Single Head Or Multi-Head? Embroidery Machines Come In Many Sizes & Capacities
Choosing The Right One May Determine Who Your Customer Is.
The custom garment decoration industry can be roughly divided into three broad categories: manufacturers, retailers and embellishers. Why “roughly?” Over time, the lines between the three have blurred; each adds services that have been traditionally performed by one of the other two.
Even the terms have changed. Those calling themselves “embellishers” and “screen printers” have been taking on the more original titles such as “garment decorators,” or “apparel designers.” No matter what label you go with, there is no doubt that the job description has changed in the 21st Century.
For example, the trend is for more retailers to enter into mass customization; adding embroidery tools to their shops to provide one-offs and short run custom designs. With online commerce, more embroiderers have been selling product direct to the consumer.
Adding embroidery to your garment printing shop can shorten turnaround time, lower production costs with in-house jobs, and earn more profit by charging premiums for custom work.
When expanding a product line with customization, the most crucial decision is what equipment to use. In fact, the system you choose could decide your customer base. In embroidery, the difference between single- and multi-head machines can express how a company approaches the market.
The Advantages to Single Head Embroidery Machines
The biggest advantage of a single-head embroidery system in today’s marketplace is flexibility. If you are a retailer, the ability to do custom orders, with quick turnaround time, can be an additional value-added selling point.
The largest market for single-head machines is short-run corporate identity (golf and polo shirts, caps and other corporate clothing) as well as name drops and one-offs. Some mid-size uniform customers, such as hospitals and restaurant chains, try to add their own embroidery equipment in-house. For the most part, the store whose primary customers are individuals and groups, customization requests are often farmed out.
Single-head machines are ideal for mixed media and multimedia style decoration. Mixing digital direct-to-garment printing (DTG) with embroidery, spangles and rhinestones is a fast growing fashion trend. A variety of different decoration styles can set your shop apart from the crowd.
Another advantage is price. Startup costs are significantly lower with the single-head over multi-headed machines, making it an affordable way to expand your product line.
Space is also an issue. A compact needle machine accommodates up to 100 designs and has a top speed of 1,200 stitches per minute but takes up only 2.5’x2/5′ of space!
Churning Out Profits With Network Modular – Multi-Head Embroidery
If you find that your niche is for larger designs that take longer time to sew, an expanded system will be better.
And the idea that with a Network Modular system you can just add another, and another and ANOTHER single head machine and increase your productivity is very attractive.
What many of our growing customers are doing is adding 2 to 6 single heads at a time in place of a traditional multi-head. Because today’s orders are much more likely to be smaller orders of 12-144 pieces… WITH variable data or further customization on them.
