted do we go ahead with your order.

Embroidery provides the ultimate permanent finish to your logo. Designs like the ones featured below can be produced  for a small one off cost. Embroidery adds texture and feel to your logo. Most logo’s can be recreated using embroidery, however some complicated designs, for instance where a logo features a large amount of graduated colours or intricate detail, may not be suitable for the embroidery process. In any case you will need to supply your logo – the higher the quality of the logo provided, will result in a superior end result. Our machines can embroider up to 15 different colours per design.

Our in-house design team here at Howsafe can work from quality artwork,  but should you be unable to supply this for any reason we can usually work from good quality printed artwork such as letterheads or compliment slips. The one-off cost of recreating your design will be quoted to you, allowing you to decide whether you wish to proceed. To give you some idea of cost, the average price for an embroidery disk (one-off charge) is approx £15.00 – £20.00 plus VAT (below 5000 stitches). The bigger the design,  the more it costs.

If you do not have a company logo you can simply choose from one of our range of standard fonts, set-up for designs using standard fonts is totally free of charge.

Once you have provided artwork Howsafe will quickly supply you with an embroidered sample onto a piece of material for your approval. Once set-up has been completed embroidery is charged per application. Your embroidery design will be kept on file for future ordering purposes.

Single colour designs are an extremely tough and durable method of applying your company name onto the front or back of our wide range of garments. Commonly seen mainly on hi-viz garments, heat-printing provides a razor sharp image in a range of colours.

These colour badges offer a quick and inexpensive method of attaching a multi-colour logo to your garment. With the new state of the art machines and modern inks these badges are incredibly tough and long lasting, although not as hard wearing as embroidery. Howsafe would recommend these are applied to garments that are not washed frequently.

If you need your company logo recreating as accurately as possible,  you will ideally need some really good artwork,  preferably a high-resolution image via email or disk.  Your printing or vehicle signwriting suppliers should be able to supply you upon request a suitable file.  If you are unsure what to ask for,  you should request a vector image EPS (Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw etc.) or 300dpi Raster file (Windows Bitmap,  TIFF or JPEG). If you do not have the above, don’t worry, we may be ok with some good quality printed artwork from a brochure or a letterhead.

Pricing in the logo-application industry is generally geared towards larger orders which can significantly reduce the per-garnent cost. Unlike some of our competitors,  Howsafe is happy to handle all sizes of orders and are happy to quote you a fixed price.  While costs do come down as quantities increase,  purchasers of smaller orders can expect fair pricing rather than being penalised heavily. Please contact us today for a free no obligation quote by calling (01733) 560669 or click here. All we need to give you a rough idea of costs is the approx total quantity of garments and a copy of your logo.

If you’re going to invest in the right kit you need to consider what the garments are going to be subjected to, how often they will be washed and how many days of the week they will be worn. Howsafe  stick to tried and tested good quality products from the top manufacturers; our company policy is not to go out and source the cheapest products we can find, but the best quality products that offer great value for money for the customer. If you’re looking for at least a good year of wear and the garments will be worn during a five day week it is advisable to go for 5 polo shirts, 2-3 sweat shirts and 2 pairs of trousers.

Delivery times in the industry can vary greatly.  We often hear tales of orders taking up to 12 weeks to complete.  Even if a supplier can promise speedy turnaround of embroidery or printing you should take into account whether they are able to supply the garments in a timely manner. Howsafe  carries a huge amount of stocks,  usually enabling us to complete your off-the-shelf order within ten working days (often quicker),  This excludes new orders where artwork approval might be required and orders where special order garments are required.  If you need it quicker, let us know and we will see what we can do! Once we know your exact requirements we will ask you to fill out an embroidery/printing form, this allows us to keep your requirements on file so that next time you order we have your design ready to go.