Buyer guide
How the two decoration routes actually differ on cost, durability, fabric compatibility and minimum quantity — and which one a uniform program usually wants.
In short
Embroidery is priced by stitch count and is largely indifferent to the number of colours; screen printing is priced by colour count and is largely indifferent to design size. Embroidery survives industrial laundering better and reads as more formal, which is why uniform programs default to it for logos. Screen printing is cheaper at large sizes and high volumes, and is the only sensible route for a full-front graphic. Fabric matters: fine knits distort under dense embroidery, and heavy texture defeats fine print detail.
6 min read
Reviewed by AHM International product development team
Last reviewed August 2026
The two cost models are not comparable
Embroidery is priced by stitch count. A logo with eight colours costs essentially the same as the same logo in two, because the machine changes thread without changing setup. What drives the price is how many stitches fill the design, which is a function of area and density.
Screen printing is priced by colour. Each colour is a separate screen, a separate setup and a separate pass. A one-colour print is cheap at any size; a six-colour print carries six setups whether the design is a chest logo or a full back.
This is why a straight per-piece comparison misleads. The two methods respond to different properties of the artwork, so the cheaper route changes with the design rather than being fixed.
Where each route wins
| Consideration | Embroidery | Screen print |
|---|---|---|
| Priced by | Stitch count | Number of colours |
| Small logo, few colours | Competitive | Competitive |
| Small logo, many colours | Strong | Weak — a setup per colour |
| Large graphic | Weak — stitch count escalates | Strong |
| Industrial laundering | Excellent | Good, degrades over time |
| Fine detail and small text | Limited by stitch resolution | Holds detail better |
| Perceived formality | Higher | Lower |
| Setup at low volume | Digitising, one-off | Screen per colour, one-off |
Fabric decides more than buyers expect
The same artwork behaves differently on different constructions.
- Pique and interlock
- Take embroidery well. Stable enough to hold a dense logo without distorting, which is why uniform polos are almost always embroidered.
- Single jersey
- Light and mobile. Dense embroidery puckers it unless backed properly. Prints sit well.
- Fleece and French terry
- Embroidery reads well on the flat face. A napped surface fights fine print detail.
- Canvas and heavy twill
- Take both. Heavier weights carry dense embroidery without support problems.
- Performance polyester
- Print chemistry has to be selected for the fibre, and dye migration is a real risk on dyed polyester — it is tested, not assumed.
- Ripstop and technical woven
- Needle penetration compromises some technical constructions. Placement is a functional decision, not only a visual one.
Durability through an industrial wash
For a uniform program, the relevant test is not how the decoration looks on delivery but how it looks after a hundred industrial launderings at temperature.
Embroidery is thread stitched into fabric. It fades in the way the thread fades, and it fails by abrasion at the edges over a long period. A well-executed logo generally outlasts the garment.
Screen print is a layer bonded to the surface. Good ink, correctly cured, lasts a long time; poor curing is the usual cause of early cracking, and it is invisible on delivery. This is the practical argument for approving a strike-off on the actual fabric rather than on paper.
Approve on the real fabric
A strike-off for print and a sew-out for embroidery are made on the actual production fabric, and both should be approved before bulk decoration. Artwork approved on screen has not been tested against the surface it will sit on, and the surface is what determines whether fine detail survives.
Related questions
Embroidery, in most cases. It survives industrial laundering, reads as more formal, and is largely indifferent to the number of colours in a logo. Print becomes the better answer when the design is large, highly detailed, or needs photographic reproduction.
Yes, and it is common — an embroidered chest logo with a printed back graphic, for example. Each carries its own setup, so it is priced as two decoration routes rather than one.
Vector artwork for both, with placement, dimensions and colour references. Embroidery additionally needs digitising, which converts the artwork into a stitch file — that file is what gets approved, because it is what the machine actually runs.
It can, with appropriate backing, but density has to be controlled. A dense logo on light single jersey will pucker regardless of backing, so on light knits the design is usually simplified rather than reproduced at full density.
Send one specification and we will apply exactly this thinking to your style. Construction, materials and commercial FOB costing.
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