Embroidery
The embroidery digitizing fee: $45, charged once
Digitizing is $45, the same whether the design is small or large. You pay it one time for that design on that item and then you own the use of it — every reorder after that is just the cost of the sewing.
The short version
Embroidery digitizing is $45. Small left chest logo or large back design, it is the same $45. It is charged once for that design on that item.
Bring the same logo back next season on the same shirt and there is no digitizing fee the second time. The file already exists. From then on you are paying for thread and machine time, nothing else.
That is the part worth reading twice. Most shops charge digitizing on every order. Here you pay for the file once and use it as many times as you like — a million reorders later it is still just the cost of the sewout. It is a one-time investment that keeps paying you back, not a fee to grit your teeth about.
Would you like to see what your sewout would cost, without the hassle of a phone call or an email? The calculator further down this page runs on our real embroidery pricing. Scroll to it and put your numbers in.
What digitizing actually is
An embroidery machine cannot read a logo. It only follows a needle path — a list of coordinates telling it where to put every single stitch, in order.
Digitizing is a person building that path. They decide which areas get satin stitch and which get fill, which direction each area sews, how the underlay holds the fabric flat, and how much to compensate for the way cloth pulls as thread goes into it. Get that wrong and the letters close up and the logo puckers.
It is a separate craft from print artwork. A file that prints beautifully still has to be digitized before it will sew. That is what the $45 buys: a stitch file built for your design, on the item you are putting it on.
Would you like to know how your logo will actually sew before you commit to it? Send it over and we will tell you the stitch count and how it will behave. Click through to the contact page and attach the file.
The only two times you pay it again
There are exactly two, and both are cases where the old file genuinely cannot be used.
1. The design goes on a different item type
Shirts, hats and beanies all stitch differently. A shirt front is flat and stable, a cap is a curved panel sewn under tension, a beanie is a stretchy knit that moves under the needle. The same logo has to be built differently for each, so each item type needs its own digitized file. A design digitized for your shirts needs its own version when you add caps.
2. You want the design bigger
A stitch file is not artwork you can drag a corner on. The stitch spacing, the underlay and the pull compensation were all set for one size. Scale it up and the density is wrong for the new dimensions, so going bigger means re-digitizing.
Nothing else brings the fee back. Not a reorder. Not a larger run. Not running the same design again a year later.
Would you like to get the size right the first time and avoid paying for it twice? Tell us what you are planning across shirts and caps before we digitize anything — click here and say what the whole plan is.
Digitizing is not the artwork fee
These are two different charges and customers mix them up constantly, so here they are side by side.
| Artwork fee | Digitizing fee | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is for | Rebuilding your design into usable source art | Turning the design into a stitch file |
| When it applies | Only if you don’t have print-ready source files | Embroidery only, first time on that item |
| How to avoid it | Send print-ready vector art | Reorder the same design on the same item |
Two separate steps. An order can carry both, one, or neither.
Send clean vector art for an embroidery job we have never run for you and you pay digitizing and nothing else. Reorder that same design later and you pay neither. Send a screenshot off a website and you are looking at both, because the design has to be rebuilt before it can be digitized at all. Which files count as print-ready is covered in what we need from your artwork.
Would you like to know which of those two fees, if either, applies to your job before you order anything? Send the file across and we will tell you plainly — click through and attach what you have.
What the sewing costs after that
Once the file exists, embroidery is priced on stitch count and quantity, not colour — a colour change is only a thread swap on the machine. Here is what a 5,000-stitch design costs to sew, decoration only, one location, with the garment on top.
| Quantity | 12 pcs | 24 pcs | 48 pcs | 100 pcs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5,000-stitch design | $8.00 | $7.00 | $5.50 | $4.60 |
Per piece, embroidery only. The blank garment is added on top — the calculator below does that for you.
Those are the numbers the $45 gets you access to, permanently. And 5,000 stitches is not a tight ceiling: across an archive of 464 MGE designs, 41% sat inside the cheapest band, 0 to 5,000 stitches. A normal chest logo is comfortably inside it.
One thing to settle before we digitize, because getting it wrong is the expensive kind of mistake: small lettering is dense. Text under 0.8 inches tall runs about 4,408 stitches per covered square inch, against about 1,673 for text 2 to 4 inches tall. If tiny text pushes your design into a costlier band, the fix is to enlarge it — and enlarging later means re-digitizing. More on this in why embroidery is priced by stitch count.
Price your own embroidery
Would you like to find out your price without the hassle of a phone call or email? This is the same calculator that runs on our quote page, on the same stitch pricing. Tell it the garment, where the logo goes and how many you need, and it gives you the real number.
Common questions
What is embroidery digitizing?
Turning your artwork into a stitch file the machine can sew — every stitch, in order, with the right stitch type and direction for each area. It is a separate craft from print artwork, and nothing can be embroidered without it.
How much does digitizing cost?
$45. The same $45 whether the design is small or large.
Do I pay digitizing again on a reorder?
No. Same design, same item, no digitizing fee again — you pay only for the sewout.
Why do hats need separate digitizing?
A cap is a curved panel sewn under tension and a beanie is a stretchy knit, where a shirt front is flat and stable. Shirts, hats and beanies all stitch differently, so each needs its own digitized file.
Can I have the design bigger later without paying again?
No. Scaling up is one of the two things that needs re-digitizing, because the stitch density was built for the original size. Decide the size before we start.
Is this the same as the artwork fee?
No. The artwork fee applies only when you do not have print-ready source files. Digitizing is the embroidery-only step and applies even to perfect vector art.
Does changing the thread colours cost anything?
Embroidery is priced by stitch count and quantity, not colour. A colour change is a thread swap on the machine.
Want the next one?
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Digitize it once, use it for years
Send us the logo and the list of what you want it on. We will tell you what needs digitizing, what does not, and what each run costs to sew. Standard turnaround is 7 to 14 days, with rush at 48 to 72 hours. Black-owned and veteran-owned, in Capitol Heights since 2016.
Would you like your file made once and kept, instead of paying for it on every order? Click below.
Send your logo for a quote (202) 643-7805