I was looking to get a custom embroidered baseball cap made. Friends suggested Zazzle and other online shops. I took a look at their prices, and every single one had a pretty steep digitization fee (30-50 bucks!) on top of the cost of the cap.
Some more research revealed that you could bypass the digitization fee if you could supply the embroidery stitching file. Problem is, the programs that convert images to stitches often cost 4 figures (!). I called a buddy who works in graphic design, and he found a free program (Stitch Era Universal) that would work for what we wanted to do. He came up with a preliminary stitching file, and I checked out my production options.
At this point, I had to make a decision about where I wanted to have the cap made. Zazzle had a free stitching preview, but the aforementioned buddy said it wasn't very accurate. Other sites lacked a preview, and in the end I decided that for something like this, I needed to see the results in person before making a purchase. Google quickly led me to a list of local design shops, and Dynamite Graphics seemed like a perfect fit: close, easy to access, and an independent business. I hopped on my bike to check them out.
The staff was courteous and immediately made me feel welcome. I was completely new to the whole 'process' of having custom clothing made, but they took the time to answer all my questions. Now, any t-shirt shop can have great customer service. What made my experience so special? The folks at Dynamite Graphics just did MORE.
I asked if they could do a sample on scrap material of my buddy's initial stitching file. It turned out.....not so good. Ok, I said, let me get back to him with the sample, he'll tweak the file. Sure, they said. Second sample turned out....marginally better. By this point I was getting a bit down about the entire thing - the design wasn't looking as good as I'd hoped. I took the second sample back to my buddy, then didn't hear anything from him for a couple of days. Then, out of the blue, I got another email from him with the latest iteration of the stitching file.
Slightly exasperated, I biked over to the shop and gave them the file. The staff told me that they hoped this time would work out - they could see the logo looking better each time. I told them I was getting sick of the back and forth, and they mentioned that the "back and forth" was usually part of the design process - and that was the reason for everyone charging for digitization. (I had been basically taking up their time for free - oops!) Anyway, we all agreed that whatever the latest stitching file looked like, it was time to GET IT ON THE HAT.
Well, long story short, the cap turned out better than I'd hoped. My buddy must have had some kind of breakthrough in using the program - the logo looked great, and the cap looked fantastic. But it would never have reached that point if not for the patient folks at Dynamite Graphics. They get 5 stars for putting up with my confused requests, and for going the extra mile in making sure my custom product was a success. read more
