It's one of the most common questions we receive: screen printing or sublimation? Embroidery or printing? Which gives the best result? Which costs less? Which holds up better in the wash?
The honest answer: it depends on your design, your quantity, and what you want the product to communicate. Here is a jargon-free guide to making the right choice.
Embroidery — the premium choice
Embroidery is the oldest and most prestigious technique. The logo is literally stitched into the fabric — tactile texture, exceptional durability, high-end finish that doesn't fade in the wash.
Ideal for: clubs that want durability, businesses that want a premium look, simple logos with 2 to 4 colours.
Limitations: difficult to reproduce gradients or very detailed designs. The setup cost (digitizing the design for the embroidery machine) is higher on small quantities.
Recommended on: structured caps, toques, corporate polos.
Screen printing — the volume choice
Screen printing applies ink in successive layers onto the fabric. The result is clean, colours are vivid, and the per-unit cost drops significantly on large quantities.
Ideal for: designs with solid clean fills, orders of 200 units or more, tight budgets on large runs.
Limitations: each colour requires an additional pass — a 4-colour design costs more than a 2-colour design. Gradients are difficult to reproduce.
Recommended on: t-shirts, bags, unstructured caps for large events.
Sublimation — the creative choice
Sublimation is a revolution in the custom accessories industry. The dye is infused directly into the synthetic fibres — not ink sitting on top of the fabric, but a permanent chemical transformation.
Result: colours impossible to achieve any other way, photo-realistic sharpness, and perfect durability. And above all — the ability to print across the entire product surface, edge to edge, with no white border.
Ideal for: buffs (the product of choice for sublimation), lightweight caps, bandanas, complex designs with gradients and patterns.
Limitations: works only on synthetic fibres (polyester). Light or white colours cannot be sublimated on a dark background. White in your design becomes the colour of the fabric.
Recommended on: buffs, lightweight polyester caps, bandanas, complete running kits.
Quick comparison table
| Technique | Result | Ideal for | Substrates | Series cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Embroidery | Premium texture | Simple logo, premium club | All substrates | Medium |
| Screen printing | Clean solid fills | Large quantities, volume budget | All substrates | Low in series |
| Sublimation | Photo-realistic | Complex design, full print | Synthetic only | Intermediate |
The advice we always give
If you're still undecided, order samples. A good supplier will offer to produce a sample customized with your logo before launching the production order. The cost of the sample is generally credited toward your first order.
Holding the product in your hands, seeing the colours in person, feeling the fabric quality — it's always better than deciding from a catalogue.